Lucy Shuker retires from wheelchair tennis after 24 years

British wheelchair tennis player Lucy Shuker has retired from the professional tour after 24 years. She first said she would stop during Wimbledon this summer, and she told the BBC that her career would end at the close of the season.

Her last match was at the Wheelchair Tennis Finals in Barcelona. Playing doubles with Ksenia Chasteau, she lost 6-3 6-1 to Diede de Groot and Aniek van Koot. Doubles means two players on each side, so the pair had to win points together, not alone.

Shuker finished her career ranked 23rd in the world. That made her Britain's number two, behind Cornelia Oosthuizen. The rankings work by adding up points from recent results, so a place in the top 25 means a player has been winning consistently for a long time.

She represented Great Britain at five consecutive Paralympic Games. The Paralympics is the global multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities, held after the Olympics. Shuker won three Paralympic medals: one silver and two bronze between 2012 and 2020. All three came in women's doubles, alongside Jordanne Whiley.

Her record also includes nine appearances in Grand Slam finals. The Grand Slams are the four biggest tournaments of the year: the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. Reaching a final means playing for the title on the last day. She was also a seven-time medallist at the World Team Cup, a team event between countries.

Across her career she won 39 singles titles. In doubles she reached 100 titles, a total she passed when she and Ruby Bishop won at the WC50 tournament in Abingdon, Oxfordshire.

Her wider work in the sport was recognised as well. She was awarded the British Empire Medal for services to sport in 2023. At the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paralympics in Paris, she carried the Great Britain flag at the front of the team.

Twenty-four years on tour is a long stretch. For a player who began as a teenager, it means a whole career spent under the same lines and on the same circuit, and it ends with a record that few players match in either singles or doubles. Shuker leaves the tour with her medals, her titles and a finals record that will stand in the history books.