Country (sports) | South Africa |
---|---|
Born | Johannesburg, South Africa | 30 September 1986
Plays | Left Handed |
Singles | |
Career record | 247–102 |
Highest ranking | No. 2 (9 September 2013) |
Current ranking | No. 4 (19 December 2017) |
Grand Slam singles results | |
Australian Open | F (2014) |
US Open | W (2013) |
Other tournaments | |
Masters | F (2013) |
Paralympic Games | SF (2016) |
Doubles | |
Career record | 103–78 |
Highest ranking | No. 3 (3 June 2013) |
Current ranking | No. 5 (19 December 2017) |
Grand Slam doubles results | |
Australian Open | W (2016) |
Wimbledon | F (2018) |
US Open | F (2013, 2014) |
Lucas Sithole (born 30 September 1986) is a South African wheelchair tennis player. He plays in the Quad division of the sport. Sithole is the 2013 US Open wheelchair tennis quad champion. [1] He also won the 2016 Australian Open Grand Slam in doubles, partnering David Wagner. [2]
Due to missing certain anti-doping tests, Sithole was suspended from competition between 30 September 2019 and 30 September 2021. [3] [4]
Lucas Sithole started competing in international wheelchair tennis events in 2006. In July 2011, he won the British Open wheelchair tennis tournament (Super Series) in Nottingham, Great Britain. In 2013, Sithole won the US Open Grand Slam. In the final, he played against World No 1 David Wagner, and won 3–6, 6–4, 6–4. [5]
In the 2017 UNIQLO Wheelchair Doubles Masters, Lucas Sithole and Heath Davidson finished at the third place. [6]
Sithole is the first African player to win a Super Series Event or a Grand Slam. [7]
In 2018, Sithole was a runner-up alongside Dylan Alcott at the first ever men's quads doubles event during the 2018 Wimbledon Championships. [8]
Sithole is a native of KwaZulu-Natal. [9] He became a triple amputee in 1998 following a train accident. [10]
Wheelchair tennis is one of the forms of tennis adapted for wheelchair users. The size of the court, net height and rackets are the same, but there are two major differences from pedestrian tennis: athletes use specially designed wheelchairs, and the ball may bounce up to two times, where the second bounce may also occur outside the court.
Esther Mary Vergeer is a Dutch former professional wheelchair tennis player. Vergeer won 48 major titles, 23 year-end championships, and seven Paralympic gold medals. She was the world No. 1 in women's wheelchair singles from 1999 to her retirement in February 2013. Vergeer went undefeated in singles for ten straight years, ending her career on a winning streak of 470 matches. She has often been named the most dominant player in professional sports.
Shingo Kunieda is a Japanese former wheelchair tennis player. He is the current world No. 1 in singles. With four Paralympic gold medals, 28 major singles titles – an all-time record in singles of any tennis discipline – and 50 major titles overall, Kunieda is widely considered the greatest male wheelchair player of all time.
Dylan Martin Alcott, is an Australian former wheelchair tennis player, former wheelchair basketball player, radio host and motivational speaker. Alcott was a member of the Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team, known colloquially as the Australian "Rollers". At the age of 17, he became the youngest Rollers gold medal winner, at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, and was the youngest to compete in the wheelchair basketball competition. In 2014, he returned to wheelchair tennis with the aim of participating at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, at which he won gold medals in the Men's Quad Singles and Doubles. He was named the 2016 Australian Paralympian of the Year due to his outstanding achievements at Rio.
David Wagner is an American wheelchair tennis player. Paralyzed from the mid-chest down and with thirty percent function in his hands, he competes in the quad division. He plays by taping the tennis racket to his hand. He is currently ranked number three in the world in singles and number two in doubles.
Stéphane Houdet is a French wheelchair tennis player. Houdet is a former singles and doubles world number one. In 2014, he became the first man in history to complete the calendar-year Grand Slam in men's wheelchair doubles.
The Wheelchair Tennis Masters refers to a pair of end of year tennis events for wheelchair athletes held on an annual basis under the jurisdiction of the International Tennis Federation.
Jiske Griffioen is a Dutch professional wheelchair tennis player. In doubles, Griffioen is a 14-time major champion, Paralympic gold medalist, seven-time Masters champion, and a former world No. 1. Alongside Aniek van Koot, Griffioen completed the Grand Slam in doubles in 2013. In singles, Griffioen is a three-time Masters champion, Paralympic gold medalist, four-time major champion, and a former world No. 1.
Sharon Walraven is a Dutch wheelchair tennis player. She became paraplegic at age 23 after complications following a fall while she was ice-skating. She has won seven Grand Slams doubles titles partnering compatriot Esther Vergeer. At the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing she won the gold medal in the women's doubles competition. At the 2000 Paralympics in Sydney she won a silver medal in the women's singles competition. Walraven has a highest ranking of No.2 in singles and No.1 in doubles.
Aniek van Koot is a Dutch wheelchair tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in both singles and doubles.
Kgothatso Montjane is a South African wheelchair tennis player. In 2018, she became the first black South African woman to compete at Wimbledon.
Sabine Ellerbrock is a German wheelchair tennis player. Ellerbrock is the 2013 French Grand Slam champion in Wheelchair Women's Singles.
Defending champion David Wagner and his partner Andrew Lapthorne defeated Dylan Alcott and Lucas Sithole in the final, 6–4, 6–4 to win the quad doubles wheelchair tennis title at the 2014 Australian Open.
Yui Kamiji is a Japanese wheelchair tennis player. She has won 26 major titles, as well as a Paralympic silver and bronze medal in singles and doubles, respectively, at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. She also won a bronze medal in singles at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
The 2018 Wimbledon wheelchair tennis Quad Doubles final was an exhibition match that took place on July 14, 2018. Andrew Lapthorne and David Wagner defeated Dylan Alcott and Lucas Sithole, 6–2, 6–3.
Diede de Groot is a Dutch wheelchair tennis player who is the current world No. 1 in both singles and doubles.
Three-time defending champions Dylan Alcott and Heath Davidson defeated Andy Lapthorne and David Wagner in the final, 6–2, 3–6, [10–7] to win the quad doubles wheelchair tennis title at the 2021 Australian Open.
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