Last month, David Wagner found himself once again in a very familiar place — in Flushing Meadows in New York.

The 52-year-old wheelchair tennis star had spent almost every late summer for 27 years at that location doing what he loves to do best: playing at the U.S Open.

But this time was different.

This time, Wagner had decided to announce his retirement.

Australian teenager Benjamin Wenzel beat Wagner in singles play. So it was that Wagner, a 1993 graduate of Walla Walla High School, ended what has become one of the most legendary and impressive professional tennis careers ever.

As a quad tennis singles and doubles player, Wagner has seen it all. He traveled the world playing in the Paralympics and Grand Slam tennis events. He was successful too, with over 1,500 victories in both singles and doubles matches.

In the Paralympics, Wagner won doubles gold with his longtime playing partner, Nick Taylor. They finished first in 2004 (Athens), 2008 (Beijing) and 2012 (London). They earned silver in 2016 in the Rio games in Brazil.

Then there were the Majors.

Wagner won quad singles titles three times each at the Australian Open (2011, 2013 and 2014), and he won another three singles titles at the U.S. Open in 2010, 2011 and 2017. Numerous times, Wagner reached the semifinals over the years at both the French Open and Wimbledon.

But perhaps Wagner shined best in doubles play, with the majority of his matches with Taylor.

Altogether, Wagner and whoever his playing partner was took 10 Aussie Open titles, nine U.S. Open crowns, three French Open trophies, and two more titles on the grass at Wimbledon.

It just became the right time last month at the U.S. Open for him to call it a career.

Wagner, unavailable for comment to the Union-Bulletin, told Ross McLean and Michael Lewis, writers for the Itftennis.com website, that “I’m probably going to drink a lot more beer, I’ll definitely work on that. You never want it to be done, but you can’t play forever.”

Becoming a wheelchair tennis player

Professional tennis was never in Wagner’s original plans. He was a good basketball player back in the early 1990s for the Blue Devils, playing for hall of fame coach Jim Thacker.

But Wagner was also a good tennis player, and he went to Walla Walla Community College after high school and played tennis there. Eventually, he moved on to play at Walla Walla University.

Then a tragic accident happened to Wagner in 1995.

He was playing on the beach in Southern California, just tossing a frisbee with a friend of his.

On a toss from his friend, Wagner ran through shallow water to retrieve the frisbee when a freak wave came at him. He tried to jump the wave, but it hit him in the feet, flipping him upside down. He landed on his neck. He became paralyzed from the mid-chest down and with just 30% function in his hands.

This is where the story becomes inspirational.

Always active, Wagner tried table tennis. But in 1999, Wagner attended a US Paralyzed Veterans of America camp. He found what he was looking for in wheelchair tennis, which was created in 1976, and started playing.

Wagner qualified for Quad tennis, which according to LTA Britain’s website, are players with “permanent physical disability that results in substantial loss of function in one or both upper extremities, and when at least three extremities are affected.”

Wagner taped his hand to his racquet, worked at his game, and continued to get better.

By 2002, he was the No. 1 quadriplegic player in the United States.

Later that year, Wagner was ranked No. 1 by the International Tennis Federation in quad doubles, then No. 1 in 2003 in the world in quad singles.

By 2004, he and playing partner Taylor introduced themselves to the world by winning gold in Athens, Greece.

The Wa-Hi graduate has become one of the sport’s greatest athletes.

Over the years, Wagner has been an advocate for the sport, holding clinics for young tennis players.

“The sport has come a long way,” Wagner told McLean and Lewis in their story. “When they started the sport, I don’t think they thought it was going to be in Grand Slams and people making a true living in the sport.”

Wagner continued by telling them the sport has evolved to be very noticed and very much in the press.

“It does allow people to realize what’s out there and what’s possible.”