3-Time Paralympic Tennis Gold Medalist Nick Taylor Announces His Retirement

Taylor, who started playing tennis at the age of 14, is an 11-time Grand Slam champion, five-time Paralympic medalist, and owner of a record 11 titles at the Doubles Masters with Wagner. Taylor ends his career with a total of 813 wins combined in singles (383) and doubles (430).

Taylor will always be known for his unusual serve, a literal ‘kick’ serve perfected over years of playing, in which he tossed the ball up using his foot while having the racquet chained to his hand.

As much as Taylor accomplished on the court, the same can be said for his career off the court. A double alumnus of Wichita State University for his bachelor’s and a master’s degree, Taylor has been involved with the school’s varsity men’s tennis team for more than 15 years—first as an intern, later as a volunteer assistant coach, and now as its director of operations. In recent years, he has been a mentor to young wheelchair players, including Casey Ratzlaff, a fellow Wichita native who picked up tennis at age 12 at a tennis camp hosted by Wichita Adaptive Sports—a nonprofit co-founded by Taylor—and qualified for his first Paralympic Games this year at age 23.

Taylor will still be involved in the game of tennis as the tournament director at the $25,000 ITF World Tennis Tour event held in Wichita, and will next put his competitive drive to use in a different sport: he hopes to head to the Paralympic Games in 2024 in the sport of boccia.