By Liam Twomey
Destanee Aiava is currently the best female tennis player for her age group in Australia and one day hopes to be the greatest in the world.
She was encouraged by her parents to take up sport at an early age and quickly selected tennis.
“We tried to get her involved with team sports but she didn’t like the idea of sharing,” said Mark Aiava, Destanee’s father.
“My wife and I comprised a list of sports for her to play and she woke up the next morning and said ‘I want to be number one in the world in tennis’.”
Destanee achieved her best on-court performance at the recent Optus 12s National Claycourt Championships where she was able to win her first ever national title at just 10 years of age.
“The second set was a little harder than the first and I made a few mistakes in the first two games,” said Destanee after the final, which she won easily over Sasha Bollweg from Western Australia, 6-0 6-2, in just 57 minutes.
Impressively, Aiava didn’t drop a set for the entire tournament.
“She had been highly ranked for some time and her goal was to win one before she was 11 and she managed to achieve that which was a big one for her,” said Mark.
Her style of game is similar to Serena Williams, who also happens to be her favourite player.
“She is an all round aggressive player. She likes to attack the net.”
Currently sitting at a career high ranking of No.348, 200 spots ahead of her nearest age group rival in Australia, Destanee is working on achieving some short and long term goals.
“Her big goal is to be world champion and play at those big events. Her goal at the moment is to dominate everyone in her age group and that’s not just Australia wide, that’s worldwide.”
Tennis Victoria’s Talent Development Manager, Ashley Naumann, believes Destanee can have a lot of success.
“Destanee has made significant progress with her development over this past year. She has a very bright future in front of her.”
See what Destanee had to say after winning the Optus 12s National Claycourt Championship.
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