Driving the Next 50 Years of Growth in Women's Sports
San Diego wheelchair tennis pro aiming for first Paralympic medal
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Dana Mathewson competes in The Championships Wimbledon 2024. Photo: Daniel Kopatsch/Getty Images
San Diego native Dana Mathewson is hoping the third time's the charm as she competes for a medal in wheelchair tennis at the 2024 Paralympics this week.
The intrigue: Mathewson, 33, is the top-ranked American woman in wheelchair tennis; internationally, she's #9 in doubles and singles.
- She became the first American woman to win a Grand Slam Title as the Wimbledon Ladies' Doubles Champion in 2022.
Driving the news: The seasoned pro earned a spot on Team USA nine months ago after winning gold at the 2023 Parapan American Games in Chile.
The big picture: Competing on the major tours gives wheelchair players an opportunity for prize money that enables them to be full-time professional athletes, unlike many other paralympic sports, Mathewson told Axios.
- They take the court the second week of the tournaments, and are so integrated that she's shared locker rooms with Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka.
- Wheelchair tennis was invented in 1976, and joined the Paralympic Games in 1992 in Barcelona.
How it works: The rules, playing surfaces and equipment are the same, except that the ball can bounce twice before the player hits it back.
- Once you move into the pros, one bounce is used a lot more seamlessly as the athletes are stronger and faster, Mathewson said.
- As an adaptive sport, players have a special chair fitted, welded and designed specifically for their bodies and the game.
What she's saying: "I had a very wrong misconception … that wheelchair sports would be easy or slow, or boring or not competitive," Mathewson told Axios.
- But when people with disabilities still have the opportunity to be active, they are very competitive and resilient, she said.
- That unexpectedly high level of competition, technical skill and opportunity to travel on the pro tour is what kept her in the sport.
Flashback: Mathewson, who grew up in University City, contracted a rare autoimmune disease called transverse myelitis that left her paralyzed from the waist down when she was 10 years old.
- Her mom encouraged her to keep playing sports, which she did begrudgingly at first but grew to love.
- She played recreationally with the adults through middle and high school at Barnes Tennis Center in Point Loma, where she also won her first major junior girls title.
- A coach from Carlsbad helped her hone her skills to earn a college scholarship. Then, she took a leave of absence from school to pursue a pro career and make the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
Zoom in: Mathewson competed on the tour, and in one year qualified for her first Paralympic Games as one of the top 24 players in the world.
- "Seeing that was possible… seeing that I could compete... that made me realize I want to do this," Mathewson said.
- She finished ninth in women's singles and fifth in women's doubles in Rio, and fifth in singles and ninth in doubles in the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo.
What's next: Mathewson will compete in singles and doubles matches at the Paris Games starting Thursday.