Australia, 5 December 2023 | Leigh Rogers
Heath Davidson, Archie Graham and Michael Leigh all shone brightly on the world stage this year, representing Australia with distinction.
Their efforts have been rewarded with a nomination in the Most Outstanding Athlete with a Disability category at the 2023 Australian Tennis Awards.
Impressively, the three finalists come from different divisions across the sport, highlighting the increasing opportunities for athletes of all abilities to participate and thrive.
The 2023 finalists are:
Heath Davidson (Vic): The world No.4 enjoyed a career-best season at Grand Slam level, progressing to three finals in the quad wheelchair division. This included his first major singles final at Wimbledon. Davidson also claimed two singles and five doubles titles on the ITF Wheelchair Tennis Tour, as well as winning the quad singles title at the 2023 Australian Wheelchair Tennis National Championships in November.
Archie Graham (Qld): A strong performance at the 2023 Virtus Global Games in France reaffirmed Graham’s status as one of the world’s best players with an intellectual impairment. Graham won four medals at the event in June, including gold in the II-1 men’s singles category. Graham also took out the II-1 men’s singles and doubles titles at the 2023 Australian Tennis Championships in November.
Michael Leigh (NSW): After winning the B3 men’s singles title at the 2023 Australian Blind and Low Vision Championships in July, Leigh continued his good form at the 2023 IBSA World Games in Great Britain during August to claim gold medals in the B3 singles and B2/4 doubles categories. Leigh also won the B3 singles title at the IBTA International Championships at Poland in September to rise to world No.1.
The award winner will be announced at the 2023 Australian Tennis Awards, held at Melbourne’s Crown Casino, on Monday 11 December.
Davidson and Graham are hoping to collect their record-tying third Australian Tennis Award in this category, while Leigh is hoping to receive his first.
| Australian Tennis Awards Honour roll Most Outstanding Athlete with a Disability |
|
| 2022 | Heath Davidson (Vic) |
| 2021 | Ben Weekes (NSW), Timothy Gould (Qld) |
| 2020 | Not presented |
| 2019 | Dylan Alcott (Vic) |
| 2018 | Archie Graham… |
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