Daniela Di Toro

Lisa Daniela "Danni" Di Toro (born 16 October 1974) is an Australian wheelchair tennis and para table tennis player. Di Toro was the 2010 French Open doubles champion and has also been the Masters double champion. In singles, Di Toro is the former world number one and two-time masters finalist. In 2015, she moved to para-table tennis and represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, where she was team captain with Kurt Fearnley. At the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, her seventh Paralympics, she was the team captain and Opening Ceremony flag bearer with Ryley Batt. She competed at her eighth Paralympics in Paris.

Personal life Daniela Di Toro was born on 16 October 1974 in Melbourne, Victoria. She became a paraplegic in 1988 in an accident while competing at a school swimming carnival, when a wall fell on her. While in hospital, following her accident, Di Toro met Sandy Blythe, a member of the Australian Rollers. He inspired her to continue to pursue sports. She lives in the Melbourne suburb of Thornbury and she works as a youth worker in Melbourne. She graduated from Victoria University with a Bachelor of Chinese Medicine (Acupuncture and Herbs) in 2009.

Wheelchair tennis

In the past I've always been so caught up in my own competition, I've missed out on seeing my friends compete and getting a sense of what people must feel when they're at a Paralympic Games. It's extraordinary. — Daniela Di Toro As a professional tennis player, Di Toro has won more than three hundred matches. She is coached by Greg Crump. In 2010, Di Toro competed in the women's double tennis events at the four major tennis events. Her partners were Lucy Shuker of Great Britain and Aniek Van Koot of Holland. Di Toro was injured in 2011, and had to pull out of the French and Korean Opens because her neck was inflamed. The injury happened while she was competing at the Japanese Open and was a herniated disc.

Paralympics Di Toro has competed as wheelchair tennis player in 4 consecutive Paralympic Games: Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008. with Branka Pupovac as her partner. She won a bronze medal at the 2004 Games in the Women's singles event. She competed at the 2008 Paralympics, and was the only female wheelchair tennis player on the Australian team.

At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, she lost both matches in the Women's Singles Class 4 and failed to advance. At the 2019 Oceania Para Table Tennis Championships, Darwin, she won the gold medal in the Women's Class 2–5.

At the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, she lost both matches in the Women's Singles Class 4 and failed to advance.

Di Toro competed at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in the Women's singles C3-5 but did not progress past the group stage. She competed at the 2024 Paris Paralympics in the Women's Singles 4 and Women's Doubles 10 but did not progress after losing opening matches.

Recognition

In 1999, Di Toro was named the Australian Paralympian of the Year. and in 2001, she was named the Young Victorian of the Year. In 2010, she was nominated as the Most Outstanding athlete with a disability by Tennis Australia. In November 2019, Batt with Daniela di Toro was named co-captain of the Australian Team at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. On 23 August 2021, di Toro and Batt were announced as the flagbearers for the Australian team for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics opening ceremony. In 2022, she was awarded Paralympics Australia President’s Award.

Performance timelines To prevent confusion, this table only includes the events which took place from 2002 onwards at the Grand Slam venues. Wheelchair singles

Wheelchair doubles