Tennis star Arina Rodionova has announced she is getting divorced from her Australian footballer husband – days after launching her career on Only Fans.
The 35-year-old and her former partner, ex-Australian Football League player Ty Vickery, took to Instagram to share news of their split after nine years of marriage on Wednesday.
‘Hey guys, we have a quick announcement to make. We’re getting divorced. We’ve been separated for about a year,’ Arina said nonchalantly in the video.
Addressing her 27,000 social media followers, she added: ‘friends and family know but we just wanted to let the wider community know about this situation. Thank you.’
Holding a banana, Vickery, who had been quiet up to this point, then added: ‘We’re good. We’re good with each other and we wish each other the best. Thanks for the support.’
Rodionova then attempted to end the video by giving Vickery an awkward handshake, but he placed his half-eaten banana in her hand instead, causing the pair to burst into laughter.
Under the post, Rodionova wrote: ‘That’s life. We have a lot of love for each other, but sometimes that’s just not enough.’
Russian-born Rodionova, who represents Australia and was previously ranked number one nationally, was knocked out of the Australian Open in the second round of qualifiers by German Eva Lys on January 8.
She went on to announce the creation of her adult fan site on January 12, sparking rumours amongst her fans that she and her husband may have separated.
‘Good news for everyone who was asking. My OnlyFans account was confirmed so here we go. Let’s do this,’ she wrote in an Instagram post at the time.
Her career change may have been encouraged by a comment made by a fan, who suggested that she could make better money off the court.
‘Stop with tennis, you’ll make more money with OnlyFans,’ she read out during a vlog appearance last year, describing it as ‘the best compliment’ of the year.
She posted on her Instagram story after making the divorce announcement that with all the attention on her ‘now seems like a good time to start posting my bikini pictures from the Maldives… on my OnlyFans account, of course.’
Rodionova had already posted multiple pictures of her luxury trip at the end of last year on Instagram.
She went on the holiday with Russian-Estonian Olympic silver medallist ice skater Natalia Zabiiako, who she said was ‘a good photographer’.
Hours after posting the divorce video to her grid, Rodionova took to her Instagram Stories with a picture of herself on a flight out of Sydney.
‘Bye Australia, love you always,’ she wrote.
‘Also you guys should be real grateful I went through the break-up without posting a million inspirational quotes on Insta. You are welcome.’
In her Only Fans bio, Rodionova refers to herself as a tennis player ‘but a fun one’.
Rodionova and Vickery tied the knot in December 2015 – just hours after she scored a semi-final win in the Australian Open wildcard qualifier tournament.
She beat Australian pro Storm Sanders in a morning match in Melbourne at 11.10am before walking down the aisle less than five hours later at 4pm.
The wildcard semifinal was originally scheduled for the afternoon of their wedding.
But with some help from organisers and agreement from Storm, it was moved to a morning start of 9am so Rodionova could marry her groom that afternoon.
The tennis star, who celebrated her 26th birthday just days before, was then set to return to the court the next day at 12.30pm.
She played for the final against another Australian, Maddison Inglis, but lost her spot in the main draw.
‘Just a good day all round today,’ Rodionova said on the day of her wedding after the match against Storm.
‘I have a few hours to get ready and marry the most amazing guy ever and I’m so looking forward to it.
‘It was really tough to play today mentally. Obviously the wedding is on my mind.’
Vickery was absent from Rodionova’s semifinal, telling family and friends that as per tradition, he shouldn’t see his future bride until the wedding service.
Rodionova went on to compete at the Rio Olympics in 2016 and Wimbledon in 2017.
She has ended her career on a high after last year becoming the oldest woman to make a top 100 debut at the age of 34.
She is currently ranked at 184 in the WTA rankings.
