TV cameraman accused of ‘wildly inappropriate' behaviour around Emma Raducanu - as Briton suffers injury scare ahead of the French Open
The former British No1 had showed off some of her most composed and thoughtful tennis to claim the first set on French soil, but struggled going into the second as Collins roared back.
Raducanu was forced to call for a medical timeout at 5-0 after she appeared to suffer a lower back issue, and was treated off court.
When she returned to action, Collins was quick to wrap up the second set and force a decider, with Raducanu up for the fight in the early stages of the third.
But during a change of ends in the later stages of the match, both players may have been put off by the cameraman seeking to give fans at home the closest possible look at the tournament.
Collins was keen to refill her branded water bottle at the fountain next to the umpire's chair, but quickly grew frustrated with the cameraman who she believed was getting in her way as he filmed her during the break.
Danielle Collins asks a cameraman to give her & Emma Raducanu space during their match in Strasbourg
'I need to get water. We're on a changeover. You don't need to be that close to me & you don't need to be on top of Emma. It's wildly inappropriate'
pic.twitter.com/s8ROMO2vaB
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) May 21, 2025
Raducanu had been on top during the early stages of the contest before a second-set dip
'I need to get water,' the American star pointed out. 'We're on a changeover.
'You don't need to be that close to me, and you don't need to be on top of Emma.
'It's wildly inappropriate.'
As the cameraman backed off, it became clear how close he had been standing to the waiting players, with Collins telling Raducanu that she was 'sorry' as she filled up her bottle.
Heading back on court however, hostilities resumed, with Collins sweeping the set to claim the hard-fought 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 victory.
Collins has shown little fear of being an outspoken presence on the tour over the course of her impressive career, with her nickname 'the Danimal' offering fans a hint of her at times explosive personality.
At the start of the year, the 31-year-old attracted the ire of fans in Australia by boasting about her 'big fat cheque' and slapping her backside after beating home favourite Destanee Aiava in front of a hostile Melbourne crowd at the Australian Open.
Collins was subsequently labelled a 'brat' by local news organisations, but had doubled down on her comments in a later press conference.
After suffering an injury scare in the second set Raducanu clung on but could not fight back
Collins said: 'Well I'm going to be here for two hours, putting up with all these people, I might as well take the bigger pay check, right?'
'I was super happy to do that and one of the greatest things about being a professional athlete are that the people that don't like you and that hate you, they actually pay your bills.
'Every person that has bought a ticket and has come out here to heckle me can do what they do. It's all going towards the Danielle Collins fund. So like, yeah, bring it on I love it.'
Collins was similarly unapologetic after Wednesday's victory, as she prepares to do better than her finalist's run in France last year.
'To be good at anything, self expression is really important,' Collins said in her on-court interview. 'There aren't many successful people that feel like they can't be themselves.
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The menstrual cycle and its effect on performance The menstrual cycle has a clear impact on the body – it can affect emotions, mood and sleep as well as cause fatigue, headache and Calli Hauger-Thackery, a distance runner who has represented Team GB at the Olympics, says talking about its sporting impact is "still so taboo and it shouldn't be, because we're struggling with it".Calli says she always notices the difference in her body in the lead up to her period."I'm feeling really fatigued, heavy legs, I [feel like I'm] almost running through mud sometimes, everything's more strained than it should be," she finds she "lives" by her menstruation tracker, as being on her period is a source of anxiety "especially when I've got big races coming up".One of those big races was in April – the Boston Marathon – and Calli's period was due. She finished in sixth place, and recalls that she "luckily got through" - but says she can't help wondering if she could have done even better. Can elite sport damage women's fertility?Football boot issues reported by 82% of female players The menstrual cycle is orchestrated by the rhythmic fluctuations of two hormones – oestrogen and progesterone. But how big an impact can that have on athletic performance?"It's very individual and there's a lot of nuance here, it's not quite as simple as saying the menstrual cycle affects performance," says Prof Kirsty Elliott-Sale, who specialises in female endocrinology and exercise physiology at Manchester Metropolitan University."Competitions, personal bests, world records, everything has been set, won and lost on every day of the menstrual cycle," she famously includes Paula Radcliffe, who broke the marathon world record while running through period cramps in Chicago in 2002. Working out whether the menstrual cycle affects sporting ability requires an understanding of the physiological changes that hormones have throughout the body, the challenge of performing while experiencing symptoms, the psychological impact of the anxiety of competing during your period and perceptions about all of the Elliott-Sale says there "isn't a phase where you're stronger or weaker", or where "you're going to win or you're going to lose", but in theory the hormones oestrogen and progesterone could alter parts of the body such as bone, muscle or heart."What we don't yet understand is: Does that have a big enough effect to really impact performance?" she professor adds that it is "a very sensible conclusion" that poor sleep, fatigue and cramping would have a knock-on effect on performance, and that dread and anxiety were an "absolutely tangible thing" for athletes on their period who are performing in front of large has spoken to athletes who "sometimes even triple up with period pants" to avoid the risk of leaking and embarrassment, and "that's a heavy mental burden". 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Injuries can be brutal and take a year to recover only is the risk three to eight times greater in women than men, depending on the sport, but they are becoming more common, says Dr Thomas Dos'Santos, a sports biomechanics researcher at Manchester Metropolitan University. However, there is "no simple answer" to explain the greater risk in women, he it could be down to differences in anatomy. Bigger hips in women mean the top of the thigh bone starts from a wider position and this changes the angle it connects to the lower leg at the knee, potentially increasing risk. The ACL is also slightly smaller in women "so it's a little bit weaker, potentially", Dr Dos'Santos explains. ACL injuries can happen at all stages of the menstrual cycle, but hormonal changes are also being investigated, including a study sponsored by Fifa, the governing body for world football. High levels of oestrogen prior to ovulation could alter the properties of ligaments, making them a bit more stretchy so "there could be an increased risk of injury, theoretically," he Dr Dos'Santos argues it's important to think beyond pure anatomy as women still do not get the same quality of support and strength training as compares it to ballet, where dancers do receive good quality training. "The [difference in] incidence rates is basically trivial between men and women," Dr Dos'Santos is research into whether it is possible to minimise the risk of ACL injuries, by training female athletes to move in subtly different there is a risk of lessening performance, and some techniques that put strain on the ACL – like dropping the shoulder to deceive a defender before bursting off in another direction – are the necessary moves in sports like football."We can't wrap them up in cotton wool and say you should avoid playing sport," Dr Dos'Santos says. "What we need to do is make sure that they're strong enough to tolerate those loads, but it isn't just as simple as some people saying we can 100% eradicate ACL injuries, we can't." No longer 'mini-men' Even though there are still many unanswered question, it is still a world of difference for Katy Daley-McLean at Sale Sharks she got her first cap in 2007, she remembers that all the assumptions around how her body would perform were based on the data from male rugby players."We were literally treated as mini-men," Daley-McLean now, she says, girls and women don't feel like the outsiders in sport, which is not only improving performance at the elite level but helping to keep more women in sport."It's awesome, it's something to be celebrated because if you look at the stats, one of the biggest reasons young girls drop out of sport is body image, it's around periods and not having a correct sports bra, which is so easily sorted."Inside Health was produced by Gerry Holt
