She was just 21 when she suffered the life-changing injury, only 12 days after she had obtained her licence. Shuker was "just setting out in the big wide world" and she collided with both a telegraph pole and a post box.

"I was lying there in hospital, not sure what life would be like," she told Agence-France Presse by Zoom on Thursday.

However, just as life had robbed her of her mobility in one cruel moment it offered up another opportunity. While undergoing rehab at Salisbury Spinal Unit, she met Peter Norfolk, a former quad Paralympics singles tennis champion.

"He lent me a tennis chair to try and help me readjust to life," Shuker, a former Hampshire County badminton player, said. "I had lost my self confidence and sparkle, and I am really incredibly grateful to tennis in giving me some joy back."

Shuker, who is ranked 15 in the world, says she still cannot quite believe having originally thought wheelchair tennis could be a social activity how her career bloomed. She played in her first National championship in 2002 and won her first international women’s singles title in 2004 and her first international doubles title in 2005.

After making her Paralympic debut in Beijing 2008, she made history alongside Jordanne Whiley in London 2012 when they won the women’s doubles bronze medal and became the first female wheelchair tennis medallists for Paralympics GB.

"Having thought of how I would readjust to what life was like in a wheelchair to take it to the level I have is insane," she said. "I showed too having been told I was too disabled to compete with the top players that nobody can tell you what you can or cannot do.”

The now 44-year-old has two bronzes and a silver from three different Paralympic Games and was awarded a British Empire Medal by King Charles III which she describes as “humbling”. In Paris 2024, the Qatar-born Briton teams up with Abbie Breakwell in the women's doubles which gets underway next Friday.

The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games kick off on 28 August at 20:00 CEST.