Wheelchair tennis is one of the forms of tennis adapted for those who have disabilities in their lower bodies. The size of courts, balls, and rackets are same, but there are two major differences from pedestrian tennis; they use specially designed wheelchairs and the ball may bounce up to two times. The second bounce may also occur outside of the field.[1]
This is one of the official Paralympic sports and also played at Grand Slams. There are three categories; Men, Ladies, and Quads and each category has singles and doubles tournaments. Quads is the category for those with quadriplegia and it is sometimes called Mixed especially at Paralympic Games. Quads players can hold rackets taped to the hand and use electric-powered wheelchairs.
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Wheelchair tennis got started in 1976 thanks to the efforts of Brad Parks who is effectively the creator of competitive wheelchair tennis.[2] Since then, much 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.
The sport became popular and grew worldwide so fast that it was introduced to Paralympic games for the first time at the 1988 Summer Paralympics in Seoul as a demonstration event.[3] It was the 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 and it led to the introduction of this sport to Grand Slams of pedestrian tennis.
International tournaments are organized by International Tennis Federation as a NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour. In wheelchair tennis there are four top-ranked major tournaments called Super Series (SS); Australian Open (Melbourne), British Open (Nottingham), Japan Open (Iizuka), and US Open (St. Louis). World Team Cup is an international team event held annually. To wrap up the season, they have NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters (singles event) and Camozzi Doubles Masters tournaments which only world top-ranked players can compete. In addition, Grand Slams, Australian Open, Wimbledon, Roland Garros, and US Open have each created wheelchair tennis category. It is also played at Paralympic Games and FESPIC games as well.
Each year Wheelchair Tennis Masters are held for single and double. The top eight men and women based on the ranking after the US Open at the end of the year compete to be the champion of the year.
The Netherlands has dominated numerous victories at major tournaments including Paralympic Games and Grand Slams. It has many top players of this sport such as Robin Ammerlaan, Esther Vergeer, and Korie Homan.