Wheelchair Tennis
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A wheelchair tennis player serving. Before service, additional balls are routinely tucked between the spokes for quick availability. Note that the configuration of the wheels differs from that of regular wheelchairs, one in the front, two on the sides, one in the back. |
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Wimbledon - Men's Wheelchair doubles |
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Wimbledon - Men's Wheelchair doubles |
Wheelchair tennis is a sport for people with disabilities that is played on a regulation
tennis court. All "pedestrian" variations of
tennis are being played, i.e. same-sex doubles, mixed etc.
The only rule that differs from non-wheelchair tennis is the one that concerns the number of bounces a ball may take before it must be played. In wheelchair tennis the ball may bounce up to two times, the second bounce may also occur outside of the field. This also holds true for service.
Wheelchair tennis got started in the mid-70s thanks to the efforts of
Brad Parks who is effectively the creator of competitive wheelchair tennis. Since then, a lot of effort has been put into the promotion of the sport in order to get rid of the therapy image that still clings to many sports for people with disabilities today. It has been a goal
Paralympic sport since the
1988 Summer Paralympics in
Seoul, but it wasn't until
1992 Summer Paralympics in
Barcelona that wheelchair tennis acquired the status of a full-fledged competition. The
2000 Summer Paralympics in
Sydney have boosted public awareness immensely. Some of the most thrilling action of all the
Paralympic Games could be seen especially in the last two rounds of the men's tournament where local hero
David Hall beat
Kai Schrameyer of
Germany in the semifinal and went on to win the final against Texan
Steve Welch.In the ITF men's rankings of January, 2004, Hall ranks first. The strongest woman is
Esther Vergeer of the Netherlands.
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Wheelchair Tennis website from the ITF
