The 21st century
United States · born Fullerton, California, 1974 · quad division · Wimbledon quad doubles champion 2021
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47
His age when he won Wimbledon in 2021
3
Paralympic quad doubles golds with Nick Taylor
8
Paralympic medals, 2004 to 2016
11
Masters quad singles titles
Born in Fullerton, California, in 1974, Wagner grew up in Walla Walla, Washington, and took up tennis at 20 while at community college. Months later an accident on a beach left him paralysed, and he went to a wheelchair tennis camp in 1999. He turned professional in 2000, became quad doubles world No. 1 in 2002 and singles No. 1 in 2003, and won the first Masters quad singles title in 2004. With Nick Taylor he won Paralympic doubles gold in 2004, 2008 and 2012; he also took singles silver in 2004 and 2012 and bronze in 2008 and 2016. He won six major singles titles, at the Australian Open and US Open, and major doubles titles at all four, among them ten in Melbourne and nine in New York.
| Major doubles titles | 1: Wimbledon (2021) |
|---|---|
| Wimbledon doubles final, 2021 | With Andy Lapthorne: beat Dylan Alcott and Sam Schröder 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 in 1 hour 48 minutes, completing his career Grand Slam in doubles |
| Wimbledon doubles finals lost | 2019, the first quad event, with Koji Sugeno: 2-6, 6-7 to Alcott and Lapthorne. 2022 with Lapthorne: 7-6, 2-6, 3-6 to Schröder and Niels Vink |
| Wimbledon singles | Semi-finalist 2019, 2021 and 2022 |
| Wimbledon 2018 | Won the quad demonstration doubles with Andy Lapthorne, a year before the event joined the Championships |
| Wimbledon | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Quad doubles | with Andy Lapthorne |
Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. †single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions
"I do hate losing, probably more than a normal person hates it."
The person behind the player.
Walla Walla 1994
He joined his community college tennis team in the summer of 1994. "All the sudden, at 20 years old, I got the tennis itch," he said. After his accident he played ping pong with friends in rehabilitation, and later saw an advert in Sports 'n Spokes for a USTA wheelchair tennis camp. At the camp, he said, he got "that itch instantaneously".
Source: ViceChula Vista 2015
With Paralympic golds and major titles behind him, he still had no private coach and aimed only to break even each year. He got his Nike kit by cold calling, and said he had sent out about 500 press kits and received one reply, a no. He had, he said, "won everything I can win within my chosen sport."
Source: ViceWimbledon 2018
Wimbledon staged a quad doubles demonstration event in 2018, and Wagner and Andy Lapthorne won it. A year later quad events became part of the Championships. "We campaigned long and hard," Lapthorne said in 2021, after the pair won the full title together. "Whenever I come here and play I feel so loved."
Source: USTAChula Vista 2020
During the pandemic he stayed at the Elite Athlete Training Center near San Diego from March to September, his longest spell in one place for 18 years. He treated it as a chance to recover. "I feel like I'm competitive with the young guys," he said, and he had no plans to stop: "I love the sport, I love competing, I love training."
Source: ITFWimbledon 2021 · Final
The pandemic meant he and Lapthorne, from different countries, had barely practised together for more than a year. "We practice when we can, on the courts when we can, and we make the most of it when we can," Wagner said. In the final they took the first set 6-1 and lost the second, then saw Alcott and Schröder save a match point before Wagner served it out.
Source: USTAFree membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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