Daniela Di Toro

Daniela Di Toro

Personal information
Nationality	Australia
Born	16 October 1974
Sport
Club	Wheelchair Sports Victoria
Medal record Wheelchair tennis Paralympic Games 2000 Sydney Women's Doubles 2004 Athens Women's Singles US Open 1998 Women's Single 1999 Women's Single Korean Open 2010 Women's Single Japan Open 2010 Women's Single Australian Open 2000 Women's Single 2002 Women's Single 2003 Women's Single 2004 Women's Single 2011 Women's Single 2002 Women's Double 2003 Women's Double 2004 Women's Double French Open 2010 Women's Double Wimbledon 2009 Women's Double 2010 Women's Double

Daniela Di Toro (born 16 October 1974) is a Paralympic tennis player 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 Rollers. 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.

Competitive tennis

In the past I've always been so caught up in my own competition, I've missed out on seeing my friends compete and getting a sense of what people must feel when they're at a Paralympic Games. It's extraordinary.

Daniela Di Toro

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 Sport. 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.

Paralympics

Di Toro has competed at several Paralympic Games including Atlanta 1996, 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.

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 Vergeer in the finals.

Australian Open

She won the Australian Open in 2000. 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 semi 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.

Kobe Open

Di Toro won the Kobe Open in 2003 in the women's single event.

Wimbledon

Di Toro finished second in the 2009 and 2010 Wimbledon women's double event.

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 Open'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 Australia.