{"id":1771115,"date":"2026-02-14T20:30:29","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T17:30:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1771115"},"modified":"2026-02-14T20:30:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T17:30:29","slug":"wta-player-says-f-you-to-tennis-community-in-surprise-early-retirement-announcement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1771115","title":{"rendered":"WTA player says &#8216;f*** you&#8217; to tennis community in surprise early retirement announcement"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"ps-article-content rounded-lg lg:mt-5 lg:border lg:border-card lg:bg-card lg:shadow-primary\">\n<header>\n<h1 class=\"py-4 text-xl font-normal text-title sm:text-2xl\">WTA player says \u2018f*** you\u2019 to tennis community in surprise early retirement announcement<\/h1>\n<div class=\"my-2 flex items-center justify-between\">\n<div class=\"flex items-center\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/author\/sam-cooper\" class=\"text-sm font-normal !text-author\"><br \/>\n                            Sam Cooper                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <time class=\"ml-3 text-sm font-normal text-info md:ml-4\" datetime=\"14 Feb 2026 8:30 PM\" data-ps-date=\"14 Feb 2026 8:30 PM\" data-ps-datetime=\"1771101029\"><br \/>\n                            14 Feb 2026 8:30 PM                        <\/time>\n                    <\/div>\n<div class=\"hidden justify-end space-x-4 text-xl sm:flex sm:!opacity-100\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/wta-player-says-f-you-tennis-community-surprise-early-retirement-announcement\" class=\"!text-info hover:!text-brand\" aria-label=\"Share to facebook\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <a 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hover:!text-brand\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/share.flipboard.com\/bookmarklet\/popout?v=2&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tennis365.com%2Ftennis-news%2Fwta-player-says-f-you-tennis-community-surprise-early-retirement-announcement\" aria-label=\"Share to flipboard\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a>\n                    <\/div>\n<div class=\"sm:hidden flex items-center space-x-5\">\n                        <a class=\"!text-share-icon hover:!text-share-icon-active flex items-center justify-center\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=tennis365.com\" aria-label=\"Follow Tennis365 on Google Search\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <button id=\"t365-article-share-btn\" class=\"mr-2 hidden h-6 w-6 appearance-none border-none !text-share-icon outline-none hover:!text-share-icon-active sm:hidden\" data-title=\"WTA player says \u2018f*** you\u2019 to tennis community in surprise early retirement announcement\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/button>\n                    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"-mx-3 sm:-mx-5 border-b border-page\"><\/div>\n<section>\n<div class=\"-mx-3 sm:-mx-5\">\n<figure class=\"aspect-h-9 aspect-w-16 relative\">\n                                        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1320\" height=\"742\" loading=\"eager\" class=\"w-full h-full object-cover object-center !my-0\" src=\"https:\/\/d2me2qg8dfiw8u.cloudfront.net\/content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Destanee-Aiava-1320x742.jpg\" alt=\"Destanee Aiava\">                <\/figure><figcaption class=\"flex items-center space-x-3 border-b border-mobile-caption px-3 lg:border-caption\">\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"my-1.5 break-words !text-xs !text-content\">\n                                Destanee Aiava unleashed an extraordinary rant in announcing her impending retirement.                            <\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<div class=\"ciam-article-t365\">\n<p>Australian tennis player Destanee Aiava unleashed an expletive-laden rant at parts of the tennis community as she announced 2026 would be her last year on the WTA tour.<\/p>\n<p>The World No.236 is only 25 but described tennis as like her \u2018toxic boyfriend\u2019 in an Instagram post revealing her decision to retire from the sport.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c2026 will be my final year on tour playing professional tennis,\u201d Aiava started.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom 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\u2019d chosen anything else and whether everything I sacrificed for this sport was actually worth the cost.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere 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.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was only 17, unprepared and dangerously naive to the consequences of trusting the wrong people.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe trajectory of my career was never the same after that.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSometimes 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.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOr I was bored. I also didn\u2019t know who I was outside of tennis and what my true passion was. I was constantly looking for that thing that gave me grief. In other words, tennis was my toxic boyfriend.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Aiava proceeded to launch into a tirade against the tennis community who she felt had made her feel less than welcome.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to say a ginormous f**k you to everyone in the tennis community who\u2019s ever made me feel less than,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFk you to every single gambler who\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd f*** you to a sport that hides behind so-called class and gentlemanly values. Behind the white outfits and traditions is a culture that\u2019s racist, misogynistic, homophobic and hostile to anyone who doesn\u2019t fit its mould.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Aiava reached a career-high ranking of 147 in September 2017 but never made it past the second round of a grand slam.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Want more from Tennis365? Add us as a <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=tennis365.com\">preferred source on Google<\/a> to your favourites list for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WTA player says \u2018f*** you\u2019 to tennis community in surprise early retirement announcement Sam Cooper 14 Feb 2026 8:30 PM Destanee Aiava unleashed an extraordinary rant in announcing her impending retirement. Australian tennis player Destanee Aiava unleashed an expletive-laden rant at parts of the tennis community as she announced 2026 would be her last year [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,249],"class_list":["post-1771115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-tennis365-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1771115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1771115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1771115\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1771115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1771115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1771115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}