WHEN tennis historians look back to Saturday, September 6, 2014 they will remember it as an historic day for several reasons, but those who chronicle British achievements will remember it as the day Jordanne Whiley completed the classic calendar Grand Slam
Together with her Japanese partner, Japan's Yui Kamiji, the 22 year-old Whiley won the US Open’s women's wheelchair doubles, beating defending champions Jiske Griffioen and Aniek van Koot, of Holland, 6-4 3-6 6-3 to complete the full set of trophies that started with the Australian Open in January and included the French Open and Wimbledon.
Playing in sweltering heat and then being halted by a torrential rain storm before rounding off their victory, Middlesex-based Whiley and her Japanese cohort again proved themselves unbeatable since teaming up at the end of last year.
Because of the conditions and the historic nature of the title, Whiley insisted this was by far the most demanding of their triumphs but said: “I’m not happy in intense heat and I’m not good with rain delays so this was very demanding.
“Now there's a mixture of several emotions: it's a little bit of relief and pure happiness. Basically I am so very happy and I just hope this proves to people that wheelchair tennis is a sport they can get behind. We don’t want people to feel sorry for us, we just say we are in a wheelchair so get over it."
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Whiley, who was born in Birmingham and has a brittle bone disease, and her partner were leading 4-3 in the deciding set when the rain began. “I was a bit worried because I was just getting into my groove in the third set. We went down to the locker rooms, played some music and we busted out some moves. It kept us lively and it worked.
“The amazing thing is we live on opposite sides of the world and never train together when we are not at Grand Slams. So it shows we have a very special bonding that has translated into winning the complete Grand Slam.”