Destanee Aiava won her opening match in Australian Open qualifying (Image: Australian Open TV)
Australian tennis star Destanee Aiava called out “body shaming” trolls after winning her first-round qualifying match.
The world No. 165 was forced to defend herself on social media after receiving remarks about her body when she wore a vintage Maria Sharapova Nike dress on court.
It comes days after Aiava slammed the poor culture among her United Cup team-mates.
Aiava got off to a storming start in the qualifying draw. The home hope upset 10th seed Ana Bogdan 6-4 6-2 on Monday.
Eagle-eyed fans noticed something special about the 24-year-old’s match kit – she was wearing one of Sharapova’s old dresses from the 2005 US Open. But the comments quickly took a negative turn and Aiava was forced to defend herself.
“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,” one user wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter).
Their tweet caught Aiava’s eye. “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.”
Destanee Aiava called out her United Cup team-mates and said she barely spoke to any of them (Image: Getty)
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The world No. 165 also posted a screenshot of their bio next to a screenshot of their tweet, writing: “Math isn’t mathing, stand on business and don’t be a hypocrite xo”.
Another user shared screenshots of Aiava mid-match and wrote: “Not to hate or body shame anyone but Destanee Aiave needs to lose some weight to get more quick on her feet imo”.
The 24-year-old 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 apologised and Aiava accepted, replying: “thank u for ur apology”.
Despite her big win in qualifying, it’s been a tough start to the Aussie summer for Aiava. As well as the trolling online, she had a difficult experience at the United Cup.
Aiava was selected for the team alongside Alex de Minaur, Omar Jasika, Olivia Gadecki, Ellen Perez and Matt Ebden. But she didn’t get to play a match and said the atmosphere was “weird and hostile”.
The 24-year-old added: “So far I’ve had a good time at the event itself. Regarding our team, yeah, it’s not felt so welcoming.
“There’s been like, at most, two people that I’ve actually properly conversed with on the team, maybe three.”
After Australia lost in the group stage, she said: “This week wasn’t the best prep for AO. In fact, it could have been the worst prep I’ve ever had, like match-wise.
“So it’s fair to say that I won’t be ever entering United Cup ever again, unless I’m the No. 1 player, because then I’ll be guaranteed a match – but I guess that’s my fault.”