Sports Column

U.S. Open tennis best seen in person

Fair Game

By kerry eggers

The Portland Tribune, Sep 14, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009

The opportunity to spend a few days at the U.S. Open, which I had last week, is a fun gig. The skills of such players as Roger Federer, Andy Roddick and Justine Henin are even more spectacular in person than on TV.

Then there is Portland’s David Wagner, the top-ranked paraplegic player in the world who was participating for the first time in the wheelchair competition at Flushing Meadows, N.Y. As part of the Olympic Job Opportunities Program, Wagner travels the globe playing tennis when he’s not working at the Beaverton Home Depot off Oregon Highway 217.

The Portlander lost to Peter Norfolk of Great Britain in the U.S. Open quad singles final, then teamed with Nick Taylor to win the quad doubles title.

Wagner, 33, was playing Frisbee in the Redondo Beach, Calif., surf 12 years ago when a wave knocked him over and broke his neck. He had played a little tennis before the accident but in 1999 stepped into a wheelchair and “got the bug. I couldn’t get enough of tennis.”

At the 2004 Olympic Games, Wagner won the silver medal in singles and paired with Taylor to claim a gold medal in doubles. He’s in training now for the ’08 Games in Beijing.

Wagner has no use of his legs, no stomach or back muscles, and his hands are paralyzed. With those handicaps, his tennis game is amazing.

It was a privilege to watch him, just as it was with Federer and Henin and the other great champions of the sport.

• U.S. Tennis Association honchos are expected to narrow their list of final cities to play host to the 2007 Cup finals to two this weekend. Candidates are Portland, San Diego, Oklahoma City and Winston-Salem, N.C. The finals will be held in the U.S. from Nov. 30 through Dec. 2 if the U.S. team wins at Sweden and Russia beats Germany in Cup semifinal action Sept. 21 through Sept. 23.

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