‘Not Some Boy in a Wheelchair’ – 17-Year-Old American Wonderkid Defies Horrifying Odds to Script History in Adaptive Tennis

Landon Sachs is the current USTA Wheelchair Tournament champion and the first wheelchair athlete to compete against an able-bodied opponent. However, before he was one of the rising stars in wheelchair tennis, Sach was a victim of one of America’s most gruesome murders. The incident took the life of both his parents and was committed by his brother. It left him severely paralyzed from the waist down at the age of 8. 

And that kid, Landon Sachs, is currently playing tennis. He has discovered his love for the game and now, there’s no stopping him. In an interview to LA Times, Landon and his brother Myles Sachs recount their lives as it has been after the incident. 

Landon Sachs is achieving the “impossible”

It has been almost a decade since the incident and now, Landon is a 17-year-old senior at JSerraHigh, a Catholic institution. Landon is the first athlete in Orange County high school’s history to play against a fully-abled opponent while being in a wheelchair. He also secured the second position in the USTA Junior National Wheel Championships held in Rome.

Landon was adopted by the Sachs, a wealthy family, from a Russian orphanage. He wanted to go pro as a baseball player since he was a kid. In March 2014, Landon’s brother Ashton Sachs fired two shots at him after he had killed his parents in their bedroom. Both Myles and Landon now do not want to relive the incident and talk about it. All he knows is that he isn’t “some guy in a wheelchair”.

At first, like every other differently abled person, Landon thought he was missing out on life. Coupled with the terrible pain of the injury, Landon’s alienation from the other kids his age was only going to get worse. However, after the adaptive tennis program was introduced in his school, Landon started playing on the school’s tennis team. “That was a curveball I was not planning on,” Myles says.

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“It’s like the first time you’ve found what you love,” Amy Hemphill, Dean of Athletics, says about watching Landon play. “It was the blood, sweat, tears, and pure joy on his face.”

What the future for Landon looks like

At the end of a marvelous season where Landon won his first set for JSerra against Newport Beach Sage Hill, he was awarded the “Courage Award”. His friend from rehab, Gomez, also came down to meet him that day. Gomez is playing wheelchair tennis too, and this has only brought them closer.

Landon is all set to start at the University of Arizona with a tennis scholarship. Battling several hurdles that are enough to bring a person down, Landon’s advice for anyone in a wheelchair is, “Don’t hate yourself”. 

What do you think about Landon’s achievements? Let us know in the comments.

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