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Gordon Reid, affectionately known as “Gio,” is a fierce wheelchair tennis player. In 2016, he made history when he won the first ever men’s singles title held at Wimbledon. He also won the Australian Open in 2016 as well.
After Reid became paralyzed at age 13, wheelchair tennis was the therapeutic outlet he needed, but it soon became so much more – a life passion and a ticket to stardom. Read on to learn more this exciting sport stars from Scotland.
Why he’s fearless
While growing up in Scotland, Reid loved sports. Soccer was something he loved to watch (a lifelong Rangers FC fan), but playing tennis was his passion. He started playing the age of 6. Sadly, his whole life changed when he was 13 years old and began to lose feeling in his legs over a 2-day period. When his legs gave way from underneath him, he was rushed to the hospital where he was diagnosed with Transverse Myelitis.
A disease that makes the spinal cord swell, it paralyzed Reid from the thighs down. Amazingly, he returned to playing wheelchair tennis right after returning home from the hospital. In April 2005, just 6 weeks after returning home, he won his first ever wheelchair tennis title – the B Division Singles at the Glasgow Wheelchair Tennis Tournament. “I didn’t even know wheelchair tennis existed before my injury,” he admitted back then.
Within a couple of years his skill level skyrocketed. In 2007, he became Britain’s youngest National champion in wheelchair tennis at the age of 15 and at age 16, he was invited to be on the UK Paralympic Tennis team for the Beijing 2008 Summer Paralympics. He played again at the London Paralympics in 2012 where he reached the quarterfinals in singles.
He also played in Roland-Garros, the US Open and the Australian Open, and won both Roland-Garros and the US Open in 2015.
What’s Next?
In 2016, Reid won the Australian Open, a title that had eluded him since 2013, securing the first grand slam singles final of his tennis career. Also in 2016, he made history when he won the first ever Wimbledon singles match for men’s wheelchair tennis (only wheelchair doubles had been played at Wimbledon until this point). He also won the wheelchair doubles competition that year at Wimbledon with his partner Alfie Hewitt.
Reid is accomplishing what he set out to do post-injury. He’s been playing tennis for years and has been in several Paralympic games. Reid won gold in men’s wheelchair tennis singles and silver medal in doubles at the Rio Paralympic games.
We love Gordon’s tenacious nature and his love of wheelchair tennis. And he’s been able to reach two goals he never loses sight of – to inspire kids with disabilities to play tennis and to show the able-bodied world that athletes with disabilities, notably tennis, are to be reckoned with.
ideas@spinalpedia.com
