Anxiety attack strikes Destanee with world No 1 at her mercy

Destanee Aiava admits she suffered an anxiety attack that left her dazed in her agonising loss to world No 1 Simona Halep.

Destanee Aiava talks to the doctor during her match against Simona Halep. Picture: Michael Klein

Melbourne-born wildcard Destanee Aiava wants to play a men’s brand of tennis. She’s drawn comparisons to Serena Williams. But she admits she suffered an anxiety attack on Rod Laver Arena yesterday that left her unable to remember the score during her agonising defeat to wounded world No 1 Simona Halep at the Australian Open.

The powerhouse teenager, who complained of mental exhaustion last week at Kooyong, called for the trainer at 5-2 because she was hyperventilating from stress.

She lost two set points, fell just short in the tiebreaker, watched Halep go down with a rolled ankle in the second set but conceded a 7-6 (7-5) 6-1 defeat to the Romanian baseliner who has the dubious honour of topping the world rankings without having won a major championship.

The 17-year-old Aiava conceded the scale of the occasion got to her.

“I just got really anxious at 5-2 and started hyperventilating a bit,” she said. “Everything’s fine. I actually didn’t remember the score because I was just so out of it when I came back out. I guess I’ve got to work on that a bit. But it happens.

“Hopefully I won’t do that next time. That was the first time it’s happened. It did bring me out of focus a bit.

“I think next time I’ll be fine. I just got a bit anxious. I enjoyed it as well. I’ve tried to work on every shot, just bring that into my game, not play one-sided. Just bring my game into more of a men’s game, like all-around, not like an average girl’s match.”

Aiava played a compelling yet erratic match for a 17-year-old on a grand stage that should convince her the future has endless possibilities if she knuckles down in a fledgling career that has already left her struggling to deal with the internal and external pressures.

She had moments of brilliance and was likened to Williams by the complimentary Halep, but she was unable to apply enough heat when the limping top seed was clearly inconvenienced by the ankle that required heavy strapping when she twisted it in the second game of the second set.

“She hits the ball very strong,” Halep said. “She’s very talented. She’s very powerful. She has a very good future ahead of her. She’s a little bit like Serena. She hits a powerful ball and she looks like her.”

It was doubtful who ended the match in the most pain. Halep barely had a leg to stand on while Aiava cut a disconsolate figure as she trudged back up the players’ tunnel.

“The fact that she referenced me to Serena gives me a lot of confidence in myself,” Aiava said. “I feel honoured, as well, especially coming from her, being the best player in the world right now. So yeah, no, 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. Hopefully I can go a little bit further next time.

“Last week I was a bit down. 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 I’ve got a long way to go. I’ll have those moments. But I’m enjoying my tennis a lot recently. Just back to hard work after this.”