Daniela Di Toro
Encyclopedia
Daniela Di Toro is a Paralympic tennis player
competitor from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
. He inspired her to continue to pursue sport. She currently resides in Thornbury, Victoria
and she works as a youth worker in Melbourne.
Her personal heroes include the Dalai Lama
. Di Toro admires Lucy Shuker
because she feels that Lucy, the most disabled women's tennis player on the professional circuit with a classification of T/4, makes playing tennis look easy. She also admires Tony Hawk
.
. As a professional tennis player, Di Toro has won more than three hundred matches. She is coached by Greg Crump.
At the end of the 2010 season, Di Toro was ranked second in the world. During the 2010 season, she reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, semifinals of the French Open and finals of the US Open. In 2010, she won the Japan Open and the Korean Open. In 2010, Di Toro competed in the women's double tennis events at the four major tennis events. Her partners were Lucy Shuker
of Great Britain and Aniek Van Koot of Holland. Di Toro was injured in 2011, and had to pull out of the French and Korean Opens because her neck was inflamed. The injury happened while she was competing at the Japanese Open and was a herniated disc. She trains at the Tennis Centre and Nunawading. Her club tennis is with Wheelchair Sport Victoria.
, Sydney 2000
, Athens 2004
and Beijing 2008
. She won a silver medal at the 2000 Sydney Games
in the Women's Doubles event, with Branka Pupovac
as her partner. She won a bronze medal at the 2004 Games in the Women's Single event. She competed at the 2008 Paralympics, and was the only female wheelchair tennis player on the Australian team.
in the finals.
In 2002, 2003 and 2004, she finished second in the women's double event at the Australian Open.
's Wheelchair Tennis Super Series event.
.
Wheelchair Tennis
Wheelchair tennis is one of the forms of tennis adapted for those who have disabilities in their lower bodies. The size of courts, balls, and rackets are same, but there are two major differences from pedestrian tennis; they use specially designed wheelchairs and the ball may bounce up to two times...
competitor from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Personal life
Daniela Di Toro was born on 16 October 1974 in Melbourne, Victoria. She became a paraplegic in 1988 in an accident while competing at a school swimming carnival, when a wall fell on her. While in hospital, following her accident, Di Toro met Sandy Blythe, a member of the Australian RollersAustralia men's national wheelchair basketball team
The Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team is the men's wheelchair basketball side that represents Australia in international competitions. The team is known as the Rollers...
. He inspired her to continue to pursue sport. She currently resides in Thornbury, Victoria
Thornbury, Victoria
Thornbury originalSince the 1960s, the vast majority of Melburnians pronounce the name phonetically. The 'h' is no longer silent, and there is more stress placed upon the 'o'. pronunciation is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 7 km north from Melbourne's central business district....
and she works as a youth worker in Melbourne.
Her personal heroes include the Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama is a high lama in the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The name is a combination of the Mongolian word далай meaning "Ocean" and the Tibetan word bla-ma meaning "teacher"...
. Di Toro admires Lucy Shuker
Lucy Shuker
Lucy Shuker is a British wheelchair tennisplayer who is currently the highest ranking woman in the sport in Britain and winner of both singles and doubles titles in the National Wheelchair Tennis Championships following a 2001 motorbike accident that left her paralysed. She is currently ranked 10th...
because she feels that Lucy, the most disabled women's tennis player on the professional circuit with a classification of T/4, makes playing tennis look easy. She also admires Tony Hawk
Tony Hawk
Anthony Frank "Tony" Hawk , nicknamed "The Birdman" is an American retired professional skateboarder and actor. Hawk gained significant fame for completing the first 900 as well as his licensed video game titles distributed by Activision...
.
Competitive tennis
In wheelchair tennis, Di Toro is classified as Paraplegic T12/L1. She first started playing tennis when she was nine. She started playing wheelchair tennis in 1988, and started representing Australia in 1989. Internationally, she has been ranked as high as number one. She was once a scholarship holder at the Victorian Institute of SportVictorian Institute of Sport
The Victorian Institute of Sport is the government-funded sporting institute of the Australian state of Victoria. It runs a number of programs for sports training. The headquarters are located in Melbourne. The inaugural executive director of the institute was Frank Pyke....
. As a professional tennis player, Di Toro has won more than three hundred matches. She is coached by Greg Crump.
