The 21st century
Great Britain · born Birmingham, 1992 · five times Wimbledon wheelchair doubles champion
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12
Major doubles titles with Yui Kamiji
2014
Calendar Grand Slam in doubles, a British first
4
Paralympic medals, London 2012 to Tokyo
2015
US Open singles title
Born in Birmingham in 1992, Whiley became Britain's youngest national women's singles champion at 14 and made her Paralympic debut in Beijing in 2008, aged 16. She was junior world No. 1 in 2009. With Lucy Shuker she won doubles bronze at London 2012, the first women's wheelchair tennis medal for ParalympicsGB, and again at Rio 2016. From 2013 she partnered Yui Kamiji of Japan, and the pair won 12 major doubles titles, including a calendar Grand Slam in 2014. In 2015 she beat Kamiji in the US Open final to become the first British woman to win a major wheelchair singles title, and she was appointed MBE. She missed 2018 after the birth of her son, then won doubles silver and singles bronze at the Tokyo Paralympics and retired in November 2021.
| Major doubles titles | 5: Wimbledon (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2021) |
|---|---|
| Wimbledon doubles finals won | All with Yui Kamiji. 2014: beat Jiske Griffioen and Aniek van Koot 2-6, 6-2, 7-5. 2015: beat them 6-2, 5-7, 6-3. 2016: 6-2, 6-2. 2017: beat Marjolein Buis and Diede de Groot 2-6, 6-3, 6-0. 2021: beat Kgothatso Montjane and Lucy Shuker 6-0, 7-6 |
| Wimbledon doubles finals lost | 2012 with Lucy Shuker, 1-6, 2-6 to Griffioen and van Koot; 2013 with Kamiji, 4-6, 6-7 to the same pair |
| Wimbledon singles | Semi-finalist 2016, the first year of the event, and 2021 |
| Wimbledon | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Women's wheelchair doubles | with Yui Kamiji |
| 2015 | Women's wheelchair doubles | with Yui Kamiji |
| 2016 | Women's wheelchair doubles | with Yui Kamiji |
| 2017 | Women's wheelchair doubles | with Yui Kamiji |
| 2021 | Women's wheelchair doubles | with Yui Kamiji |
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
"If we were to win Wimbledon again it would definitely be the biggest achievement of my career."
The person behind the player.
Israel Open, childhood
Her father, Keith Whiley, was a multi-sport athlete who won Paralympic bronze in wheelchair racing. She first picked up a racket aged three while he was competing at the Israel Open, and the tournament presented her with a trophy of her own. Beginners' camps run by the Tennis Foundation did the rest, and friendships from them lasted into her career.
Source: LTANew York 2014
Whiley and Kamiji won all four major doubles titles in 2014, beating Griffioen and van Koot in the finals at Paris, Wimbledon and New York. She was the first British player to complete a calendar Grand Slam, a record that stood until Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid matched it. Afterwards she had the word "unprecedented" tattooed in Japanese on her arm.
Source: LTAWimbledon 2017 · Final
Feeling unwell during the final against Marjolein Buis and Diede de Groot, she and Kamiji lost the first set, then won 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 for a fourth straight Wimbledon title. Only afterwards did she reveal she had played the Championships 11 weeks pregnant. She missed the next season and came back in 2019.
Source: ParalympicsGBWimbledon 2021 · Final
Her fifth Wimbledon title came against Lucy Shuker, her partner for two Paralympic bronze medals, and Kgothatso Montjane. It was the first major women's wheelchair doubles final with Britons on both sides. Whiley and Kamiji won 6-0, 7-6. "I'm really happy that we managed to win one more Wimbledon," she said later. It was her last title.
Source: LTATokyo 2021
Weeks after Wimbledon she and Shuker won doubles silver, and she took singles bronze, her fourth Paralympic medal. "I think Tokyo's probably the highlight, just because I finally got on the singles podium," she said when she retired that November. Of Kamiji: "I'm sad I won't see her as much and I'll miss her, but we're going to stay in contact."
Source: International Paralympic CommitteeFree membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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