CLASS OF 2000 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
DAVID WAGNER WHEELCHAIR TENNIS PLAYER SAN DIEGO, CALIF.
Slices and serves are more than just fun and games for wheelchair tennis player David Wagner. Currently ranked No. 1 in both quad singles and quad doubles, Wagner has won gold in the past three Paralympics and is currently training full time for the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. ON WHEN HE KNEW HE COULD MAKE A LIVING PLAYING TENNIS “I knew when I landed my first major spon-
sor Nike. I kind of pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed. When I first started, they were like, ‘Not at this time but keep us posted.’ So every so often throughout
the year, I would send them articles and press releases and results and whatnot so they would always remembered who I was and that I was out there. And then finally, after Athens in ’04, they said, ‘Let’s do this.’” ON FACING OFF AGAINST HIS LONG-TIME DOUBLES PARTNER, NICK TAYLOR, IN SINGLES MATCHES
“We’ve probably played each other 80-plus times over the years. In Beijing, we had to play each other in the morning in singles for the bronze-medal match and then, win or lose, we had to turn around later that same day and play together for the gold medal in doubles. That’s kind of challenging. You’ve got to put aside your being upset, whether you won or lost that medal. You leave your emotions out of it and show up to do your job at doubles time.” ON HOW THE SPORT OF WHEELCHAIR TENNIS HAS EVOLVED “In the past, when the game was young,
people would play in their everyday chairs or a modified everyday chair. Now we have a sportsspecific chair thanks to Sunrise Medical. It allows us to play at a higher level.” ON THE BEST COACHING ADVICE HE EVER RECEIVED
“Always believe in myself and give my best in everything I do—no matter what it is.”
photograph by BRYAN AULICK