Destanee Aiava throws chair after Prague final defeat, issues retirement statement due to death threats before social media vanishes

WTA
Monday, 24 February 2025 at 11:00
destanee aiava

It was a series of unfortunate events for 24-year-old Aussie star Destanee Aiava who issued a sudden statement saying she was retiring from tennis after losing in the final of a 75k tournament in Prague.

Aiava lost the final to Gabriela Knutson 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 with the latter not only seeing off the Aussie but also rising German, Ella Seidel and also Dalma Galfi. But it was the former who took out her frustration as the heat of the moment seemed to get to her.

She flung the plastic chair against the wall after the match in frustration and issued a statement on social media claiming that she had taken the decision to stop playing. This due to hate messages and death threats in the aftermath of defeats, an issue which is very much ongoing.

"I’ve made the executive decision to retire due to receiving hate msgs/comments and death threats after every single loss," Aiava wrote.

Not long after said post, she decided to delete social media ll together. She has won nine singles and 13 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. However she hit the spotlight in January more as the other half of the infamous Danielle Collins vs crowd Australian Open moment.

She lost to Collins after initially also defeating Eva Lys in qualifying who ironically went on to better her run. Aiava though has been open in the past about having borderline personality disorder and wanting to commit suicide before finding joy again in tennis.

'The night of Easter Sunday (17th April) I was going to throw myself off a bridge onto the M1, 3 people drove by, dragged me off the rails and drove me home,' she wrote in a Instagram post in 2022.

'I did not want to make it to my 22nd birthday, but I know my family and friends would be happy to know I'm alive on this day that's meant to be special.

'Sometimes people you come across in life can make you feel that you're unworthy of being loved, but at the end of the day I've learnt - "God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength but with your testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it".'

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