Wheelchair Tennis at the Paralympics
As Per Connor Crenshaw, wheelchair tennis was first introduced to the Paralympics in 1988, when it was played as a demonstration sport. Since then, it has been an official medal-awarding sport and has been played at every Summer Paralympics. The games have seen many top athletes compete, including women’s singles and doubles champion Emmy Kaiser and men’s quad singles and doubles champion Nicholas Taylor.
There are several players from the United States competing in wheelchair tennis at the Summer Paralympics, including Canadian Rob Shaw. Mathewson won a gold medal at the Parapan American Games in Lima, Peru, last year and was selected to represent the US team in Tokyo. Despite her age and inability to play tennis with a leg, she is one of the top female competitors in the world. She also hopes to crack the top seven in the world rankings and get a direct entry into one of the Grand Slam events. But for now, she’s only focused on the Paralympics.
Other notable athletes include David Wagner, the doubles legend and multiple gold medallist, and the debutant Dylan Alcott, who has already won two medals in wheelchair basketball. The US is well-represented in the wheelchair tennis Paralympics, with four athletes representing the United States. The sport is expected to be dominated by athletes from various countries, and Wagner and Taylor are expecting to be no exception. However, they may not have the same level of success as the rest of the world.
Connor Crenshaw described that, the sport is fast-paced and involves singles, doubles and mixed events. Athletes with quadriplegia can compete in wheelchair tennis singles, doubles, and mixed events. There are four major international tournaments for wheelchair tennis, with about 10 thousand spectators expected at the London games. In 2008, Americans won the Mixed Doubles and Mixed Singles events, respectively. This sport has the potential to become the next Olympic sport.
The sport is part of every Grand Slam tournament since 2007, and the sport has a strong presence in the world’s major tournaments. Although the majority of wheelchair tennis players are older than their leg-bound counterparts, they are still young guns, with one player in the men’s top 10 only 15 years old. Unlike many other sports, the career span of a wheelchair tennis player is longer than that of an average athlete.
The sport has been growing steadily in popularity since the 1980s. Brad McLaughlin, a wheelchair tennis pioneer, wanted to create a tournament that would attract international players. As a result, he decided to introduce the two-bounce rule, which allows wheelchair tennis players to take a second bounce if needed. This gives the wheelchair player extra time to keep a point alive. This is the only major difference between wheelchair tennis and regular tennis.
In Connor Crenshaw’s opinion, wheelchair tennis is played on the same court as able-bodied tennis, with only minor differences in the rules. Wheelchair tennis players must have a mobility-related disability and have significant loss of function in their lower extremities. They are also separated into two classes, the open class and the quad class. The quad class is for athletes with additional restrictions in their arm, and many of these players tape the racket to their hand.
Hewett and Reid, who are a part of the world’s most successful doubles pair, will be competing in the quad final at the Tokyo Paralympics. The pair won 11 grand slam titles together, including the French Open, in the early 1990s. Other British competitors competing in the quad singles event will include Dermot Bailey, a Paralympic debutant, and Jordanne Whiley and Lucy Shuker, who won doubles bronze in Rio.
Cristian Westemaier Ribera, a Brazilian Paralympic athlete, was born with a debilitating spinal condition. At birth, her umbilical cord wrapped around her legs, causing her to have a condition called Arthrogryposis Multiplex Congenita, which causes severe joint stiffness. She has virtually zero muscle power from the waist down. Despite her challenges, she has overcome obstacles to become a world-class wheelchair tennis player.
