Despite winning her first qualifying match for the 2025 Australian Open, Aussie tennis star Destanee Aiava did not have much time to celebrate as she was forced to defend herself against body-shaming trolls online.
The World No.165 defeated 10th seed Ana Bogdan 6-4 6-2 in the first round of qualifiers on Monday. Aiava donned a vintage Nike outfit worn by tennis great Maria Sharapova during the encounter, but faced some negative comments from various trolls online.
The 24-year old's outfit was the same as that worn by Sharapova during her 2005 US Open run. However, several users on Twitter opted to make derogatory comments regarding the kit.
“Omg why would she wear a dress that doesn’t suit her at all? She made a mess of the outfit with her unproportionate body, her bulges covering the dress design," wrote one user.
Aiava caught wind of the comment and was quick to respond.
“Omg thank you so much,” she replied sarcastically. “I love how your bio says ‘personal insult and swearing reply = block’ and then you go and comment a personal insult.”
Another user shared screenshots of Aiava mid-match, writing: “Not to hate or body shame anyone but Destanee Aiave needs to lose some weight to get more quick on her feet imo”.
The Aussie tennis star told them to “shut the f*** up”, adding: “‘Not to hate’ or ‘body shame’ and then you went and hated and body shamed”. She then quoted the tweet and wrote: “good job triggering my ED”. The user quickly apologized and Aiava accepted, replying: “thank u for ur apology”.
Math isn’t mathing, stand on business and don’t be a hypocrite xo pic.twitter.com/naeNCNYmkm
— Des Aiava (@destaneeaiava) January 6, 2025