Shuker and Whiley in dreamland after reaching Tokyo 2020 final
Twice Paralympic doubles bronze medallists, Lucy Shuker and Jordanne Whiley will take home silver or gold from Tokyo 2020 after booking their spot in the women’s doubles final with a 6-4 6-2 semi-final victory over China, P.R.’s Wang Ziying and Zhu Zhenzhen.
The British duo will face Dutch No. 1 seeds Diede De Groot and Aniek van Koot in the gold medal match at Ariake Park on Saturday, Whiley having faced De Groot in the singles semi-finals and set to face van Koot in Friday’s bronze medal match before partnering Shuker one last time at the Paralympic Games before her upcoming retirement.
“It’s a dream come true,” said Shuker. “Having won two bronzes in the previous Games, which is an achievement in itself, we’ve always been dreaming of winning a gold or silver. We’ve put ourselves in the best place possible, we’re in the match.
“I’m buzzing that we’ve done it together as a team. We’ve worked so hard together during that match and in training, so who knows!”
Wang and Zhu were as much of an unknown entity as a doubles pair as they were in singles, both reaching the quarter-finals in their first competitive action since March 2020. But while it took some time to adjust to their opponents’ firepower and dogged defence, the Britons’ vast experience came to the fore when it mattered.
“One of the Chinese girls really lets rip on the ball, and when she does it comes through so quick,” Shuker said. “But we stuck together, we communicated well, we moved well, and I think that was the key at the end of the day.”
Asked how far the pair have come since their first Paralympic campaign together at London 2012, Whiley was adamant: “It’s not even in the same league.
“In London I was very young, only 19, and we were quite inexperienced as a pair. In Rio, I think we weren’t in a great place – I had my head somewhere else. And now here in Tokyo we’re older, we’re wiser, and we’ve played almost 12 years together, so it feels like now is our time.”
While Wang and Zhu head into a bronze medal showdown with Japan’s singles finalist Yui Kamiji and partner Momoko Ohtani, Shuker and Whiley know they head into the gold medal match as underdogs against De Groot and van Koot.
The Dutch duo will be defending the Netherlands’ proud record of winning every single women’s gold medal in singles and doubles since 1992.
“It’s going to be a tough match, we know that,” Whiley said. “But we’re ready for the challenge – we’re in a really great place and we’re playing really great tennis. Like Lucy said, we’re in the best place possible: we have the opportunity to win gold. We’re going to do our best and leave it all out on the court.”