Destanee Aiava: More Than Just a Pretty Dress

30 January 2025

Destanee Aiava has captured the imagination of the Australian nation. The 24-year-old progressed from round 1 at the Australian Open for the first time since her debut 8 years ago. Destanee, dazzling the crowds by wearing vintage tennis clothes, advanced to play forthright US 10th seed Danielle Collins. The home hope was defeated – but that was only part of the story.

The former teenage prodigy, engaged in a whirl of media activities, was happy to squeeze our Kate Allman into her frantic schedule. They discussed not just on-court dresses and Grand Slam dreams, but also the realities of life on tour for players not at the very top and her own mental health challenges.

Rewind to the start of the tournament, and the Australian had caught the attention of the media with her retro-tennis gear.

“I was looking at old tennis pictures of, I think Serena and Maria Sharapova,” Destanee said. “I just really wanted to find the old dresses that they were wearing because no one else was wearing them anymore… I bought a couple and then decided I was going to wear it for my qualifying matches… It was really exciting, watching everyone try to suss out what I was going to wear for my next matches.”

Being in the spotlight served Aiava well, as she qualified for the second round of a slam for the first time in her career. Cue: the match against Danielle Collins, who seems to relish her nickname “Danimal”. The noisy Melbourne crowd were vocal in their support for the Australian. But their boos only seemed to fire up the American. She won 7-6 (7-5) 4-6 6-2 and, to add insult to the home fans’ injury, delivered an unequivocal post-match on-court interview, in which she said, “I was thinking during the match… if I’m out here I may as well just take that big, fat pay cheque’. Coco (Vandeweghe) and I just love a five-star vacation, so part of that cheque is going to go towards that, so thank you guys.”

A five-star holiday is not on Destanee’s agenda. The world No. 165 explained to Kate that she can barely afford the expenses of being on tour.

“We have to pay for our own accommodation and flights and, equipment and food and coaches and everything. So yeah, I feel like tennis is one of the most expensive sports in the world. And, especially in the lower level, you're not getting as much prize money as you'd like. So, we really have to spend it wisely. And most of the time find the cheapest hotel. Sometimes it is a hostel, cheapest flights traveling by train or bus.”

Paying her way isn’t easy. But Destanee has battled more than budgets. She opened up to Kate about her diagnosis of borderline personality disorder.

“I've always struggled with my mental health, growing up. But I was just fortunate enough to go and get help and get diagnosed with BPD. So, yeah, it's always something that I'm dealing with every day. And, especially in tennis, it is really tough, because it is so lonely,” she explained. “It's not easy, but, these are the cards that I'm dealt with and… I'm just, really happy to be on top of it and to be in a better place.”

Destanee said that therapy has helped her a great deal.

“I feel like it's really important, especially off the court as well. For me, if I'm happy off court, then my results will show on court… I really do hope a lot of athletes are more open with their mental health.”

If you want to hear the whole interview…. And if you want to support Destanee, well, she’s on the look-out for Maria Sharapova’s purply-pink dress. Any tips on how to track that one down would be gratefully received by a young Australian woman who’s already preparing for her next round of tournaments.