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Donald Ramphadi

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Donald Ramphadi
Ramphadi in 2024
Country (sports) South Africa
ResidencePretoria, South Africa
Born (1993-06-10) 10 June 1993 (age 31)
Mogapeng, South Africa
CollegeUniversity of South Africa
Singles
Career record160–100[1]
Highest rankingNo. 3 (17 July 2023)[1]
Current rankingNo. 6 (26 August 2024)[1]
Grand Slam singles results
Australian OpenSF (2023, 2024)
French OpenSF (2024)
WimbledonSF (2023)
US OpenSF (2022)
Other tournaments
Paralympic GamesR16 (2024)
Doubles
Career record96–85[2]
Highest rankingNo. 3 (22 January 2024)[2]
Current rankingNo. 8 (26 August 2024)[2]
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian OpenF (2023, 2024)
French OpenW (2023)
WimbledonSF (2022, 2023, 2024)
US OpenF (2023)
Other doubles tournaments
Paralympic GamesSF (2024)
Medal record
Men's wheelchair tennis
Representing  South Africa
Paralympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 2024 Paris Quad doubles

Donald Ramphadi (born 10 June 1993),[3] nicknamed Dona,[3] is a South African wheelchair tennis player who plays in the sport's quad division. Ramphadi, alongside partner Andy Lapthorne, is the 2023 French Open quad wheelchair doubles champion.[4] Ramphadi has also been the runner-up in numerous quad wheelchair doubles grand slam events, with frequent partners including Lapthorne, Lucas Sithole, and Koji Sugeno.[5] Ramphadi and Sithole won bronze in the quad doubles wheelchair tennis event at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, which was the African continent's first-ever wheelchair tennis medal.[6]

Tennis career

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Ramphadi first started playing tennis in 2009 while studying at Letaba Special School in Tzaneen, Limpopo Province, and originally thought tennis was "a white people sport" but ended up falling in love with the game.[4] He was cleared to compete in the quad division of wheelchair tennis in 2018.[4]

Ramphadi has participated in several Grand Slams' quad wheelchair divisions in both singles and doubles. Ramphadi and his partner Andy Lapthorne claimed the 2023 French Open quad wheelchair doubles title at Roland-Garros, winning the final match on Ramphadi's birthday while he played in a secondhand wheelchair.[4]

Two Black South Africans play on the same side in a doubles tennis match. Ramphadi, on the left, is in the middle of serving, while spectators watch.
Ramphadi (left) and Lucas Sithole in their semifinal match at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games

Ramphadi and partner Lucas Sithole made it to the semifinals of the 2024 Paralympics' quad doubles wheelchair tennis event, losing to 2020 gold medalists Sam Schröder and Niels Vink.[7] Ramphadi and Sithole then defeated the Brazilian pair of Ymanitu Silva (one of Ramphadi's previous partners)[8] and Leandro Pena to win the event's bronze medal, which was South Africa's fourth medal of the 2024 Games and the first-ever wheelchair tennis medal won by an African country.[6]

Ramphadi has noted his desire to encourage more young Black South Africans to pick up tennis, saying, "Now that I am a grand slam champion, just to change the way that young kids are thinking at home is the aim."[4]

Personal life

[edit]

Ramphadi was born in Mogapeng, a village in the Greater Tzaneen Local Municipality of Limpopo Province, South Africa.[8][9] He was fully able-bodied until the age of 12, when he developed osteogenesis imperfecta (OI), also known as brittle bone disease. His mobility decreased until he almost could not walk, though it began to partly increase after his mother suggested he begin walking with a cane she had collected in a local forest.[10] Ramphadi attended the University of South Africa. He now lives in Pretoria and is a father to one son.[3]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c "Donald Ramphadi Wheelchair Tennis Singles Overview". ITF. International Tennis Federation. Retrieved 1 September 2024.
  2. ^ a b c "Donald Ramphadi Wheelchair Tennis Doubles Overview". ITF. International Tennis Federation. Retrieved 1 September 2024.
  3. ^ a b c "RAMPHADI Donald". Paris 2024 Paralympics. Retrieved 1 September 2024. (alternate link)
  4. ^ a b c d e Solms, Leonard (5 July 2023). "Can Donald Ramphadi win Wimbledon in a secondhand wheelchair?". ESPN.com. Retrieved 1 September 2024.
  5. ^ "Donald Ramphadi Wheelchair Tennis Doubles Activity". ITF. International Tennis Federation. Retrieved 1 September 2024.
  6. ^ a b Strydom, Marc (4 September 2024). "Sithole and Ramphadi add Team SA's fourth medal at Roland-Garros". Times Live. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  7. ^ "Schroder / Vink vs Ramphadi / Sithole Results". Paris 2024 Paralympics. IOC. Retrieved 1 September 2024.
  8. ^ a b Hemmonsbey, Keanan (25 January 2023). "South Africa's Donald Ramphadi reaches Quad Wheelchair Double Australian Open final". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  9. ^ McLean, Ross. "'I am carrying the South African flag on my shoulders'". ITF. International Tennis Federation. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  10. ^ McLean, Ross. "Sithole, Ramphadi: Africa has first Paralympic wheelchair tennis medal". ITF. International Tennis Federation. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
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