Grand Slam champion and Paralympian Dana Mathewson announces retirement
After a successful career lasting over a decade, top-ranked American wheelchair tennis athlete Dana Mathewson announced her imminent retirement on Saturday via an Instagram post.
Mathewson picked up a racquet for the first time when she was 13 years old—20 years later, she is an accomplished wheelchair tennis player, competing in 12 World Championships and three Paralympic Games (2016, 2020, 2024), and earning 16 singles and 32 doubles titles. She was the first American woman to win a major title in wheelchair tennis, lifting the 2022 Wimbledon women’s wheelchair doubles trophy alongside Yui Kamiji of Japan, and was the highest-ranked American woman in the world wheelchair tennis rankings for much of her career.
Always one to raise her hand to represent the United States on the international stage, Mathewson was the singles bronze medalist and doubles gold medalist at the 2019 Parapan American Games, the largest multi-sport event in the Americas. At the 2023 Parapan American Games, she clinched the gold medal in both singles and doubles. Due to Mathewson’s efforts to blaze a trail for wheelchair tennis and inspire the next generation of athletes, she was selected as a flag-bearer for the 2023 tournament.
In the video announcing her retirement, Mathewson said that the 2024 NEC Wheelchair Singles Masters and UNIQLO Wheelchair Doubles Masters tournaments taking place this week will be her final professional tennis events. However, Mathewson plans to remain involved in the tennis world in a variety of ways, including coaching and commentating.
Dana Mathewson hits a backhand. (Photo courtesy of the ITF)
“I still love everything about tennis,” Mathewson said in the video’s narration. “I love competition. I love training. I love the beauty of the sport. But I know that I'm ready. I'm ready for a new chapter and I'm ready for any challenges. I'm looking forward to helping mentor and coach new players, to help organize new tournaments, to commentate on the sport that I love, and to help others be exposed to it and to help advocate and grow awareness about people with disabilities, both in sport and in daily life. Tennis and I aren't breaking up—we're simply forming a new relationship, and I can't wait.”
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