Three years ago, Aussie tennis star Destanee Aiava had to be talked out of jumping off a bridge. Now she’s on top of the world at the Australian Open

Australian tennis star Destanee Aiava has come back from the brink of suicide just three years ago to achieve her first grand slam win at the Australian Open.

Aiava advanced with her first win at Melbourne Park on her sixth attempt, beating Belgium’s Greet Minnen 5-7 7-5 7-6 (10-5) on Monday night.

The 24-year-old qualifier trailed 5-2 in the second set but rallied and rattled off five straight games, saving two match points, to send the match to a decider.

‘I’m just super happy to get through and finally win a first round of singles in a Grand Slam, especially at my home slam,’ she said. 

‘It was really nice and special. The crowd got me through.’

The stunning feat is even more special for those who know how close Aiava came to ending her life almost three years ago.

‘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”.’

Aiava is now in a far better place thanks to the support of family and friends – and the incredible intervention of three strangers who helped talk her down from the bridge in Melbourne.

Speaking after her win on Monday, Aiava said confidence has sometimes been an issue in the past.

‘I can sometimes get into a really bad head space and think that I was never going to win a first-round match or I wouldn’t ever qualify, before I did at the US Open (in 2024),’ she said.

‘But once I actually do those things and the belief comes with it, then just the more situations I’m in like this, it definitely gives me more confidence.’

With her win in the first round, Aiava is guaranteed to pocket $200,000 – and could take home a lot more if she beats American Danielle Collins in her next outing. 

 

‘It means that I can bring someone to travel with this year, and I can afford to actually go to all the tournaments that I want to,’ she said.

‘It really helps. Financially, tennis is so expensive. I struggle traveling on my own. The fact that I get to bring my fiancé with me and hopefully one of my family members to the big ones makes a world of a difference.’

The Australian says trying to ignore social media has been good for her mental health – but admits it’s hard to give up altogether. 

‘At the moment I’m dealing with it okay. I try to stay off my phone as much as possible and ‘I’m used to it now because I had so much when I was little. I’m older now. I can deal with it a lot better. I have the people around me to keep me in check. 

‘If they see me on my phone too I feel like the only negative things I see is from other people commenting, it’s not so much the articles that are bad. Maybe some titles are a bit clickbait.

‘I don’t think there’s much the media can do better. It’s their job. It’s just the average Joes being shit to people.

‘Everyone who came to watch and was screaming and supporting, I feel like they’re less inclined to maybe give a bad comment. I feel like they wouldn’t have sat there the whole time and watched if they didn’t feel positively towards either player.

‘It’s just the people that sit behind their phones and have nothing better to do that are sad and unhappy with their lives. I try not to look into it too much but I do like telling them off.’