This is ‘Dangerous Dave’ Phillipson’s third Paralympic Games and he couldn’t wait to get a raquet in his hand. ‘First hit today on the courts in Rio,’ he tweeted only hours ago from Brazil, ‘love it.’
One of the world’s top wheelchair tennis players and a former Loughborough College Sports Science student, Phillipson says the past year has been about moving up the rankings, striving for Paralympic 2016 selection – “and hopefully winning a medal.
“I really push myself to the limit. I don’t like to hold myself back. I like to challenge myself.”
Diagnosed with brittle bone disease at three and a half, Phillipson estimates he has had getting on for 200 breaks, although they have become less frequent in recent years. “It has made me a stronger person definitely… Some people are way worse off than me.”
Phillipson has been competing in wheelchair tennis for more than 20 years, including at both the 2008 and 2012 Paralympics.
In his Paralympic debut year, David also became the number one ranked player in Great Britain, breaking the 14-year reign of four-time Paralympian Jayant Mistry. Four years later, at his second Games appearance, he reached the last 16 of both the men's singles and doubles competition, where he played alongside Alexander Jewitt.
In 2015 Phillipson was a member of the Great Britain team that won the World Team Cup men’s title for the first time.