'The biggest and best moment': Phelps, Stroud earn Paralympic milestone in Paris

The two youngest members of Team USA's wheelchair tennis squad at the recently-concluded 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris scored an important career milestone: Both 17-year-old Maylee Phelps and 24-year-old Conner Stroud scored the first Paralympic singles victory of their careers in the competition. 

Stroud, competing in his second Games, defeated Costa Rica's Jose Pablo Gil 6-3, 6-1 on the opening day of the competition, held at Roland Garros, on Aug. 30. He had previously partnered Casey Ratzlaff to a first-round doubles victory at the Tokyo Paralympics three years ago, but with that event impact signifcantly by COVID-19 pandemic protocols and limited attendance, Stroud said that it "meant the world" to be able to repeat that winning feeling in front of family and friends, on the main court of the Parisian Grand Slam tournament to boot. 

“My first match on Phillipe-Chatrier was simply incredible," Stroud said. "I wouldn’t have thought I would be playing the first match of the tournament on such a big stage. I was so nervous going into the match but once I gained some confidence I started to feel a lot more comfortable and started playing at the level I know I can play at.

"The feeling was unbelievable and I will always cherish it.  It is the biggest and best moment of my career.”

Paralympic rookie Phelps, meanwhile, followed suit with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Great Britain's Abbie Breakwell on the event's second day, giving the Americans a highlight on a day in which No. 8 seed Dana Mathewson and David Wagner were both beaten in singles, and Stroud and Ratzlaff lost in doubles. 

After she and Mathewson lost a three-set thriller to the Japanese pair of Momoko Ohtani and Saki Takamuro from a set ahead the previous night, Phelps said finishing off a win was "a dream come true," while U.S. team coach Kevin Heim lauded the youngest competitor in the tennis event from any nation by saying that Phelps "already belongs at this level."