Destanee Aiava, 17, gave world No. 1 Halep everything she could handle

MELBOURNE—On Tuesday, 17-year-old Destanee Aiava faced world No. 1 Simona Halep inside Rod Laver Arena and she looked like she’d been there before. It’s because she has.

“She played without thinking, without emotions,” Halep said. “She was not afraid of anything so she was hitting very strong and very well. I was actually stressed a little bit because two years in a row I’ve lost first round so I didn’t want to do the third one.”

Last year in Melbourne, Aiava was the first player born in the 2000s to play a main draw Grand Slam. She lost to Mona Barthel, and she’d lose on Tuesday to Halep, 7-6 (5), 6-1. But this loss wasn't in vain.

“I'm going to take a lot of confidence out of that match. Just being able to push her to 7-6, being 5-2 up, I feel great about myself, how I played,” the world No. 193 said. “Yeah, hopefully I can go further a bit—a little bit further next time.”

Aiava raced to a 5-2 lead and then took a 10-minute medical timeout, perplexing the crowd, and even Halep. Things got even stranger when Aiava went to change sides after losing the next game, looking like thought she’d won the first set before her timeout. It actually turns out she wasn’t as emotionless as Halep thought.

“I just got really anxious at 5-2 and started hyperventilating a bit,” Aiava said. “It did bring me out of focus a bit. I think that's what my opportunity, just how I lost it a bit. I actually didn't remember the score because I was just so out of it when I came back out.”

Momentum then flew in the direction of the veteran, with Aiava still holding her own, thanks to her big serves and even bigger strokes (Halep even likened her to Serena Williams).

“I’ve tried to work on every shot, just bring that into my game, not play one-sided,” Aiava said. “Yeah, just bring my game into more of a men's game, like all-around, not like an average girl's.”

But Halep is No. 1 for a reason, and took her chances the second they came, while Aiava is still so very green.

The Romanian beat her Melbourne curse, but not without more drama. Up 1-0 in the second set, she took a huge step and sprained her left ankle, falling to the court and necessitating a lengthy medical time out. Despite all the chaos, Halep smoothly won five of the next six games to advance to a showdown with Eugenie Bouchard.

Aiava, a Melbourne native, earned her way into the draw the hard way. After losing a nail-biting final at the Australian 18/Under Championships to Jaimee Fourlis, she had to win the Australian Open Wild Card Playoff to get into the main draw.

“It was very tough,” she said. “After losing in the final to Jaimee, then having to come back a couple days later, try and earn my way into the main draw again. That's what we train for, I guess. All the hard work pays off in the end.”

That meant weeks of pressure and suspense sitting on the youngster’s shoulders. By the time she got to Melbourne Park, red flags were swirling.

In Kooyong last week, after an exhibition loss to Bouchard, Aiava said, "This whole tennis thing is kind of getting to me. Hopefully after the [Australian] Open, I will get a break which is what I want and what I need."

It’s easy to forget that this is a 17-year-old with pressure and expectations already weighing heavily on her.

“I'll have those moments,” Aiavasaid on Tuesday. “But I'm enjoying my tennis a lot recently, like lately. Maybe like one or two days.”

The happy-go-lucky youth from last year seems to be already replaced with a more skeptical and wary adult.

“Last week I was a bit down,” she said. “This week I felt a lot better about my game. Just mentally I went in there with a fresh mindset. I played a lot better. I'm still 17, so got a long way to go.”

It’s no secret that burnout is a very real problem in tennis (the most high-profile recent case was Ashleigh Barty—who has since turned her career around). Riding the hype train is all fun and games until the player at the center of the attention balks. Reporters and fans don’t know what her day-to-day grind is like, what she’s being expected to achieve by her coaches and family or if she is ready to deal with all the attention that may be coming her way.

Here’s to hoping she gets the breather she needs to keep growing because, inexperience aside, what Aiava showed on Tuesday is that she’s more than capable of being a real threat on tour.

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