Tennis Career
He became a wheelchair tennis player at the age of 30, having seen a demonstration at Stoke Mandeville. He competes in the quad division. This means he competes against other players with a disability in at least three limbs. He plays with a tennis racket taped to his hand, and competes in the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour.
He was the first person ever 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. It had been the first occasion where a tennis event had been included in a Paralympic programme. He also won a silver medal with Mark Eccleston in the quad doubles event. Following his victories, in 2005 he was invited to perform the coin toss ahead of the men's singles final at Wimbledon.
He represented Great Britain again at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, winning gold in the singles event and bronze in doubles with Jamie Burdekin. He sees the defeat in the semi final as the biggest disappointment in his tennis career.
In the 2010 season, he missed out on finishing overall as world number one by eight ranking points, despite winning the end of season Wheelchair Masters tournament. He beat Wagner 6-3 7-6 (7-4), but his opponent ended the season one place above him in the rankings. 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 regained the Australian Open title in 2012, beating Wagner in the final and becoming world number one once more. It marked his fifth victory at the grand slam tournament. He was also victorious once more in the doubles, teaming with Lapthorne again to defeat Wagner and his partner Noam Gershony.
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."
Norfolk has multiple Super Series titles. He has finished the year as world number one on five occasions, and won the Team World Cup three times. He has a rivalry with Wagner, with the two swapping the number one and number two ranked positions in the quad division on a regular basis. Norfolk was awarded the Carl Aarvold Award for International Achievement by the Lawn Tennis Association in 2012. Norfolk was voted to carry the British flag at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Paralympic Games in London.
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