America’s Danielle Collins is known for her on-court intensity and passionate displays, which sometimes manifest as angry outbursts. Be it replying to the boos and jeers from the hostile crowd or getting into a heated exchange with her opponents, ‘Danimal’ is known to wear her heart on her sleeve. And she, for one, doesn’t seem to have a problem with that reputation. In fact, she embraces it.

When Def Leppard’s ‘Animal’ played at the end of her match against Elise Mertens at last year’s Charleston Open, Collins couldn’t help but talk about how the song speaks to her. “It’s my theme song, so I’m glad they played it at the end of the match. I try to play like an animal out there. It’s like I think rock and roll when I go on the court, try to bring the heat.” She seems to have brought the ‘heat’ to the Montreal Open, too. Except that, this time it was her racket that got scorched.

The second set was split 1-1, when Collins, apparently frustrated over allowing Coco Gauff to extend her lead in the third game to 30-0, smashed her racket onto the blue hard court. Coco Gauff has already won the first set 7-5. So, this angry outburst from Collins could well describe how the match has turned out so far. Gauff is entering this tournament, following a disappointing grass-court swing. She was knocked out of the Wimbledon Championships by Dayana Yastremska in the first round by 6(3)-7,1-6. On the other hand, despite having a stellar campaign last year, Danielle Collins has failed to find her magical form this season.

She is yet to win a title this season and has a win-loss record of 16-11. Collins has entered this tournament, following her 5-7,4-6 defeat to Magda Linette in the first round (R32) of the 2025 Citi Open. Perhaps these setbacks could just as well be in the back of her mind, and this could possibly be one of the factors behind her frustrations. But even though her emotions boiler over during this encounter, there is more to Danielle Collins than her fiery nature.

Once during an interview with Tennis Channel, American legend Jan-Michael Gambill spoke about the other side of Danielle Collins. The side that is a bit unfamiliar to most tennis fans. He said, “I love her personality. I love seeing her smile because sometimes she gets so angry in the court, we’re not seeing much of that smile. But when she’s winning, we get to know about her kind of quirky fun personality.“

Gambill even hailed Collins as an extremely likable person. Just like Gambill, even the former world number 20, Daria Saville, was recently seen saying, “I love her! I love it. I always want to do this. When I come back, I am going to be like Danielle [Collins].” Collins is one of the most entertaining players on the Tour, and she never fails to entertain her fans, no matter where she plays. Even in this match against Coco Gauff, she is fighting hard in the second set. But winning this battle against the world number 2 won’t be easy!

Danielle Collins shares her thoughts about her match against Coco Gauff

This is Danielle Collins’ first meeting with Coco Gauff, and no wonder the intensity is so high in this match. Having already won the big title at Roland Garros earlier this year, Gauff is now keen to get back to winning ways ahead of the 2025 US Open. While for Collins, it’s more like re-establishing her dominance in the Tour.

Danielle Collins, who is currently ranked 61st in the world, has entered this contest following her 6-3,7-5 win over Viktoriya Tomova. Talking about that match in her post-match interview, Collins said Tomova didn’t give up and she fought hard till the very end. Collins hailed her opponent’s hard-hitting shots and how she tried to move her around the court. But what did she say when she was quizzed about her next match against Coco Gauff?

Speaking about this nail-biting contest, Danielle Collins said, “We are going to bring the energy, we are going to bring that feistiness, right? We’re going to go out and just battle. Coco’s a good friend of mine and someone that I have had my best memories being on teams with. So yeah, we are going to have to go out there and battle.“

Coco Gauff had skipped the Citi Open this year, but she’s back in Montreal with a fresh mind after a disappointing grass-court swing. While sharing her thoughts on playing this tournament, she added, “I’m happy to be back here. I like this tournament a lot and would love to do great here one of these years.“

What was the main reason behind her decision to make a comeback in this tournament, though? “One of the reasons is that it is a WTA 1000, and it is mandatory to play them (laughs). Seriously, it’s a great tournament, so I try not to miss any of these,” said Coco Gauff. This is a good preparatory stage for both these players ahead of the US Open. But there is going to be only one winner in this match! Who will that be?