At the end of the 2010 season, Di Toro was ranked second in the world. During the 2010 season, she reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, semifinals of the French Open and finals of the US Open. In 2010, she won the Japan Open and the Korean Open. In 2010, Di Toro competed in the women's double tennis events at the four major tennis events. Her partners were Lucy Shuker
Lucy Shuker
Lucy Shuker is a British wheelchair tennisplayer who is currently the highest ranking woman in the sport in Britain and winner of both singles and doubles titles in the National Wheelchair Tennis Championships following a 2001 motorbike accident that left her paralysed. She is currently ranked 10th...
of Great Britain and Aniek Van Koot of Holland. Di Toro was injured in 2011, and had to pull out of the French and Korean Opens because her neck was inflamed. The injury happened while she was competing at the Japanese Open and was a herniated disc. She trains at the Tennis Centre and Nunawading. Her club tennis is with Wheelchair Sport Victoria.
Paralympics
Di Toro has competed at several Paralympic Games including Atlanta 1996Wheelchair tennis at the 1996 Summer Paralympics
Wheelchair tennis at the 1996 Summer Paralympics consisted of four events, singles and doubles competitions for men and women.- Medal summary :- References :...
, Sydney 2000
Wheelchair tennis at the 2000 Summer Paralympics
Wheelchair tennis at the 2000 Summer Paralympics consisted of doubles and singles competitions for men and women.- Medal summary :...
, Athens 2004
Wheelchair Tennis at the 2004 Summer Paralympics
Wheelchair Tennis at the 2004 Summer Paralympics was staged at the Olympic Tennis Centre from September 19 to September 26.There were singles and doubles competitions for men, women and both . All matches were played to the best of three sets....
and Beijing 2008
Wheelchair Tennis at the 2008 Summer Paralympics
Wheelchair tennis at the 2008 Summer Paralympics was held at the Olympic Green Tennis Centre from 8 September to 15 September.-Classfication:Players were given a classification depending on the type and extent of their disability. The classification system allowed players to compete against others...
. She won a silver medal at the 2000 Sydney Games
2000 Summer Paralympics
The 2000 Paralympic Games were held in Sydney, Australia, from 18 October to 29 October. The eleventh Summer Paralympic Games, an estimated 3800 athletes took part in the Sydney programme. They commenced with the opening ceremony on 18 October 2000...
in the Women's Doubles event, with Branka Pupovac
Branka Pupovac
Branka Pupovac is a Paralympic wheelchair tennis competitor from Australia.-Personal:Pupovac was born on 3 March 1972 in Wollongong, New South Wales. She is from Sydney, New South Wales and attended the University of Wollongong where she earned a Bachelor of Commerce. In 2000, she was studying to...
as her partner. She won a bronze medal at the 2004 Games in the Women's Single event. She competed at the 2008 Paralympics, and was the only female wheelchair tennis player on the Australian team.
US Open
In 1998, Di Toro won the US Open's women's wheelchair single event. This was her first major victory. Following her victory, she earned a ranking of number one in the world. She won the event again in 1999. In 2009, she made the quarter finals. In 2010, she came in second at the US Open, only losing to Esther VergeerEsther Vergeer
Esther Vergeer is a Dutch wheelchair tennis player. Combining singles and doubles, she has won 39 Grand Slams, 22 year-end championships and 5 Paralympics titles. Vergeer has been the world number one wheel chair tennis player since 1999. In singles, she has not been beaten since January 2003 and...
in the finals.
Australian Open
She won the Australian Open in 2000. She won the event again in 2004, 2007 and 2008. In 2011, she finished second to Ester Vergeer who had not lost a match in the past 405 matches. Di Toro finished second at the Australian Open in 2002, 2003, and 2004. In 2009, she made the quarter finals of the Australian Open.In 2002, 2003 and 2004, she finished second in the women's double event at the Australian Open.
French Open
Di Toro won the 2010 French Open with Van Koot as a partner. She finished the year ranked third in the world for doubles.Retirement
In 2005, Di Toro retired from competitive tennis in order to spend more time studying Chinese medicine. Following her 2005 retirement, she continued to be active in the wheelchair tennis community by coaching young tennis players. In January 2007, Di Toro came out of retirement to compete in the Australian OpenAustralian Open
The Australian Open is the only Grand Slam tennis tournament held in the southern hemisphere. The tournament was held for the first time in 1905 and was last contested on grass in 1987. Since 1972 the Australian Open has been held in Melbourne, Victoria. In 1988, the tournament became a hard court...
's Wheelchair Tennis Super Series event.
Recognition
In 1999, she was named the Australian Paralympian of the Year. In 2010, Di Toro was nominated for the Most Outstanding athlete with a disability by Tennis AustraliaTennis Australia
Tennis Australia is the governing body for the sport of Tennis in Australia. The organisation exists to promote tennis and conduct domestic and international tournaments on behalf of Australia, including the Australian Open and the Davis Cup for the Australian Davis Cup Team...
.