Heath Arthur Davidson, (born 9 May 1987) is an Australian

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. Davidson is a four-time

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 ...

doubles champion, all partnering

Dylan Alcott Dylan Martin Alcott, (born 4 December 1990) is an Australian former wheelchair tennis player, former wheelchair basketball player, radio host and motivational speaker. Alcott was a member of the Australia men's national wheelchair basketball te ...

. He has also won two

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...

medals, a gold and silver in doubles at the 2016 Rio and

2020 Tokyo Paralympics The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, was an international multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the International Paralympic ...

, respectively (both also partnering Alcott).

Early life

Davidson was born on 9 May 1987. He contracted viral

transverse myelitis Transverse myelitis (TM) is a rare neurological condition wherein the spinal cord is inflamed. The adjective ''transverse'' implies that the spinal inflammation (myelitis) extends horizontally throughout the cross section of the spinal cord; the ...

at the age of five months and this led to paraplegia. He attended Parkdale Secondary College in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Tennis

Davidson started playing wheelchair tennis at the age of 14. In 2001, At the Australian Disabled Games in Queensland he won a bronze medal in wheelchair tennis and two silver medals for table tennis. After ten years he retired from the sport. After Davidson returned to wheelchair tennis, he teamed with

to win the prestigious BNP Paribas World Team Cup held in Tokyo, Japan in May 2016. They upset Great Britain in the final. Davidson and Alcott won the Men's Quad Doubles gold medal at the Rio Paralympics. They defeated the reigning champions David Wagner and Nick Taylor in the gold medal match 4–6, 6–4, 7–5. In the Men's Quad Singles, Davidson lost to

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 ...

(GBR) 0–2 (1–6, 2–6) in the quarter-finals. In May 2017, Davidson won his first international quad singles title by winning the Korea Open. In 2019, Davidson and his partner Niels Vink won the 2019

Wheelchair Tennis Masters The Wheelchair Tennis Masters refers to a pair of end of year tennis events for wheelchair athletes held on an annual basis under the jurisdiction of the International Tennis Federation. The Wheelchair Tennis Masters for singles is an end-of-yea ...

in quad doubles. At the

, he teamed with Alcott to win the Men's Quad Doubles silver medal. He lost in the Men's Quad Singles quarter final.

Recognition

Davidson won the Variety Australia Young Sports Achievers Award in 2003 with Dylan Alcott. In 2016, he shared

Tennis Australia Tennis Australia Limited is the governing body for Tennis in Australia. It is owned by Australian states and territories. The association organises national and international Tennis tournaments including the Australian Open, the Australian Open ...

's Most Outstanding Athlete with a Disability with doubles partner Dylan Alcott. He was awarded the

Medal of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

in 2017. In 2022, he was awarded Tennis Australia's Most Outstanding Athlete with a Disability.

Grand Slam tournament finals

Quad doubles

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Davidson, Heath 1987 births Living people Australian male tennis players Australian wheelchair tennis players Wheelchair category Paralympic competitors Paralympic wheelchair tennis players of Australia Paralympic gold medalists for Australia Paralympic silver medalists for Australia Paralympic medalists in wheelchair tennis Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair tennis players at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair tennis players at the 2020 Summer Paralympics People with paraplegia Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Tennis people from Victoria (Australia) People from Mornington Peninsula Sportsmen from Victoria (Australia) People from Langwarrin, Victoria