2017 Year in Review: Dominant Wagner adds to legacy

Love-15: As 2017 draws to a close, USTA.com is taking a look back at the top 15 storylines, headlines and highlights from the year in American tennis. Up now: American wheelchair tennis legend David Wagner had an amazing 2017, burnishing his legacy after sweeping the US Open Wheelchair Competition and taking his 10th singles and doubles ITF Masters.  

World No. 1 wheelchair tennis quad player David Wagner first reached the top ranking in April of 2003. He has dominated the game ever since, and 2017 proved that 14 years later, nothing has changed. 

In September, the Washington native made a clean sweep at the US Open Wheelchair Competition in Flushing Meadows, N.Y., where he took home both the singles and doubles quad wheelchair titles. The victories marked Wagner’s third singles title in Flushing Meadows and his eighth doubles crown in eight attempts.

And Wagner’s wins kept coming post-Open.

In November, Wagner teamed with longtime doubles partner Nick Taylor to win their 10th quad title at the UNIQLO Wheelchair Doubles Masters in Bemmel, Netherlands. The duo has been the reigning team in wheelchair tennis for most of this century, having won three gold medals at the Paralympic Games as well as three Australian Open titles and seven crowns at the US Open Wheelchair Competition. 

Then, only a week after taking the doubles Masters, Wagner took home his 10th NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters singles championship. The NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters, held in Loughborough, Great Britain, featured the top six quad players facing off in the official ITF year-end wheelchair singles championship. 

Rounding out his stellar year on-court, Wagner was named the inaugural ITF World Champion in the quad division.

“It is a real honor to be the first quad player to be recognized by the ITF at the World Champions Dinner,” Wagner told itftennis.com. “This award is very special to me, and is much bigger than just me. It is an award that I will always cherish and will always remember the players who came before me.”