Tennis Channel Inside-In featuring Dana Mathewson: A wheelchair tennis champion making history and changing perceptions

Life is constantly throwing obstacles in your way, and it's how you respond to them will determine what you get out of this journey we call human existence.

Dana Mathewson was an active kid like many in southern California who played sports and made childhood memories. That all changed when she lost feeling in her legs, and became a wheelchair user at the age of 10. After this life-altering experience, she was a young person trying to understand the how to navigate this new and difficult road in life.

That's when sports re-entered the picture, and changed Mathewson's trajectory forever. She became an accomplished wheelchair tennis player, a pioneer for American women in her field, and perhaps more importantly, a vessel for change in how society looks at disabled individuals.

She joined the Tennis Channel Inside-In Podcast to share her story, profess her message, and explain why everyone deserves to feel like a normal person.

Mathewson is remarkably positive given what transpired in her youth, and she is quick to credit her mom for removing any limitations she might have placed on herself. There was no time for pity in their household, and life was still very much worth living. Mathewson found sports through the (somewhat) gentle urging of her mother, but quickly realized the value that competitive athletics could provide.

"After something happens to you where you independence suddenly disappears, finding sports again, at least for me, gave me that back," she explained. "Playing sports again and seeing oh wow I can move really fast on the court, I can be really strong, I can be part of a team, I can be really good at something athletic, was really eye-opening for me. And that definitely changed my outlook on not just life, but what disability is."

a Mathewson admits that she had the same common misconceptions about disabled people before her injury, and she wants to help spread the message that just because you're disabled, doesn't mean you can't live a normal, fully functional life.

Tennis triumphs, though, were never part of the plan, specifically because it was never her favorite sport to begin with. But after learning the wheelchair discipline and discovering how much potential she had, Mathewson attacked it relentlessly. She used her ferocious competitiveness to win at every level, rising up the ranks from college to the pros.

She's a pioneer for American women, having been the first in her country's history to play in all four major tournaments. Mathewson has 17 doubles titles and five in singles, but there's one that shines the brightest her trophy collection: Last summer she won the Wimbledon doubles championship with Japan’s Yui Kamiji, becoming the first U.S. woman to earn a wheelchair major title. It was a dream run of epic proportions, considering she got engaged the day before flying over to London.

"I remember going home back to Orlando and there were signs that they put up, and there was a big party that they threw for me with strawberries and cream," Mathewson recalled. "I think it really didn't sink in until then, what I had really achieved."

Mathewson's success on the court is staggering, but she's aiming for a much bigger impact off of it. In America, she believes that there is a larger stigma with disabled people than in other countries, and she's trying to demonstrate through her words and actions why that should not be the case. You are not defined by your condition Mathewson argues, and each person has so much to offer in their human existence. Simply put, a condition or disease is not a hindrance, and in many cases, can be used to enhance a positive message for the greater good.

“If you're really passionate about something, don't take no for an answer," Mathewson stated. "I would not be talking to you here today if my mentality was to just be like oh that was kind of hard, I guess I'll just go another route.”

She continued: “If it matters to you, problem solve, find ways to make things happen for you."

This podcast will help you understand how and why Mathewson has been to accomplish great things in her life. She opens up about her ultra-competitiveness (You do not want to play board games with her.); her recently-completed doctorate degree in audiology; and what the Wimbledon champions’ ball is really like.

Mathewson also recalls the special moment of throwing out the first pitch at a San Diego Padres game, and how much practice that went into that because, as we all know, the internet lives forever.

Mathewson is an inspirational person in many ways, and she's living proof that it's not about the hand you are dealt, but how you play your cards.