Peter Norfolk

Peter Robert Norfolk OBE (born 13 December 1960) is a British wheelchair tennis player. Following a motorbike accident which left him paraplegic, he uses a wheelchair. He took up tennis and following a further spinal complication in 2000, he began competing in the quad division. He is nicknamed The Quadfather.

He has multiple Grand Slam and Super Series titles, and competed for Great Britain at the Summer Paralympics when tennis made its first appearance at Athens 2004. He won the gold medal in the singles, and defended it at Beijing, as well as adding a bronze medal in the doubles. He competed in his third Paralympics in 2012 in London, where he was also the flagbearer for Great Britain at the opening ceremony. Norfolk announced his retirement in January 2013.

Early life Norfolk was born in London on 13 December 1960. He was hospitalised for over a year, and the disability resulted in him requiring a wheelchair.

Tennis career Norfolk became a wheelchair tennis player at the age of 30, having seen a demonstration at Stoke Mandeville.

He was the first person to win a Paralympic medal for Britain in tennis when he took gold in the quads singles at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, defeating David Wagner of the United States. Following his victories, in 2005 he was invited to perform the coin toss ahead of the men's singles final at Wimbledon. and bronze in doubles with Jamie Burdekin. He sees the defeat in the semi-final as the biggest disappointment in his tennis career. Wagner beat him at the 2011 Australian Open, marking the first occasion Norfolk had been defeated in an Australian Open final, having previously defeated Wagner in on four occasions in 2004, 2008, 2009 and 2010. It did however mark the first occasion that Norfolk had won a doubles tournament in Australia, partnered with Andrew Lapthorne.

He carried the torch in Liverpool during the 2012 Summer Olympics torch relay. He was the winner of both the singles and the doubles events in the pre-Paralympic test event at Eton Manor in May 2012. On 19 June 2012 was named once more to the British squad for the Paralympics, to compete at London 2012. He is one of three men's quad division tennis players, alongside Burdekin and Lapthorne. He admitted that the Games placed a great deal of pressure on his performance saying, "This year is about the Paralympics and everyone is expecting me to win, so it will be my year to see where I'm at." In the event, he did not win a medal in the singles, losing his quarter-final match to Shraga Weinberg, but won silver in the doubles, again partnered with Andrew Lapthorne.

Norfolk has multiple Super Series titles. Norfolk was voted to carry the British flag at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Paralympic Games in London. Norfolk announced his retirement in January 2013. He was part of Channel Four's commentary team for the Tokyo Paralympics that were held in 2021. He uses tennis rackets from Prince Sports, and his sports wheelchair is by Quickie Matchpoint.

Grand Slam titles Singles 2007 US Open 2008 Australian Open 2009 Australian Open 2010 Australian Open 2012 Australian Open

Doubles 2011 Australian Open 2012 Australian Open