Jordanne Whiley
Jordanne Joyce Whiley MBE[1] (born 11 June 1992 in Birmingham) is a wheelchair tennis player and Britain's youngest ever National women's singles champion in wheelchair tennis at the age of 14.[2] She has osteogenesis imperfecta as does her father, Keith, who was also a Paralympian and won a bronze medal in New York.[3]
Whiley was awarded the MBE in the 2015 Queens Birthday Honours list.
Junior career
In 2006 at the age of 14 Whiley claimed her first senior main draw titles when she won the singles and doubles at the Cardiff Wheelchair Tennis tournament, also winning the girls title.[4][5] At the end of 2006 Whiley had moved up from 112 to 48 in the rankings and had won junior titles in Poland and the Netherlands.[6][7][8] Whiley won two awards at the British Wheelchair Tennis Association awards: Most improved female player and players' player of the year.[9] Whiley created history in 2007 when she defeated Katharine Kruger in Tarbes. She became the first Briton to claim the Cruyff Foundation Wheelchair Juniors Masters title, Whiley also claimed the doubles title with Louise Hunt.[10] Following on from the Masters success Whiley won her second senior title at the North West Challenge.[11] Whiley followed this up by becoming the youngest national British Champion and winning the doubles title as well.[9][12] Whiley then successfully defended her Cardiff wheelchair tennis tournament titles.[5] In 2008 Whiley successfully defended her Masters titles; defeating Emmy Kaiser in the singles before partnering Hunt to back to back doubles titles.[13] The following week Whiley claimed her first international title the Sion Indoor.[14] Whiley then successfully defended both titles at the North West Challenge.[15] She was named in the team for the 2008 Paralympic Games.[16]
Senior career
In 2012, she reached the finals of Women's wheelchair doubles at Wimbledon.[17] She competed for Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Paralympics[18] where she shared a bronze with Lucy Shuker in Women's Doubles.[19]
Whiley and her partner Yui Kamiji of Japan achieved a calendar Grand Slam by winning the wheelchair doubles at the Australian Open (beating the Dutch pair Marjolein Buis and Jiske Griffioen), the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open (overcoming Griffioen and fellow Dutchwoman Aniek van Koot in all three finals). They finished the year by adding the Masters crown after defeating Louise Hunt and Katharina Kruger in the final. However, despite the absence of van koot and Griffioen the pair did not go undefeated throughout the tournament as they lost to Marjolein Buis and Michaela Spaanstra during the round robin group stage.[20]
References
Australian Open women's wheelchair doubles champions |
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Roland Garros women's wheelchair doubles champions |
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Wimbledon women's wheelchair doubles champions |
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US Open women's wheelchair doubles champions |
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Great Britain
Bronze Medal (2012)