- Olivia Nicholls was charged £80 for checking her rackets on a flight to Australia
- The British women’s doubles No. 1’s equipment was destroyed during transport.
A British tennis star has taken to social media to express his frustration after an airline charged him for checking in his rackets and subsequently delivered them destroyed.
Olivia Nicholls, the number one-ranked British doubles player, had traveled to Hobart, Australia, to compete in the Hobart International tournament next week.
As she did so, the 30-year-old tried to bring her three rackets in a soft case onto the plane.
In a post on Saturday he revealed that Australian low-cost airline Jetstar refused to allow him to carry his equipment as carry-on luggage.
Instead, he was asked to pay £80 ($160 AUD) to check in his Babolat brand bag and rackets.
However, upon later receiving his items, Nicholls was shocked to see the bag torn to pieces and the rackets significantly damaged.
British tennis star Olivia Nicholls took to social media to complain after her team was ‘destroyed’ after flying with an Australian airline.
The 30-year-old revealed she had been required to pay £80 to check in her bag and rackets.
Nicholls shared photos of his severely damaged equipment after they were returned to him.
“This is unacceptable @JetstarAirways,” Nicholls wrote on X.
160 AUD to check in because I can’t take it as hand luggage and they give me the bag like that? How is this possible? My bag and rackets are totally destroyed.’
The tweet garnered more than 4,000 likes in the hours after it was posted and sparked a flurry of responses from fans.
One wrote: ‘Wow, it’s not easy to break a racket. They must have tried so hard!’
Another added: ‘Oh wow. That’s terrible. They got caught on the conveyor belt and were stuck there for some time.
‘I worked as a baggage handler, I saw him a lot. They can get trapped. But at least have the decency to say it and make up for it.
A third agreed: ‘There’s ‘rough handling’ and then there’s negligence and wanton destruction… Rackets don’t break without a strong impact.
“I am confident that JetStar will increase its value quickly and that Babolat will support it in the meantime with some replacements to avoid a pause in the ability to train/compete.”
Nicholls is currently ranked No. 39 in women’s doubles and reached a career-high No. 38 in 2024.
Alongside Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova, she reached the third round of Wimbledon before being defeated by Lyudmyla Kichenok and Jelena Ostapenko.