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David Wagner (tennis)

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David Wagner
Wagner at the 2017 US Open.
Country (sports) United States
ResidenceChula Vista, California, U.S.
Born (1974-03-04) March 4, 1974 (age 50)
Fullerton, California, U.S.
PlaysRight Handed
Singles
Career record892–198[1]
Career titles166
Highest rankingNo. 1 (April 7, 2003)[1]
Current rankingNo. 3 (July 11, 2022)[1]
Grand Slam singles results
Australian OpenW (2011, 2013, 2014)
French OpenF (2019)
WimbledonSF (2019, 2021, 2022)
US OpenW (2010, 2011, 2017)
Other tournaments
MastersW (2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019)
Paralympic GamesF (2004, 2012)
Doubles
Career record570–122[1]
Career titles187
Highest rankingNo. 1 (October 14, 2002)[1]
Current rankingNo. 3 (July 11, 2022)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian OpenW (2008, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2022, 2024)
French OpenW (2019, 2020, 2021)
WimbledonW (2021)
US OpenW (2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018)
Other doubles tournaments
Masters DoublesW (2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018)
Paralympic GamesW (2004, 2008, 2012)
Medal record
Men's wheelchair tennis
Representing the  United States
Paralympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2004 Athens Quad doubles
Gold medal – first place 2008 Beijing Quad doubles
Gold medal – first place 2012 London Quad doubles
Silver medal – second place 2004 Athens Quad singles
Silver medal – second place 2012 London Quad singles
Silver medal – second place 2016 Rio de Janeiro Quad doubles
Bronze medal – third place 2008 Beijing Quad singles
Bronze medal – third place 2016 Rio de Janeiro Quad singles
Last updated on: September 10, 2021.

David Wagner (born March 4, 1974) is an American wheelchair tennis player. Paralyzed from the mid-chest down and with thirty percent function in his hands, he competes in the quad division. He plays by taping the tennis racket to his hand.[2] He is currently ranked number three in the world in singles and number two in doubles.[3]

Early life

[edit]

Wagner was born in Fullerton, California,[4] and grew up in Walla Walla, Washington.[2] He played basketball in high school and tennis in college. He became a quadriplegic at age 21 while visiting a friend in Redondo Beach, California, during summer break. He and his friends were playing frisbee on the beach and Wagner began chasing after the frisbee through shallow water. He attempted to jump over a wave, but the wave caught his feet, spun him around, and he landed head-first in the sand, leaving him paralyzed.[5] He took a year off of college and began practicing table tennis as part of his rehabilitation. He won a national competition in that sport three years in a row, from 1997 to 1999.[2]

Tennis career

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David Wagner at the 2017 US Open
David Wagner at the 2017 NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters
David Wagner at the 2017 BNP Open de France

In 1999, at age 25, he attended a wheelchair tennis training camp set up by Rick Draney, then the top-ranked quadriplegic tennis player in the world. Wagner immediately loved the sport and by 2002 was the number one ranked U.S. quadriplegic player.[2]

In 2002, Wagner reached number one in the ITF world rankings in quad doubles, and in 2003, he reached number one in the quad singles world rankings as well. The 2004 Summer Paralympics were the first Paralympic Games to include the quad division. Wagner won the gold medal in Quad Doubles with partner Nick Taylor and the silver medal in singles.[6]

In 2007, he participated in the first Quad competition held at the U.S. Open, winning doubles with Taylor and taking second place in singles behind Peter Norfolk.[7] Wagner had urged the United States Tennis Association to include a quadriplegic division at the event; the U.S. Open was the first of the Grand Slam tournaments to do so. The Australian Open followed suit the next year, with Wagner finishing runner-up in singles, and winning doubles with Taylor.[8] The US Open and the Australian Open were the only Grand Slams to offer a Quad wheelchair tennis draw, until 2019. The first Quad Wheelchair Doubles exhibition event was held at Wimbledon in 2018. Wagner won the event, partnering Andy Lapthorne.[9] Later that year, Wimbledon announced that they would offer a singles and doubles quad draw as of 2019.[10] Roland Garros followed with a similar announcement a few months later.[11] Wagner, partnering Alcott, won the inaugural Roland Garros Quad Doubles draw.

At the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, Wagner and Taylor won gold in doubles and competed against each other in the bronze medal match of the singles event, with Wagner taking the match and the medal.[6] At the 2012 London Paralympics, Wagner and Taylor won one more gold medal in doubles, defeating the British team of Andy Lapthorne and Peter Norfolk in the final. Wagner also won a silver medal in singles. At the final, he played against Israel's Noam Gershony. At the 2016 Summer Paralympics, Wagner clinched two more medals, a Silver in Quad Doubles and a Bronze in Quad Singles.

