Destanee Aiava has announced that 2026 will be her final year on tour as a professional tennis player, citing “gamblers” and social media abuse as the reasons why. Aiava, 25, has been playing professionally since she was a teenager, and made her Australian Open debut at just 16.
Aiava has primarily featured on the lower tier of women’s tennis, with the Aussie having won 11 ITF titles. Her best Grand Slam performance came in 2025 when she made it through to the second round of the Australian Open.
But the Melbourne-born ace looks to be cutting her career short, saying in an explosive social media statement: “I want to say a ginormous f*** you to everyone in the tennis community who’s ever made me feel less than.
“F*** you to every single gambler who’s sent me hate or death threats. F*** you to the people who sit behind screens on social media, commenting on my body, my career, or whatever the f*** they want to nitpick. And f*** you to a sport that hides behind so-called class and gentlemanly values. Behind the white outfits and traditions is a culture that’s racist, misogynistic, homophobic and hostile to anyone who doesn’t fit its mould.”
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She also said: “From the moment I had my first lesson at Casey Tennis Club, my entire life was tennis. I often wondered what my life would have looked like if I’d chosen anything else. And whether everything I sacrificed for this sport was actually worth the cost. There was a time in my career when I had reached the point that comes just before you make your big breakthrough, when the world is at your feet and nothing can touch you.
“I was only 17, unprepared and dangerously naive to the consequences of trusting the wrong people. The trajectory of my career was never the same after that. Sometimes I kept playing because I felt like I owed it to not only myself, but to everyone who had helped me throughout my career, to try and get back to where (on paper) I belonged. Other times I kept going because I was too scared to start again.
“Or I was bored. I also didn’t know who I was outside of tennis an what my true passion was. I was constantly looking for that thing that gave me grief. In other words, tennis was my toxic boyfriend.”