She once tried to take her own life. Now she’s done the amazing

by Admin
August 22, 2024

There were emotional scenes after Australian wildcard Destanee Aiava qualified for the main draw of the US Open on Friday morning (AEST).

The 24-year-old has turned her life around after hitting rock bottom and once admitting she “did not want to make it” to her 22nd birthday.

During that dark time, she revealed she had attempted to end her life after she was made to feel “unworthy of being loved”.

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But that period of her life is becoming a distant a memory.

She is now happily engaged … and into first grand slam tournament (outside of the Aus Open) after spending last year battling away on the tennis circuit’s lower rungs with barely a buck in her pocket and relying on handouts from her mother “for food, or a train or bus ticket”.

Aiava, the world No.180, cruised past Croatian Ana Konjuh (a former top-20 player and US Open quarterfinalist in 2016) in just 69 minutes, winning 6-3 6-2 to qualify for the US Open.

Aiava dropped to her knees after defeating Ana Koniuh to qualify for the US Open. Credit: Instagram

It was her third straight-sets victory this week over a high-ranked rival … and she was in tears when she embraced her boyfriend, Corey Gaal, after the match.

The latter was pumped, too, later writing on Instagram, “F******* main draw. Let’s goooo,” and sharing a video of Aiava after match point, dropping to her knees on the court.

She is now guaranteed a $100,000 (US) pay check for making it to the first round of the US Open with the tournament upping its prize purse this year.

She has also become a member of Australia’s biggest contingent at a US Open in almost half a century with a record six players successfully qualifying for the season’s final grand slam in New York.

Spearheaded by world No.10 Alex de Minaur, Australia will have 20 players in the singles main draws at Flushing Meadows, the same number as 1979 when the great Evonne Goolagong Cawley led the charge.

De Minaur and fellow seed Alexei Popyrin are among 10 men in the top 100 who gained direct entry alongside women’s veterans Daria Saville and 2022 quarter-finalist Ajla Tomljanovic.

Wildcards Tristan Skoolkate and Taylah Preston boosted the guaranteed starters to 14 before Li Tu, teenager Maya Joint, veteran Arina Rodionova, Kim Birrell, Priscilla Hon and Aiava all won final-round qualifying matches on Friday.

The mighty effort marks the first time in US Open history five Australian women have earned main-draw berths through qualifying and the first time in 11 years Australia has had qualifiers in both the men’s and women’s singles at Flushing Meadows.

The super impressive Joint secured a grand slam main-draw debut with a 6-2 6-1 trouncing of American world No.106 Hailey Baptiste, the tournament’s third seed.

Hon advanced with a 7-6 (7-4) 6-7 (2-7) 6-4 victory over Russian top seed Kamilla Rakhimova for her best grand-slam result since the 2020 Australian Open.

After falling in the final round of qualifying last year, Birrell went a step further with a 6-3 6-3 win over 15-year-old American wildcard Julieta Pareja.

Rodionova, 34, qualified for a major for the first time since 2019 Wimbledon, with a 6-4 6-2 defeat of Thailand’s Mananchaya Sawangkaew.

And 28-year-old Tu gallantly saved two match points in an epic 3-6 6-1 7-5 win over Dutch sixth seed Jesper de Jong in the biggest win of his grand slam career.

The world No.188 joins de Minaur, Popyrin, Jordan Thompson, Rinky Hijikata, James Duckworth, Thanasi Kokkinakis, Chris O’Connell, Max Purcell, Aleksandar Vukic, Adam Walton and Skoolkate in the men’s main draw.

– With AAP