PHOTOS: The story behind every Destanee Aiava throwback kit at Australian Open 

While all the big-name tennis apparel brands were unveiling colorful new collections for the Australian Open, Destanee Aiava was looking to the past.

The qualifier from Melbourne’s suburbs turned heads during the first week of the “Happy Slam” when she was seen sporting vintage tennis dresses once worn by Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic and more during her run to the second round.

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Though it was Aiava’s best Grand Slam result to date, the 24-year-old didn’t have an apparel sponsor going into her home tournament. But thanks to some savvy Black Friday shopping, she was prepared with some “iconic” secondhand tennis gear found on sites like Ebay and Facebook.

“I’m not sure if anyone remembers this style?” the Aussie asked viewers back in December, as she showed off a berry and light pink-colored Adidas dress from 2010 on a YouTube vlog.

“The girls were playing in this years ago, but I really wanted to find some vintage tennis dresses that I thought were cute. I just really want to bring the vintage dresses back on court.”

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Aiava did just that, hitting the courts in Melbourne Park wearing throwback styles. The world No. 195 navigated through the qualifying rounds, reaching the main draw for the first time since 2021.

But it wasn’t just her tennis that was drawing attention, as eagle-eyed fans on social media eventually spotted the looks and started matching them to the Grand Slam winners who originally wore them in the late 2000s and early 2010s. Soon, Aiava’s on-court style was being written about in *Vogue*.

"I didn't really think that anything would come of it,” Aiava told Sporting News. “It was an impulsive buy. I just wanted to find some old dresses that nobody was wearing anymore and some looks that I thought were iconic.

“I decided to wear a few this AO because I don't have a sponsor. Somehow it got picked up by everyone and now it's blown up, which has been pretty cool."

For each match, Aiava brought out a different dress from her vintage haul. Tennis fans had fun spotting the dresses and their references, as journalist Ben Rothenberg kept a thread on X documenting each look.

Aiava wore a light pink Nike dress—first seen on Sharapova at the 2012 US Open—for her first match in qualies, and brought out Ivanovic’s berry and pink Adidas dress from 2010 for the second.

When she clinched a spot in the main draw, she was wearing another Ivanovic dress from the 2009 US Open, while Aiava’s most viral look saw her rock a sky blue and navy Adidas dress with side cutouts—previously worn by Caroline Wozniacki at the 2013 US Open. After securing her first Grand Slam main-draw win, Aiava’s run came to an end—but not before she brought out one more great look, throwing it back to Sharapova’s 2011 Roland Garros outfit.

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Aiava racked up $124,280 in prize money for reaching the second round, and she’s told press that she’s looking forward to using it to bring family with her on her travels. It will also surely go a long way to helping her source more vintage kits—if the exposure doesn’t help her snag an apparel sponsor first.

Still, that might not be her style. Aiava, who wants to pursue a degree in fashion design, told the BBC that she finds some of the tennis outfits being designed today “quite ugly.”

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