North Bay's Rob Shaw is hoping to cap off a great summer wheelchair tennis season with a gold medal at the Paralympics in France.
Shaw should be arriving at the 2024 Summer Paralympics in Paris for the wheelchair tennis event full of confidence after a pair of titles on clay in July.
He will arrive at Roland-Garros on an eight-match winning streak in singles.
Shaw followed up his victory at the Berlin Open in July with the biggest singles title of his career at the Swiss Open in Geneva, an ITF 1 Series event.
Seeded third, Shaw did not drop a set on his way to the final where he defeated Fransico Cayulef of Chile in three sets to win his 24th career ITF singles title.
“It’s been almost 10 years, but I have finally won an ITF1 Tournament," Shaw told Tennis Canada.
"I cannot thank my support team enough for keeping me game-ready for the past two weeks,” said Shaw after his victory in Geneva. “I was very familiar with my opponent today as we played each other last week in the finals. This week I thought more than any other match; I finally played closer to my potential. There were moments where I got too pushy, but I corrected things in the third set and kept my foot on the gas. It’s been an incredible run in Switzerland and a tournament I will never forget.”
See related: Shaw heading into another Paralympic Games
Shaw also won the doubles in Geneva, although he and David Wagner only had to win their semifinal match as they had a first-round bye and got a walkover in the final. It was Shaw’s fifth ITF doubles title of the season and 28th overall.
He now heads to Paris for the Paralympics, where he will be the lone Canadian competing in the wheelchair tennis event, which gets underway on Aug. 30.
Shaw's achievements have been recognized locally as he shared the 2023 Jack Burrows award for sports achievement with Nordic Skier Alex Maycock.
Shaw was also given an Honourary Doctorate this spring from Nipissing University.
