As Andy Murray reaches another Grand Slam Semi Final Britain’s very own 2014 quadruple Grand Slam Doubles winner Jordanne Whiley will be looking to defend her Aussie Open doubles crown with Japan’s Yui Kamiji.
I was lucky enough to meet Jordanne, the British number 1 singles and world number 2 ranked doubles at the ITF grade 1 Wheelchair Sardinian Open in September last year, just after she and Yui had won the US Open doubles final. She is the first British Player to complete the feat of winning four slams in a year, is the current World Doubles Champion with Yui and has an Olympic Bronze medallist too, teaming up with Lucy Shuker at the London 2012 games.
I asked Jordanne about her tennis journey. She began playing at the age of 3 and was introduced by her Father to the game who himself won a Paralympic bronze medal for the 100m track in the 1984 Olympic games. She was a natural by all accounts and ended up going along to a Tennis Foundation camp at the age of 5 and playing in her first world cup when 12!
Jordanne tried other sports at a young age including basketball and racing but was attracted to tennis because of the individual nature of the sport and the variety of skills needed to play the game. She currently trains at Roehampton, usually 4 hours per day 5 days a week and attends 5/6 National camps a year. She has set her sights on at least one Olympic medal at Rio in 2016, and at 22 is young enough to be looking forward to Tokyo 2020 too!
Just after her final slam win in 2014 there was a flurry of media attention and she was shortlisted for the Sky Sports Sportswoman of the Year Awards 2014 and won the 2014 AEGON Player of the Year. She has also recently been taken on by 17 Sports Management and has secured a clothing deal for 2015 so hopefully this eloquent and talented tennis trailblazer will soon be the center of even more attention and continue to be a great ambassador for GB Tennis.
Lynn O’Brien
For more info about Jordanne
http://www.jordannewhiley.com/photos.html
For more info about British Disability Tennis
http://www.lta.org.uk/Tennis-Foundation/Tennis-for-Disabled-People/
And if you fancy heading to the sun to watch some fantastic wheelchair tennis….
http://www.sardiniaopen.net/index.php
Jordanne and Yui with their Wimbledon Trophy