Tennis
Fast, exciting, breathtakingly skilful, totally professional..................
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All these words describe wheelchair tennis, which celebrated its 25th Anniversary in 2001 Wheelchair tennis was first played in Great Britain in 1983. It is estimated that over 6,000 people now play the sport in more than 70 countries Worldwide. It has been a Paralympic as an organised sport. Since its inception in the United States in 1976 it has become one of the fastest growing wheelchair sports in the world.sport since 1992, the same year in which an international wheelchair tennis tour was conceived that now boasts 150 tournaments around the world.
Some of these tournaments are hosted by the Tennis Foundation in partnership with the National Wheelchair Tennis Association of Great Britain, including the British Open, one of only two tournaments on the Worldwide NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour to have Super Series status, the equivalent of Grand Slam.
Wheelchair Tennis Development
The National Wheelchair Tennis Association works in partnership with the Tennis Foundation to deliver a full programme of activities including camps for beginners, juniors and ladies, intermediate training for developing players and national training for elite players.
In addition, a full range of tournaments provides competitive playing opportunities at local, national and international level.
Promising young players may be nominated by the Tennis Foundation to attend international junior camps organised by the International Tennis Federation.
There are an increasing number of localised opportunities, such as one-day clinics and demonstrations, to introduce more players to wheelchair tennis. There are also some taster days at multi-disability and multi-sport events usually organised by national disability sports organisations, such as WheelPower.
How to get started
Contact the Tennis Foundation for opportunities to play in your area. Also, a good way to keep informed of playing and coaching opportunities is to join the National Wheelchair Tennis Association of Great Britain. You will get regular mail-outs, including newsletters and useful information on what is happening in wheelchair tennis, locally, nationally and internationally.
Many indoor tennis centres built under the Indoor Tennis Initiative (ITIs) organise wheelchair tennis programmes throughout the year with qualified tennis coaches. Some also have specialised wheelchairs, provided by the Tennis Foundation with the aid of Lottery funding, to get you started.
Join your local tennis club. More and more tennis clubs, with the help of Lottery funding, are upgrading their facilities to cater for wheelchair users. However, when renovating or upgrading facilities, tennis clubs should note that tennis/sports wheelchairs are approximately 1100mm wide - wider than the legal requirement for building regulations. This should be taken into consideration when designing entrances, corridors, disabled toilets, gates to outside courts and car parking facilities.