David Wagner (born March 4, 1974) is an American
wheelchair tennis
Wheelchair tennis is one of the forms of tennis adapted for wheelchair users. The size of the court, net height and rackets are the same, but there are two major differences from pedestrian tennis: athletes use specially designed wheelchairs, a ...
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.
He is currently ranked number three in the world in singles and number two in doubles.
Early life
Wagner was born in
Fullerton, California
Fullerton ( ) is a city located in northern Orange County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 143,617.
Fullerton was founded in 1887. It secured the land on behalf of the Atchison, Topeka and Sa ...
,
and grew up in
Walla Walla, Washington
Walla Walla is a city in Walla Walla County, Washington, where it is the largest city and county seat. It had a population of 34,060 at the 2020 census, estimated to have decreased to 33,927 as of 2021. The population of the city and its two su ...
.
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
Redondo Beach (Spanish for ''round'') is a coastal city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, located in the South Bay region of the Greater Los Angeles area. It is one of three adjacent beach cities along the southern portion of Sa ...
, during summer break. He and his friends were playing
frisbee
A frisbee (pronounced ), also called a flying disc or simply a disc, is a gliding toy or sporting item that is generally made of injection-molded plastic and roughly in diameter with a pronounced lip. It is used recreationally and competitive ...
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. He took a year off of college and began practicing
table tennis
Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...
as part of his rehabilitation. He won a national competition in that sport three years in a row, from 1997 to 1999.
Tennis career
![C0A1979](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/C0A1979.jpg)
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.
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
)
, nations = 136
, athletes = 3,806
, events = 519 in 19 sports
, opening = 17 September
, closing = 28 September
, opened_by = President Costis Stephanopoulos
, cauldron = Georgios Toptsis
, stadium = Olympic ...
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.
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. Wagner had urged the
United States Tennis Association
The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national governing body for tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, ...
to include a quadriplegic division at the event; the U.S. Open was the first of the
Grand Slam
Grand Slam most often refers to:
* Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves
Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to:
Games and sports
* Grand slam, winning category te ...
tournaments to do so. The
Australian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...
followed suit the next year, with Wagner finishing runner-up in singles, and winning doubles with Taylor. 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
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* ...
in 2018. Wagner won the event, partnering
Andy Lapthorne
Andrew David Lapthorne (born 11 October 1990) is a British wheelchair tennis player. He took up wheelchair tennis in 2005, and entered the quad division in 2008. He is active in both singles and doubles tournaments, and has 13 multiple grand sl ...
. Later that year, Wimbledon announced that they would offer a singles and doubles quad draw . Roland Garros followed with a similar announcement a few months later. Wagner, partnering
Alcott
Alcott is a surname of English origin. At the time of the British Census of 1881, Retrieved 25 January 2014 its relative frequency was highest in Herefordshire (18.2 times the British average), followed by Warwickshire, Glamorgan, Sussex, Worcester ...
, 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.
At the
2012 London Paralympics, Wagner and Taylor won one more gold medal in doubles, defeating the British team of
Andy Lapthorne
Andrew David Lapthorne (born 11 October 1990) is a British wheelchair tennis player. He took up wheelchair tennis in 2005, and entered the quad division in 2008. He is active in both singles and doubles tournaments, and has 13 multiple grand sl ...
and
Peter Norfolk
Peter Robert Norfolk OBE (born 13 December 1960) is a British wheelchair tennis player. Following a motorbike accident which left him paraplegic, he uses a wheelchair. He took up tennis and following a further spinal complication in 2000, he ...
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
)
, nations = 159
, athletes = 4,342
, opening = 7 September
, closing = 18 September
, opened_by = President Michel Temer
, cauldron = Clodoaldo Silva
, events = 528 in 22 sports
, stadium = MaracanĂ£
, sum ...
, 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, .
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
Alcott is a surname of English origin. At the time of the British Census of 1881, Retrieved 25 January 2014 its relative frequency was highest in Herefordshire (18.2 times the British average), followed by Warwickshire, Glamorgan, Sussex, Worcester ...
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.
Personal
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. From 2006 until 2014 he lived in
Hillsboro, Oregon
Hillsboro ( ) is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon and is the county seat of Washington County. Situated in the Tualatin Valley on the west side of the Portland metropolitan area, the city hosts many high-technology companies, ...
, and then moved to
Chula Vista, California
Chula Vista (; ) is the second-largest city in the San Diego metropolitan area, the Largest cities in Southern California, seventh largest city in Southern California, the List of largest California cities by population, fifteenth largest city ...
. He trains at the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center, (formerly Chula Vista
Olympic Training Center
The United States Olympic & Paralympic Training Centers (OPTCs) are two campuses created by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) as training facilities for its Olympic and Paralympic athletes. They are located in Colorado Spri ...
) where he is the only tennis player in residence.
Tennis career statistics
Grand Slam performance timelines
''Current through the
2022 US Open.''
Quad singles
Quad doubles
References
External links
David Wagnerat the
US Open
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wagner, David
1974 births
Living people
American male tennis players
Wheelchair tennis players
Australian Open (tennis) champions
Wimbledon champions
US Open (tennis) champions
Paralympic wheelchair tennis players of the United States
Paralympic gold medalists for the United States
Paralympic silver medalists for the United States
Paralympic bronze medalists for the United States
Paralympic medalists in wheelchair tennis
Medalists at the 2004 Summer Paralympics
Medalists at the 2008 Summer Paralympics
Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics
Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics
Wheelchair tennis players at the 2004 Summer Paralympics
Wheelchair tennis players at the 2008 Summer Paralympics
Wheelchair tennis players at the 2012 Summer Paralympics
Wheelchair tennis players at the 2016 Summer Paralympics
People with tetraplegia
Sportspeople from Walla Walla, Washington
Sportspeople from Hillsboro, Oregon
Tennis people from Washington (state)
Walla Walla University alumni
DeVry University alumni
ITF number 1 ranked wheelchair tennis players
ITF World Champions