Best moments from Lucy Shuker’s wheelchair tennis career
• 4 minute read
Lucy Shuker’s wheelchair tennis career has come to an end at the Wheelchair Tennis Finals in Barcelona this week.
The former British No.1 finishes her journey in professional tennis as one of the best players of her era, with many highlights, titles and achievements to be proud of.
We look back at some of the best moments from Shuker’s career:
Taking GB to silver at the World Team Cup
Shuker has been a mainstay in the Lexus GB World Team Cup team since making her debut in 2005.
Over 21 years, she has won three silver and four bronze medals at the wheelchair tennis equivalent of the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cups.
One of her standout campaigns came in 2009, with the World Team Cup hosted at the Lexus Nottingham Tennis Centre
Shuker won three singles matches against Spain, USA and Korea. Rep to send Great Britain into the final for the very first time.
She lost to world No.1 Esther Vergeer in the final as the Brits finished with a silver medal – marking the first of Shuker’s many World Team Cup accolades and her continued success when representing her country.
Reaching a first Wimbledon final
In 2009, women’s wheelchair tennis was introduced at Wimbledon with a doubles competition.
Shuker was the first British player to feature in a women’s wheelchair tennis draw at SW19 and went on to reach the final with Australia’s Daniela Di Toro.
The pair beat Jiske Griffioen and Florence Alix-Gravellier in the semi-final 6-4, 6-4, before losing out to Vergeer and Korie Homan.
During the rest of her career, Shuker reached nine Grand Slam doubles finals – five at Wimbledon and four at the Australian Open.
Trailblazer at the London 2012 Paralympics
Competing at a home Paralympics is a once in a lifetime opportunity for any athlete – but winning a medal is the stuff of dreams.
In 2012, Shuker teamed up with Jordanne Whiley to become the first British women to win a medal in wheelchair tennis at the Paralympic Games.
The Brits claimed the bronze medal after being match point down against Thai team Sakhorn Khanthasit and Ratana Techamaneewat to win 6-7, 7-6, 6-3.
The duo went on to win bronze again four years later in Rio, before their best Paralympics campaign in Tokyo. More on that shortly…
Clinching the US Open USTA Championships title
The biggest singles title of Shuker’s career by tournament grade came at the US Open USTA Championships - not to be confused with the US Open in New York.
The US Open USTA Championships had its roots in the early days of wheelchair tennis in the 1980s, when it was the biggest wheelchair tennis tournament in the world, long before inclusion in the Grand Slam in New York. During the 1990s the tournament was one of only two Super Series (now WC1000) on the Wheelchair Tennis Tour, along with the British Open
In 2016, the event was still a Super Series tournament – the highest level of wheelchair competition outside of the majors - and came a little over two weeks after the Rio Paralympics.
Shuker came in as the third seed, ready to mount a challenge for the trophy. She beat Dana Matthewson and second seed Kgothatso Montjane to reach the final, where she knocked out American Emmy Kaiser 6-3, 6-1 to claim the middle leg of three successive singles titles in North America during that period.
She was the first British player to win a women’s Super Series singles title, and went on to finish her career with a further eight doubles trophies at the top level of the tour.
She ended her career as a former world No.5 in singles and No.3 in doubles.
Masters doubles champion
The Wheelchair Tennis Finals – formerly known as the Wheelchair Tennis Masters – is the year-end tournament for the best players in the sport across the season.
As the equivalent of the ATP and WTA Finals, it’s one of the biggest prizes on offer for wheelchair tennis stars.
In 2016, Shuker etched her name in the history books as a doubles champion with Diede de Groot of the Netherlands.
Shuker and De Groot topped their group in the round-robin stage before beating Katharina Kruger and Michaela Spaanstra in the semi-finals.
In the final, she faced fellow Brit Louise Hunt Skelley and Matthewson, coming through with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 victory to seal the best doubles title of her career.
Winning silver in Tokyo
Following back-to-back bronze medals in London and Rio, Shuker and Whiley were selected again to represent ParalympicsGB at the 2020 Tokyo Games.
Hosted a year after they had been originally planned due to the COVID-19 pandemic and played in front of empty crowds, the tournament threw up a host of unique challenges but the Brits found a way to produce their best level.
The second seeds powered past the South African team in their quarter-final match, before winning a first Paralympic semi-final against Chinese duo Wang Ziying and Zhu Zhenzhen 6-4, 6-2.
In the final, they eventually lost out to Dutch team De Groot and Aniek van Koot, but they became the first British women to win a silver medal in wheelchair tennis.
Flagbearer for ParalympicsGB
In 2024, British No.1 Shuker was named in the GB squad for the Paris Games – her fifth appearance at the Paralympics.
However, this year was slightly different. Shuker was selected by fellow ParalympicsGB athletes to be one of two flagbearers at the opening ceremony – one of the greatest honours for any athlete.
“To have that honour to lead ParalympicsGB out is incredible and something that I never thought I would do,” Shuker said.
“Leading the parade down the Champs-Elysees and Place de la Concorde is going to be really different. We are a big team and to be at the front of that is insane, incredible and an honour.”
Lifting her 100th doubles title
At Wimbledon in 2026, Shuker announced that she would be retiring from professional tennis at the end of the season – bringing an end to an incredible career in wheelchair tennis.
With plenty of tennis still to come in those final few months, Shuker set her sights on one goal in particular: reaching 100 doubles titles.
At the time of the announcement, the British star had 98 to her name, just needing two more to complete an incredible milestone.
In October, she ticked off No.99 with France’s Pauline Deroulede at the WC 100 Feucherolles – Yvelines, knowing she would have the chance to reach her goal just a few weeks later.
It was only fitting that she would complete her journey on home soil at the WC 50 Abingdon. Teaming up with fellow Brit Ruby Bishop, the pair beat Abbie Breakwell and Luna Gryp 6-3, 6-4 to cement Shuker’s legacy as a celebrated doubles centurion.
