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Dana Mathewson is a successful female American Paralympic Wheelchair Tennis Player from San Diego, California. As of November 2020, she ranks #1 in the US and #9 in international singles women rankings.

=== Childhood and Family === Dana Mathewson was born a healthy child in San Diego, California in 1990. She is the youngest of her family, with a brother, named Scott, who is 4.5 years older. Her family is a close-knit family, due to her Asian heritage, where family is the center of everything. Dana's mom is the daughter of Chinese immigrants who came to the U.S. for a better future for their family. She pursued a career in medicine and became a successful pediatrician. Dana's dad, on the other side, is Scottish/Polish, so Dana and her brother are a mix of both and proud to represent a diverse background.

=== Transverse Myelitis and Introduction to Wheelchair Tennis === Dana was a very active child. Soccer was her favorite sport and she played it well. When she was 10 years old, she contracted a rare autoimmune disease, called Transverse Myelitis. The cause of the disease is still unknown due to its rarity, but it leaves people paralyzed at varying levels depending on where it attacks your spine. For Dana, it got her at her waistline leaving her partially paraplegic. The onset of the disease was sudden: Within 30 minutes, Dana went from running sprints at soccer practice to lying on the floor unable to move her legs. After being in the hospital for about a month, Dana's mom decided to take her to try adaptive sports. Somebody had told her about a wheelchair tennis camp that she should sign up for. Since she grew up as a very athletic child, she was hesitant to see what adaptive sports would be like in comparison. She never thought they would be competitive enough – she was quickly proven wrong.

Dana tried a myriad of adaptive sports starting when she was 13, including wheelchair basketball and wheelchair rugby, but wheelchair tennis is the one she fell in love with. She began practicing with players out at the Barnes Tennis Center in Point Loma, as well as training with a coach up in Carlsbad every week. Soon after, she began to play tournaments on the Wheelchair Tennis Tour, was named to the United States High Performance Team through the USTA, and have been playing ever since.

=== Education === Dana Mathewson went to the University of Arizona, mainly because they are one of the few schools in the country that have a collegiate level adaptive sports program and offered Dana a scholarship to compete on their wheelchair tennis team. Being able to play adaptive sports at a Division I school was a dream for Dana. She enjoyed her time at UofA. She studied Speech, Language, & Hearing Sciences for my major and got my minor in Psychology.

Dana stayed at Arizona after getting her Bachelor’s degree, to get a post-graduate degree as well. After one year of the doctorate program at the UofA, Dana decided to take a leave of absence to pursue her athletic dreams and qualify for her first Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She competed on the tour full-time for 3 years during this break, and reached a career high world singles ranking of 9, and doubles ranking of 6.

She was and still is, the number 1 ranked US female in wheelchair tennis!

In December 2019, Dana Mathewson decided to move to England to finish her Audiology doctorate degree that she had started in Arizona. She was admitted to University College London, a top ranked university for her field of study. London offered great opportunities in terms of training and coaching.

Upon graduation, she returned to the US to relocate in Orlando, FL at the USTA National Campus to train full time as a professional tennis player. Unfortunately, soon after my relocation, the COVID-19 global pandemic hit the world and a lot in her life changed overnight, just like everyone around the world. It has been a very difficult year so far but Dana is grateful to be healthy and safe and all her family and loved ones are as well.

=== Short Break from Wheelchair Tennis === It is important to note that Dana took a break from tennis from 2011-2013 due to some family concerns as well as her desire to focus more on her education. However, she returned to wheelchair tennis in the spring of 2013 and have been loving it ever since. "Taking a break was the best thing I could have done," Dana says, "because I was getting burnt-out from balancing tennis and my education for so many years." She adds that she "she needed time away to make sure that tennis was something I truly was passionate about. Now that I’ve come back on my own terms, I have a new desire to compete and foster my talents that wouldn’t be there had I not taken the time to refocus my thoughts regarding my athletic career." 

=== Dana Mathewson, The Professional Wheelchair Tennis Player === Dana was the first wheelchair tennis player to be featured in a Wilson Tennis ad campaign. She is proudly sponsored by Wilson, Deloitte., and The Hartford. Dana is an experienced public speaker who has spoken at both large corporate events as well as small intimate settings. She has the ability to engage her audience in a special way by leveraging her personal story of overcoming obstacles and her professional story of resilience and hard work. She is particularly passionate about topics such as education, kids participation in sports, women's rights, and the Paralympic Movement.

=== What the Future Holds for Dana Mathewson === Although Dana know that she cannot physically play tennis forever, she wants to take her athletic career as far as it can go. She's confident she can be in the Top 5, If not the best in the game if time, resources, and coaching were available.

Her plan is to compete in the Tokyo Paralympics for USA (rescheduled for 2021), and then break into the top 8 and start playing slams where the world's attention is on all competitors.

After retiring from playing wheelchair tennis, Dana Mathewson plans on becoming a Pediatric Audiologist. Since I was affected by a disease at such a young age, she knows how much of an effect health care professionals can have on a child and family. "Being a pediatric audiologist would mean I would get to have that same impact on peoples’ qualities of life and I think that input and affect on a child’s development would be incredibly rewarding," said Dana.

Visit Dana's official website to read more about Dana Mathewson and contact her directly at www.danamathewson.net