Whiley playing with freedom in Tokyo as she plans for retirement

Women’s wheelchair world No. 4 Jordanne Whiley is playing with freedom at Tokyo 2020. Her mind is clear, her body is holding up, and her plans to retire shortly after the Paralympic Games have brought with them a calm and simplicity as she chases that first singles medal one last time.

“I just feel really free,” said the British 29-year-old, who opened her Tokyo 2020 campaign with a 6-0 6-3 victory over Angelica Bernal of Colombia. “I know this is my last Paralympics, and my last chance to be on the singles podium. You could either see that as pressure or see it as motivation to go for it and leave it all out there, and that’s how I feel.

“This is going to be my last Paralympics, and I’ll probably be retiring at some point after. So, for me, this is giving it everything and having no regrets.”

The two-time Paralympic doubles bronze medallist, who is bidding for a third doubles medal together with Lucy Shuker, did not offer a definitive end point to her time on the ITF UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour, but said that she and world No. 2 Yui Kamiji would be playing together one last time at next month’s US Open, where they are the defending doubles champions.

“I think she’s really sad!” Whiley said of Kamiji’s reaction to the news. “I told her gradually over a few years, and she’s sad but she understands my reasons. But we’re going to play the US Open together after this. That will probably be the last time we play together. It will be really nice to end with her – and hopefully successfully as well.”

Asked what had prompted the decision, Whiley pointed to her family – her son Jackson, who has changed her outlook on life since his arrival in 2018; her mother Julie, who has been her rock and cares for her grandson while Whiley is on the road; and her father Keith, a former wheelchair tennis player himself, who like Whiley was born with osteogenesis imperfecta.

“I think I’m just more relaxed now,” she said of playing since becoming a mother. “Before I had Jackson my whole life was tennis, and I didn’t have anything else. Now I’m a tennis player and a mum, so when I lose or I have a bad day, it doesn’t mean anything. I go home and he’s happy. I think I’m playing better tennis now that I’m a mum than I was before.

“I have a really good support network around me. My mum is incredible, she helps me a lot. Without my mum I couldn’t do anything, so it’s all about her. But my son’s going to start school next year and my dad is sick, so I can’t really put pressure on my mum to look after my son. I feel like it’s time. My career has been really long and really successful, so I just feel like now is the right time.”

Whenever the curtain drops, Whiley will be able to look back on a career laden with highlights and accolades. Asked for her standout achievements, she again returned to her partnership with Japan’s Kamiji, with whom she has won 12 Grand Slam doubles titles, including the calendar grand slam in 2014, and three further titles together since returning to action in 2019.

“Winning the calendar Grand Slam with Yui was the highlight of my career, because it was making history with my best friend,” Whiley said. “That was an incredible moment. Then, when I won US Open singles title. To date, that’s my only singles Grand Slam, so that means a lot. And when I won bronze in London, my home Games. I’m never going to be able to get that opportunity again, and I was very young, only 20 at the time.”

But she’s not done yet. Seeded No. 4 in Tokyo, Whiley has made no secret of the fact she returned to tennis after Jackson’s birth in pursuit of a Paralympic singles medal, and after coming through what might have been a tricky opening encounter unscathed she is hoping her fortunes have finally turned at the Games.

“I haven’t had much luck in Paralympics if I’m honest – in the singles, anyway,” she said. “I’ve either bombed out in the first round, or in Rio I was injured quite badly. This time around, I’m fit and healthy, and in a really good place mentally and physically.

“If it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen – I just want to be here, enjoy the moment and play my best tennis, so I know when I look back I can say I did everything I could.”