"Why would she be sitting at home like that?" Victoria Azarenka hits out at fans for suggesting Danielle Collins celebrate Iga Swiatek's defeat in Cincinnati Open

Former world number one Victoria Azarenka has hit out at a fan for suggesting that America’s Danielle Collins would’ve enjoyed seeing Poland’s Iga Swiatek lose in the Cincinnati Open. The 23-year-old is already regarded as the best player in women’s tennis in the singles category.

Swiatek recently participated in the Cincinnati Open, where her journey came to an end in the semifinal stage. She lost to Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 6-3. One fan on the social media platform X — previously known as Twitter — posted a picture of Collins sitting on a seat with a caption: “Danielle Collins at home watching this like.” The post clearly did not go down well for Azarenka, who responded to it by asking: “Why would she be sitting at home like that?”

The reason for such a post was that Collins and Swiatek had a fiery encounter during the Paris Olympics in the quarterfinal, where the Polish tennis star came out on top after the American tennis star was forced to retire in the third set because of a fitness concern. After the match, Collins had some interesting words to say to Swiatek which left her stunned in the middle of the court.

While Collins crashed out of the Paris Olympics without a medal, Swiatek ended up winning the bronze after defeating Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia in the third-place match with a score of 6-2, 6-1. Interestingly, it was the first-ever meeting between the two in professional tennis.

Collins, who has already announced that the 2024 season would be her last at the highest level, is going through a fabulous season where she has lifted multiple WTA titles. Her next assignment will be the Monterrey Open. She will begin her campaign in the round of 16 against Russia’s Erika Andreeva in the round of 16 on Tuesday.