Whiley is one of Great Britain’s finest tennis players. As a singles player she won the US Open in 2015 to add to her full collection of Grand Slam Doubles titles. She also won a bronze medal in the doubles at the 2012 Paralympics in London.
Where does Rio stand in terms of priorities when there’s the Grand Slam circuit to consider?
My two main goals for this year are Wimbledon and Rio – but Rio’s the main one really. It’s the Paralympics! It’s the biggest tournament in every (para) athlete’s life and we work for four years and only get one shot at it.
Does success equate to more pressure to succeed since you’re now the target to shoot at – or does it provide you with confidence?
Probably a bit of both. With winning comes pressure because people expect you to win (more) and also you expect yourself to win but if you just try to stay grounded that’s the best way to go into it. If you just think that all the pressure’s on you then that kind of overtakes your mind and you’re probably going to lose anyway – so it’s best just to keep that to one side really.
How you got into the sport is quite a funny little story isn’t it?
I was three years old and my dad (Keith Whiley, also a Paralympian) was playing a match out in Israel. I was bored and one of my dad’s friends just gave me a racket and ball and I started hitting the ball and then my dad, when he came off court, was really excited that I was playing tennis. When I got home it escalated from there.
You have osteogenesis imperfecta and you’ve broken your legs a lot. How does that occur and what measures do you take to prevent problems?
I don’t take any medications or do anything because it’s not something that can be corrected or improved by medicine because it’s a tissue defect in the bone. It’s nothing to do with calcium levels or anything like that. When I was a kid I had a lot of operations to put metalwork down my leg and I did have a drug that strengthens bone density but apart from that I don’t do anything.
I haven’t broken my legs for about 12 years now. Obviously I can’t run or jump or fly down the stairs – so as long as I don’t do anything stupid like take a fall then I’m not likely to break anything.
Are there other wheelchair tennis players that we should be looking out for?
We’ve got another guy on our team, Gordon Reid, who’s from Scotland and I would say that he’s a medal hopeful for Rio; he won the Australian Open singles title. Me and him are the medal hopefuls for Rio.
You’ve been winning titles since you were 14. Your experience must give you the inside track on what it takes to be a winner…
Definitely, I’d say I’ve been around for quite a while now and I consider myself quite an experienced player. Rio will be my third Paralympics. I won a bronze in the doubles in London but I haven’t got past the first round in the singles in both Paralympics I’ve been to – but I’ve learnt a lot and in the last two years I’ve started winning a lot of singles tournaments.
Rio’s a completely different ball game for me. It’s just a new chapter in my life and I’m going to make sure it goes right.
As Rio gets closer do you slow down to prevent injury or speed up to push yourself to new heights?
It’s not like we go off the boil and then start training really hard again – because every athlete has to look out for injury and if you over-train then that’s when injuries will happen. I’ve had a lot of injuries so I know what works for my body and what doesn’t. So it’s just about doing basically what I would normally do. It’s not like I’m training any more or any less, it’s just about finding the right kind of training.