PARIS — Red, white, and blue. And green.
American tennis player Danielle Collins isn't just getting support from her own country at the Paris Olympics. Irish fans have adopted her as one of their own, too.
Collins started to realize the extent of her new fanbase when she was warming up before her first-round victory over German opponent Laura Siegemund at Roland Garros on Sunday.
''A group of people that were Irish, and because of my last name, Collins, they came out to support me even though I'm American. Because my grandfather is Irish they wanted to support me. How cool is that?'' Collins said.
''And a couple times when I was in the (athletes) village, some of the Irish came up to me and said, 'Oh my goodness, Collins, that's a very Irish last name.' And we got to talking and I made some new friends and got the Irish pin. So that has been so cool because we don't have a lot of Irish tennis players on tour."
The Irish also might have had a leading figure in Ireland's fight for independence in mind: Michael Collins, who was portrayed in film by Liam Neeson.
Collins' first name also comes from her late Irish grandfather, who was named Daniel Collins.
She doesn't quite remember if it was her grandfather or her great-grandfather who emigrated from Ireland.