Tennis player’s scathing statement goes viral

Australian ladies’s tennis participant Destanee Aiava introduced on Saturday that the 2026 season shall be her final in a scathing assertion in regards to the sport on her social media.

Aiava, 25, described tennis as her “poisonous pal” within the assertion on Instagram. She regretted that she was so younger when she began, and that her breakthrough got here when she was solely 17.

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Destanee Aiava throughout her match in opposition to Danielle Collins on the Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 16, 2025. (Mike Frey/Imagn Photographs)

She wrote that tennis gave her a few of her greatest associates and allowed her to journey to locations she solely dreamed of. However she stated the game “took issues away from me,” together with her relationship along with her physique, her household and her vanity.

“I need to say an enormous f— you to anybody within the tennis group who has ever made me really feel lower than,” her assertion continued. “F— you to each gambler who has despatched me hate or dying threats. F— you to the individuals who sit behind screens on social media and touch upon my physique, my profession or no matter else they need to nitpick. And f— you to a sport that hides behind so-called class and gentlemanly values. Behind the white outfits and traditions lies a tradition that’s racist, misogynistic, homophobic and hostile to anybody who does not match its mould.

Destanee Aiava reacts after profitable a set in opposition to Greet Minnen at Sobeys Stadium in Toronto on August 5, 2024. (Dan Hamilton/USA Right this moment Sports activities)

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“Life will not be meant to be lived in distress or half–ed. My final purpose is to get up each day and actually say that I like what I do – and I feel everybody deserves the possibility. I am 25, turning 26 this yr, and I really feel thus far behind everybody else, like I am beginning another time. I am scared too. However that is higher than dwelling a life that does not align, or being continuously round comparisons and shedding your self.”

Aiava then thanked those that supported her profession.

Destanee Aiava serves the ball to Jasmine Paolini in the course of the US Open on the USTA Billie Jean King Nationwide Tennis Middle on August 24, 2025. (Geoff Burke/Imagn Photographs)

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She has 10 Worldwide Tennis Federation titles on her resume and is 269-178 in singles matches. In Grand Slam occasions, she didn’t progress past the second spherical, which came about on the 2025 Australian Open.

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