Olympic Games Paris 2024

Paralympic champion David Wagner on the wheelchair game's special standing in tennis: 'There's a lot of mutual respect' - Exclusive 

By Nick McCarvel
5 min|
David Wagner is a three-time Paralympic champion

Picture by 2023 Getty Images

When American tennis star Danielle Collins made the Australian Open final in 2022, a legend of the sport was sitting in her player's box, cheering her on.

David Wagner, a three-time Paralympic gold medallist and 29-time major winner in wheelchair tennis, counts Collins as one of his friends in the sport, along with Olympic medallists Venus and Serena Williams, Rajeev Ram, and other able-bodied pros.

It's a unique relationship between the main tours and the wheelchair game, with the events often being held concurrently at the same venues.

"Wheelchair tennis is one of the few sports that integrates so well with the able bodied game," Wagner tells Olympics.com in an exclusive interview last month.

"Sharing the cafeteria, sharing the locker room with them, learning from them and them learning from us. It's really cool. There's a lot of mutual respect from the able-bodied pros back towards us. And the feelings are mutual obviously for us to them."

Next week (4 June), Wagner, who competes in the quad division of wheelchair tennis, will compete alongside some of the biggest names in the sport at Roland-Garros, an event he's won three times in doubles. Stade Roland-Garros, home of the French Open, will also host both the Olympic and Paralympic tennis events for Paris 2024, a welcome sight for Wagner, who won two medals at London 2012 when it was held on the grounds of Wimbledon.

"It's really cool that we're back on red clay for the first time since Barcelona" in 1992, he said. "But the cool part for us is that the ball is a lot slower on red clay and bounces higher. [The surface] really impacts the ball and the play, but our push [of the chair] isn't impacted as much.

"So, a slower ball with a regular, fast push, it makes for longer rallies," he explained. "And it makes for more gets, more exciting tennis."

David Wagner: Wheelchair tennis levelling up

Wagner has helped usher in the modern era of wheelchair tennis, which has seen exponential growth in the 20 years since he made his Olympic debut at Athens 2004 (where he won the first two of his eight Paralympic medals). Since 2019, all four of the sport's majors ("the Grand Slams") feature not only men's and women's wheelchair divisions (in singles and doubles) but also quad wheelchair for the men, a specific division for quadriplegics.

Some of the majors, starting with the US Open, have added a junior wheelchair event, too, as the International Tennis Federation (ITF)'s global wheelchair tour has grown to feature some 160 tournaments "across 40 different countries in every region of the world," the ITF says.

"The sport of wheelchair tennis as a whole has just increased," he said. "And, you know, my division for the classification of the quad category, it's just skyrocketed."

The sport has also seen history-making stars emerge in each generation, none more so than Dutchwoman Esther Vergeer, who many consider to be one of the most dominant athletes in any sport - ever. Vergeer won 43 majors and eight Paralympic medals - seven of them gold.

While Kunieda Shingo of Japan and Australia's Dylan Alcott (a quad player) retired in 2022, Vergeer's compatriots Diede De Groot and Niels Vink (quad) have continued their respective successes. In the men's event, Gordon Reid and Alfie Hewitt, two Team GB wheelchair players, have seen the rise of 18-year-old Japanese star Oda Tokito, who has won the last three majors in singles.

It's a combination of ingredients that have made for a recipe for success: Skyrocketing competition quality, as well as access and - the sport hopes - more and more of a fan base.

'I'm super stoked for' the Paralympics

Wagner became quadriplegic at age 21, when a beach accident left him paralysed. As he began the rehabilitation process, Wagner took up table tennis, and won a trio of national titles from 1997 to 1999. He started playing tennis later that year.

The majors began instituting quad wheelchair tennis into their programmes in 2007 (starting with the US Open). Wagner found early success with fellow American Nick Taylor, whom he has paired up with for all three of his Paralympic golds in doubles, in 2004, 2008 and 2012.

Aside from some events shortening scoring formats, the only different between able-bodied tennis and any wheelchair division is that players get two bounces of the ball on their side of the court instead of just one. The sport has aimed to broaden its accessibility beyond just wheelchair tennis, with international competitions held for the visually impaired and those deaf or hard of hearing, as well as adaptive tennis, which may include athletes with cognitive and developmental disabilities, as well as amputees.

Wagner, having turned 50 earlier this year, is a continued example of the sport as a lifelong activity, with Roland-Garros set to be his 38th career appearance at a major. He'll get to come back in late summer (30 August-7 Sept.), for the Paralympic Games, too.

"It'll be really great to come back to the same venue and for a Paralympic gold medal," Wagner said of Stade Roland-Garros.

"It's an opportunity that doesn't come around very often, to play two major events in the same venue in the same year," he added. "So it's pretty sweet. I'm super stoked for it."

ATHENS, GREECE: Nick Taylor (L) of the USA celebrates with his partner David Wagner after winning the final of the Men's Quad Gold medal match during the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games on September 26, 2004 at the Olympic Stadium in Athens, Greece. (Photo by Tom Shaw/Getty Images)

Picture by 2004 Getty Images