David Hall (Australian Tennis)
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David Robert Hall, OAM (born 14 January 1970) is an Australian former professional
wheelchair tennis Wheelchair tennis is one of the forms of tennis Adaptive sport, adapted for wheelchair users. The size of the court, net height and rackets are the same, but there are two major differences from pedestrian tennis: athletes use specially designe ...
player. With eight US Open singles titles, two Masters singles titles, and a
Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Kore ...
gold medal in singles, he has been referred to as Australia's greatest ever wheelchair tennis player.


Biography

Born in
Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
, Australia, Hall was raised in the New South Wales coastal town of
Budgewoi Budgewoi ( ) is a coastal town that is located on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia. Budgewoi is situated on two peninsulas that is split by the Budgewoi Lake. The town is located about 114 km northeast of Sydney. It is part ...
, attending Budgewoi Public School and Northlakes High School. On 11 October 1986, at the age of 16, Hall lost his legs after being hit by a car. After a long period of rehabilitation, Hall began working as a clerk at the local police station. It was around this time that Hall was looking through the local paper and saw a picture of
Terry Mason Terry Mason (born 29 March 1943) is an Australian Paralympic athlete and weightlifter, who won two bronze medals at two Paralympics. Biography Mason grew up in the New South Wales town of Lithgow, and participated in several sports in the loc ...
in a wheelchair playing tennis. Hall had played tennis growing up and at the age of 13 and 14 had been Club Champion at his local tennis club under the coaching supervision of Allan McDonald. Inspired, Hall began to play and entered his first wheelchair tennis competition, the 'Albury-Wodonga Classic', in 1988. This led to him competing in his first Australian Open in February 1989. Playing in the C division, Hall won. The following year, Hall participated in his first international competition and turned professional in 1993. 1995 saw Hall relocate to the United States. The year culminated with Hall winning the US Open Singles title and being ranked number one in the world.


Tennis career

In his career, Hall won all of the major world titles and was ranked as the world number one player for six years. He won Paralympic gold, silver and bronze medals and 18 Super Series titles. He was a member of Australia's World Cup winning teams in 1994, 1996, 2000 and 2002. He was ranked World No 1 for eight of the years between 1995 and 2005. Between 1995 and 2005 he won the Australian Open Wheelchair tennis title nine times, the British Open seven times, the US Open eight times, and the Japan Open eight times. For most of his tennis career, Hall was coached by Rich Berman. He was an
Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...
scholarship holder from 1995 to 2000.


Professional career

Hall played professionally for more than a decade before officially retiring from competition in 2006. He announced his retirement from the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour in June 2006. He won the NEC Singles Masters titles in 2002 and 2004.


Australian Open

Hall won nine Australian Opens in the men's singles wheelchair event. He first won the men's single wheelchair event at the Australian Open in 1995. In 1996 he also won the men's doubles with his partner,
Mick Connell Michael "Mike" Connell (born 13 November 1961) is an Australian former wheelchair tennis player. He won a silver medal in the Men's Singles event at the 1988 Seoul Paralympics. He participated without winning any medals at the 1992 Barcelona ...
. He won his first British Open in 1995.


British Open

Hall won seven British Opens in the men's singles wheelchair event.


Japan Open

He won the Japan Open eight times.


US Open

Hall won eight US Opens in the men's singles wheelchair event. Six of these wins were between 1995 and 2002. In 2005, Japan's
Shingo Kunieda is a Japanese former wheelchair tennis player. With four Paralympic gold medals, 28 major singles titles – an all-time record in singles of any tennis discipline – and 50 major titles overall, Kunieda is widely considered the greatest male ...
beat David Hall in the quarter-finals of the US Open. Hall was the first non-American to win the U.S. Open Super Series title. He won five of these eight titles in a row between 2000 and 2004. His 2005 run was ended because France's
Michaël Jérémiasz Michaël Jérémiasz (born 15 October 1981, in Paris) is a French former professional wheelchair tennis player. He won a gold medal in the men's doubles event at the Wheelchair tennis at the 2008 Summer Paralympics – Men's doubles, 2008 Beijin ...
won that year. At the 1999 US Open he lost in the quarter-finals to
Robin Ammerlaan Robin Ammerlaan (born 26 February 1968 in The Hague) is a Dutch former professional wheelchair tennis player. A former world No. 1 in both singles and doubles, Ammerlaan is a 14-time major champion and two-time Paralympic gold medalist. The righ ...
.


