{"id":484433,"date":"2026-02-16T22:04:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T22:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/484433\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T22:04:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T22:04:09","slug":"australian-star-labels-tennis-racist-after-shock-retirement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/484433\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian star labels tennis &#8216;racist&#8217; after shock retirement"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Australian tennis star Destanee Aiava has slammed the sport as \u2018racist\u2019 after announcing her early retirement at 25.<\/p>\n<p>Aiava has Samoan heritage and believes that the culture surrounding <a href=\"https:\/\/extra.ie\/2025\/07\/13\/lifestyle\/ryan-tubridy-diary-14\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">tennis<\/a> is also \u2018misogynistic, homophobic and hostile\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>She took to Instagram to announce that she will leave the sport at the end of the current season, likening <a href=\"https:\/\/extra.ie\/2025\/03\/30\/entertainment\/celebrity\/brian-odriscoll-tennis\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">tennis<\/a> to a \u2018toxic boyfriend\u2019.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"700\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-2231901350-e1771270790618.jpg\" alt=\"Tennis\" class=\"wp-image-1746941\"  \/>Destanee Aiava has slammed the sport as \u2018racist\u2019. Pic: Matthew Stockman\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Aiava also revealed that her social media profile has been the subject of a number of online trolls over recent years.<\/p>\n<p>The 25-year-old wrote: \u2018My ultimate goal is to be able to wake up every day and genuinely say I love what I do \u2013 which I think everyone deserves the chance at.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I\u2019m 25, turning 26 this year and I feel so far behind everyone else, like I\u2019m starting from scratch. I\u2019m also scared. But that\u2019s better than living a life that\u2019s misaligned, or being around constant comparison and losing yourself.\u2019<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"700\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-2230663759-e1771270853899.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1746942\"  \/>Aiava is walking away from the sport this year. Pic: Robert Prange\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Aiava took aim at several people, including \u2018everyone in the <a href=\"https:\/\/evoke.ie\/2025\/01\/16\/style\/styled-by-niamh-sarah-hawkshaw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">tennis<\/a> community who\u2019s ever made me feel less than\u2019, \u2018every single gambler who\u2019s sent me hate or death threats\u2019, and \u2018the people who sit behind screens on social media commenting on my body, my career\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>She also slammed the \u2018sport that hides behind so-called class and gentlemanly values\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Aiava added: \u2018Behind the white outfits and traditions is a culture that\u2019s racist, misogynistic, homophobic and hostile to anyone who doesn\u2019t fit its mould.\u2019<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"700\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-2256037609-e1771270899317.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1746943\"  \/>Aiava said she has been the victim of online trolls. Pic: Andy Cheung\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>She went on to thank tennis for the opportunities it gave her, including the chance to see the world and make friends.<\/p>\n<p>She also expressed gratitude to the Pacific Islander community and said she was \u2018deeply humbled\u2019 to inspire children who look like her to \u2018chase their dreams\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>The Australian achieved her career-high WTA ranking of world number 147 in singles in 2017 and number 133 in doubles in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Figures from data science firm Signify, the International Tennis Federation and WTA recently showed the level of abuse that players have received.<\/p>\n<p>In 2024, around 8,000 abusive, violent or threatening messages were sent publicly to 458 tennis players through their social media accounts, with many stemming from betting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australian tennis star Destanee Aiava has slammed the sport as \u2018racist\u2019 after announcing her early retirement at 25.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":484434,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":["post-484433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=484433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/484434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}