According to ITF world rankings, Wagner had been consistently ranked in the top three of the quad division, in both singles and doubles, from 2002 until 2020. He has finished as Year-End Number 1 a total of eight times in singles, as well as fourteen times in doubles, as of December 2017.[1] Wagner had been crowned doubles champion at every U.S. Open Quad Doubles draw, since the Grand Slam started offering a Quad Draw, in 2007, until 2019, when Wagner with partner Bryan Barten lost to Alcott and Lapthorne. He has also been crowned doubles champion in all editions of the French Open Quad Doubles draw so far, playing with three different partners.

Besides competing, Wagner is often invited to teach in wheelchair camps and clinics in the United States, where he encourages both kids and adults to become involved with the sport.[12]

Personal

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Wagner graduated with an elementary education degree in 2000. In 2001, when he had to choose between teaching and playing tennis, he decided to become a full time wheelchair tennis player.[13][14] From 2006 until 2014 he lived in Hillsboro, Oregon, and then moved to Chula Vista, California.[15] He trains at the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center, (formerly Chula Vista Olympic Training Center) where he is the only tennis player in residence.[16]

Tennis career statistics

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Grand Slam performance timelines

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Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.

Current through the 2023 Australian Open.

Quad singles

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Tournament 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 SR
Australian Open NH F F F W F W W F F RR F F RR QF QF SF 1R 3 / 17
French Open Not held F SF SF SF 0 / 4
Wimbledon Not held SF NH SF SF 0 / 3
US Open F NH F W W NH F F F NH W F RR RR QF SF 3 / 12

Quad doubles

[edit]
Tournament 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 SR
Australian Open NH W W W F F W W W W W F F F F W SF W 10 / 17
French Open Not held W W W SF 3 / 4
Wimbledon Not held W[a] F NH W F 1 / 3
US Open W NH W W W NH W W W NH W W F F SF SF 9 / 13
  1. ^ Exhibition match.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f "David Wagner". International Tennis Federation website. Archived from the original on September 10, 2018. Retrieved September 19, 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d Herzog, Boaz (July 20, 2008). "Wheelchair tennis star wants gold this time". The Oregonian. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved October 28, 2008.
  3. ^ "ITF Wheelchair Tennis Rankings". itftennis.com. International Tennis Federation. Archived from the original on October 18, 2019. Retrieved January 29, 2015.
  4. ^ "Wagner, David – Biography". International Tennis Federation. Archived from the original on December 16, 2007. Retrieved October 28, 2008.
  5. ^ "World's best wheelchair tennis players converge for US Open". September 4, 2017. Archived from the original on January 4, 2018. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  6. ^ a b "David Wagner". Paralympic.org. International Paralympic Committee.
  7. ^ "Scores & Stats". United States Tennis Association. 2007. Archived from the original on October 18, 2008. Retrieved October 31, 2008.
  8. ^ "2008 Australian Open Finals". Tennis Australia. 2008. Archived from the original on October 28, 2008. Retrieved October 31, 2008.
  9. ^ "The History Boys: How the quads paved the way for future generations". Archived from the original on August 23, 2018. Retrieved September 5, 2018.
  10. ^ "Wimbledon announce new quad wheelchair singles and doubles events". November 9, 2018. Archived from the original on January 29, 2022. Retrieved November 27, 2019.
  11. ^ "ITF Tennis - WHEELCHAIR - Articles - Roland Garros to stage quad events from 2019". Archived from the original on February 14, 2019. Retrieved November 27, 2019.
  12. ^ "Wheelchair Spotlight Presented by Deloitte: David Wagner | News | Official Site of the 2018 US Open Tennis Championships - A USTA Event". Archived from the original on January 4, 2018. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  13. ^ "Wheelchair Tennis Champion David Wagner Serves Up Aces & Inspiration". YouTube. Archived from the original on December 5, 2021.
  14. ^ "A champion in Chula Vista". February 5, 2014. Archived from the original on December 22, 2017. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
  15. ^ Smith, Jeff (June 3, 2014). "Former Hillsboro resident David Wagner helps U.S. wheelchair tennis team win silver medal at World Team Cup". The Oregonian. Archived from the original on June 7, 2014. Retrieved June 5, 2014.
  16. ^ Rice Epstein, Jennifer (September 5, 2015). "David Wagner is America's Most Decorated Men's Tennis Player. So Why Hasn't Anyone Heard of Him?". Vice. Archived from the original on January 4, 2018. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
[edit]
Preceded by
Peter Norfolk
Peter Norfolk
Peter Norfolk
Dylan Alcott
 Year End Number 1 – Quad singles
2005
2007
2010–2014
2017 		Succeeded by
Peter Norfolk
Peter Norfolk
Dylan Alcott
Dylan Alcott
Preceded by Year End Number 1 – Quad doubles
2004–2018 		Succeeded by
Incumbent
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