Paralympic Games

Hall represented Australia at the Paralympic Games four times; First in 1992 at Barcelona, Atlanta in 1996, where he won a silver medal in the doubles and a bronze medal in the singles, Sydney in 2000, where he won a gold medal in the singles and a silver medal in the doubles, and Athens in 2004, where he won a silver medal in the singles and a bronze medal in the doubles. He received the
Medal of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of then ...
in the
2001 Australia Day Honours The 2001 Australia Day Honours are appointments to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by Australian citizens. The list was announced on 26 January 2001 by the Governor General of Australia, Sir William Deane. The Austr ...
"for service to sport as a gold medallist at the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games."


Other events

He competed in more than seventy other tournaments. In 2013, 6-time World Champion David Hall, together with his long-time coach Rich Berman, released a comprehensive video tutorial of all the basics of playing wheelchair tennis title
Let's Roll - Learning Wheelchair Tennis with the Pros


Awards and non-tennis career

Hall's accomplishments culminated in him being inducted into the
Sport Australia Hall of Fame The Sport Australia Hall of Fame was established on 10 December 1985 to recognise the achievements of Australian sportsmen and sportswomen. The inaugural induction included 120 members with Don Bradman, Sir Don Bradman as the first inductee and ...
in 2010. In 2010, he was one of only three Paralympians to have been given the honour. Hall was inducted into the
New South Wales Hall of Champions The New South Wales Hall of Champions is a museum at Australia Avenue, Sydney Olympic Park, New South Wales, Australia. The property is owned by State Sports Centre Trust (State Government). The museum's collection was added to the New South Wa ...
in 2009. In 2010 Hall was appointed an ambassador for wheelchair tennis by the International Tennis Federation to help promote the sport in Australia and worldwide. In 2011, Hall will sit on the selection panel for the Newcombe Medal Award for Most Outstanding Athlete with a Disability. Hall was a writer for Sports 'n Spokes Magazine. For ten years he worked for Tennis Australia in promoting and raising awareness of wheelchair tennis within Australia. He also worked for the Royal Rehab Centre Sydney as an ambassador from 2007 to 2010. As part of a
Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper in ...
report in 2009, Hall toured the city of Sydney to explore the city's wheelchair accessibility. Hall highlighted some of the frustrations of using public transport. During the Australian Tennis Open in 2015, he was inducted into the
Australian Tennis Hall of Fame The Australian Tennis Hall of Fame was established in 1993 by Tennis Australia under the leadership of then-president Geoff Pollard. Described by Tennis Australia as "one of the highest honours Australian tennis players can receive", inductees ar ...
. In July 2015, Hall was inducted into the
International Tennis Hall of Fame The International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. It honors both players and other contributors to the sport of tennis. The complex, the former Newport Casino, includes a museum, 13 grass tennis courts, an ...
In April 2016, he was awarded the
International Tennis Federation The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is the governing body of world tennis, wheelchair tennis, and beach tennis. It was founded in 1913 as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by twelve national tennis associations. there are 211 nat ...
's Brad Parks Award for his significant contribution to wheelchair tennis on an international basis. In December 2016, Hall was inducted into the Australian Paralympic Hall of Fame.


References


External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, David 1970 births Living people Australian male tennis players Australian wheelchair tennis players Paralympic wheelchair tennis players for Australia Paralympic gold medalists for Australia Paralympic medalists in wheelchair tennis Paralympic silver medalists for Australia Paralympic bronze medalists for Australia Wheelchair tennis players at the 1992 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair tennis players at the 1996 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair tennis players at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair tennis players at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1996 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Paralympics International Tennis Hall of Fame inductees Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees Tennis players from New South Wales ITF number 1 ranked wheelchair tennis players ITF wheelchair tennis world champions Sportsmen from New South Wales