Tennis star Destanee Aiava 'scared' to walk on court because of death threats
Destanee Aiava describes a toxic culture in tennis that led to her retirement at 25 years old. (Supplied: Getty Images/Jack Thomas)
In short:
Destanee Aiava opens up about her decision to retire from tennis, saying she received death threats that made her scared to play.
The 25-year-old details the impacts of racism, saying she developed eating disorders.
What's next?
Aiava is calling for greater action from tennis authorities to crack down on racism and hate.
Destanee Aiava knew it was time to quit her professional tennis career when she began to feel scared stepping onto the court.
She wasn't afraid of her opponent, the match or the thousands of spectators watching on around the world.
Aiava was dreading picking up her phone after the match.
"Win or loss, the death threats would come," she tells triple j hack.
"They're going to find me, kill my family, kill me," she says of the messages.
Loading...Aiava, 25, announced she was quitting tennis in an explosive social media post on Valentine's Day, describing the sport as her "toxic boyfriend".
She last played at the Australian Open, where she was knocked out alongside Maddison Inglis in the first round of the women's doubles.
Like other professional athletes, Aiava says she was being targeted by members of the public who had placed bets on her match.
"They were all gamblers," she says.
"Even if I did win, I would still get a lot of messages saying they had lost their home or something.
"There was a period where, last year, I was literally scared to step on the court."
'I don't want to do this'
Aiava admits she had been feeling as though she wanted to quit tennis for a while.
"Two years ago I started to say, 'I don't want to do this anymore,'" she tells hack.
She describes the response to her announcement that she was leaving the sport as "50-50", saying that while she received messages of support and congratulations, she was also sent a lot of hate.
"During my career I was mainly receiving negative comments," Aiava tells triple j hack.
"Comments about my skin colour or calling me a monkey … even the N word.
"It's a lot."
Aiava tells hack she did not receive much support from other Australian tennis players, and that she always felt she was an "outsider".
"A lot of Aussie tennis players love to advertise how amazing the camaraderie is, but, yeah, that's not how I felt," she says.
"I didn't have any friends in tennis anyway."
Grinding on tour
Aiava's life was dominated by tennis from childhood.
She played in her first tournament at the age of seven, before turning pro at 15.
"It was all just tennis, tennis, tennis," she says.
"I was just kind of thrown into this thing and made to deal with it."
Destanee Aiava says she witnessed a culture of racism, misogyny and homophobia in tennis. (Supplied: Getty Images/Matthew Stockman)
She earned a career-high Women's Tennis Association (WTA) ranking of 147.
But she stresses the sport is not as glamorous as many fans might believe.
"It wasn't until I was in my maybe teens where I started to figure out that, you know, maybe I'm not actually enjoying this sport as much as I should be," Aiava says.
"We were grinding on the tour, just trying to get my ranking up."
Aiava said at one point she had less than $40 in her bank account and was often waiting weeks for prize money to come through to survive.
"It's really tough," she explains.
"I feel like that side of tennis isn't really publicised as much and it definitely should be — I feel like the people who are watching and giving us so much criticism … would have more empathy and think twice before they comment or message us."
Racism 'not getting better'
Aiava says she witnessed a culture of racism, misogyny and homophobia in tennis, with hostility to "anyone who didn't fit the mould."
"I developed eating disorders … I starved myself," she tells hack.
"Most of the people playing this sport are a lot thinner … but Pacific Islanders are just built different.
"Dealing with the messages, losing most of your matches … it's all just like one thing after another piling up.
"I guess I should have taken a break … but I just kind of tried to soldier through."
Aiava says that despite the decades that have passed since players like Serena Williams started to speak out against racism in tennis, it remains a big issue.
"I don't really think it has improved in any way, even though they advertise that they have more inclusivity," she says.
"Only seeing white players and no one else looking like me, it was really uncomfortable.
"Especially when I was winning … it would automatically go to, 'She looks like a man.'"
Time to 'do more'
Aiava says while tennis federations have systems in place to combat negative comments on social media and promote inclusion, she feels more needs to be done.
"I feel there needs to be some kind of consequence for the gamblers or people who send hate messages, death threats," she says.
"I actually got a lot of messages from parents who said that their kids are going through a very similar thing and they were super thankful and grateful."
She says she doesn't believe telling players to get off social media is the answer.
"That's a cop-out," she says.
"Social media is an amazing way to connect with positive people, and it's also work."
Responding to the haters
Destanee Aiava is looking forward to moving on with her life after announcing her retirement from tennis. (triple j hack)
As for those who say Aiava lacks what it takes to keep playing tennis, she says that's not it.
"I definitely don't agree," she tells triple j hack.
"I personally think my game was there.
"It was just a matter of if I wanted to do it, and if I loved it enough, and I didn't."
While she says she's not sure when her last match will be this year, she is confident she won't be returning to the sport.
Instead, she says she is focused on studying interior design, and would love to do some reality TV at some point too.
"I feel like I've already been scrutinised a lot," she says.
"So why not?"