AO rewind: Taylor and Wagner anchor Melbourne's Quad history
Americans Nick Taylor and David Wagner have rewritten Quad wheelchair tennis records for the better part of two decades, and success on the other side of the world has been integral in their story.
Though the wheelchair event began at the Australian Open in 2002 with men’s and women’s singles events and doubles was added two years later, the Quad division did not debut in Melbourne until 2008. Nonetheless, Taylor and Wagner quickly made up for lost time at the turn of the last decade.
After winning the doubles title at the US Open in the summer of 2007 — the first of 11 Grand Slam titles together to date — the pair earned the first Australian Open Quad doubles title in history with a 5-7, 6-0, 10-3 win over Sarah Hunter and Peter Norfolk in the final. They went on to win the Quad doubles titles in 2009, 2010 and 2013, while also reaching the final in 2011.
Having added three Quad singles titles Down Under in 2011 and 2013-14, Wagner ranks third all-time in singles triumphs at the tournament since its inception. He also went on to win four more trophies from 2014 to 2017 alongside Great Britain's Andrew Lapthorne (2014-15, 2017) and South Africa's Lucas Sithole (2016).
Check out Taylor and Wagner's best moments from the Australian Opens gone by in the gallery below. Story continues below the gallery.
While they will not be playing together at this year’s event, the American pair are primed to be a part of more history for the sport in 2021, as two of the eight players in Melbourne’s newly-expanded Quad tournament. This year’s Australian Open is the first of the four Grand Slams to offer a Quad wheelchair draw that is the same size as its men’s and women’s counterparts.
The American duo is part of a wheelchair contingent that will compete in three events total during the Australian summer. The Victorian Wheelchair Open and the Melbourne Open will take place ahead of the Australian Open at the Hume Tennis Center in Craigieburn, north of Melbourne.
These events will be played from Feb. 3-6 and Feb. 8-11, respectively, before the 2021 Australian Open wheelchair competition runs from Feb. 14-17.
More from USTA.com's Australian Open retrospective:
Nick Taylor, David Wagner anchor U.S. quad history
Andy Roddick, Lindsay Davenport among former junior champions
Bryans, Williams sisters, Navratilova highlight doubles success
- Taylor and Wagner pose with their trohpies after winning the Australian Open in 2009.
- Wagner in action at the 2009 tournament, where he was also the singles finalist.
- Taylor went 1-2 in the round-robin singles stage in 2009, including a 6-1, 6-1 defeat to Wagner.
- They were back in the winners' circle in 2010, winning 6–2, 7–6(5) over Peter Norfolk and Johan Andersson.
- Bidding for a fourth title in 2011, they were beaten in the final.
- Nonetheless, Wagner was the singles champion in 2011, the first of his three wins at the AO.
- 2013 was Taylor's last appearance in singles in Melbourne until this year.
- The American pair's last doubles title together at the AO came in 2013.
- Wagner pulled off the sweep in 2013, coming from a set down in the final.
- He also came from a set down in the 2014 singles final, beating Lucas Sithole of South Africa.
- Wagner's first AO doubles win with another partner came in 2014 with Great Britain's Andy Lapthorne.
- In 2015, the British-American pair repeated, winning a three-set final over Sithole and Dylan Alcott.
- After partnering Sithole to win in 2016, Wagner was reunited with Lapthorne for another win in 2017.
- In all, Wagner has competed in every Australian Open since the Quad division began in 2008 and will return in 2021.
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