Born: 2nd October 1991
Nationality: British
Home: Glasgow, Scotland
World rankings: Singles #3, Doubles #2
Overcoming Adversity
Born in Alexandria, Scotland in 1991, Gordon was a fit, keen and talented tennis player until the week before his 13th birthday, when he was tragically struck down by a rare condition called Transverse Myelitis.
Despite being paralysed from the waist down, Gordon bounced back and started playing the game he loved, only this time, in a wheelchair. At the age of 16, three years after contracting this illness, he proudly wore the GB shirt at his first Paralympic Games in Beijing.
As a junior on the world wheelchair tennis circuit, Gordon was ranked number 1 and won multiple titles. He has represented GB at the Invacare World Team Cup for the past seven years and helped GB to gain promotion to the World Group One, and in 2015, Gordon led the team to become the first British Team to win the World title, beating the French in the final.
Gordon’s continued hard work and dedication was rewarded with his selection to compete for his country again. At the London 2012 Paralympic Games, he reached the quarterfinals of both the singles and doubles events.
In 2013, Gordon was the Doubles Masters champion and during the same year, a doubles finalist at Roland Garros. He also became the first British men’s player to win a Super Series singles title at Sydney International and then went on the reach the doubles final at the Australian Open in 2014.
2016 – A year to remember
This year, Gordon won his first ever Grand Slam singles wheelchair title at the Australian Open, followed by the doubles title at Roland Garros. In July, he followed this with his second Grand Slam victory in the inaugural men’s singles wheelchair event at the Championship Wimbledon as well as winning the men’s doubles. And at the Rio Paralympics 2016, representing GB, Gordon won the Gold medal in the men’s wheelchair tennis singles and the Silver medal in the doubles.
Gordon currently resides in Glasgow and trains between Glasgow, Stirling and London and travels the world for 25 weeks of the year competing on the world wheelchair tennis tour.
