Welcome to Week 22 - the final week - of Paris 2024 Paralympic Sport Weeks. This week, all you need to know about wheelchair tennis.
Wheelchair tennis is a sport that requires dynamic movement, tactics and incredible racquet skills. At the Paris 2024 Paralympics, there will be 96athletes from around the worldcompeting in six medal events at the iconic Roland-Garros Stadium.
Brief history of wheelchair tennis
Wheelchair tennis was founded in 1976 following work by former US freestyle skier Brad Parks. Parks, who was injured in an accident, started hitting tennis balls from his wheelchair while in rehabilitation.
The sport grew in the 1980s and became an official medal event at Barcelona 1992. A total of 48 athletes competed in four medal events – the men’s singles, the men’s doubles, women’s singles and women’s doubles.
Parks won the men’s doubles with Randy Snow, who also captured the inaugural men’s singles title. The women’s events were won by Dutch athletes. Monique van den Bosch won the singles, and the doubles tournament with Chantal Vandierendonck.
Quad singles and doubles events were introducedat Athens 2004. Peter Norfolk of Great Britain earned the first singles title, while US pair of David Wagner and Nick Taylor took the doubles gold medal.
The Netherlands top the wheelchair tennismedals table with 20 gold, 13 silver and 10 bronze medals. Dutch legend Esther Vergeer is the most decoratedathlete in the sport, winning seven golds and one silver, while Japan’s Shingo Kunieda is the most successful male athlete with four golds and two bronze medals.
— ITF (@ITFTennis) May 22, 2024100 days to go to the wheelchair tennis event at the @Paralympics! 😍
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What to watch in wheelchair tennis
The aim of wheelchair tennis is to keep hitting the tennis ball over the net into the opponent’s court until they are unable to return it.
Wheelchair tennis athletes play on the same tennis courts, use the same racquets and balls and follow the same rules as their Olympic counterparts.
There is one key exception: the ball is allowed to bounce twice, and only the first bounce must be within the court’s limits.
Matches are the best of three tiebreak sets. The first player to reach six games by a margin of two wins the set. At six games all, a tiebreak is played.
Wheelchair tennis has two sport classes – the open division and the quad division. In the open division, athletes have an impairment in one or both legs. Men and women play singles and doubles in separate draws in the open division.
The quad division is for players whose impairments affect at least three limbs. Athletes play mixed gender – singles or doubles draw.
Memorable Paralympic moments
Vergeer, who is considered one of the greatest Paralympians of all-time, won the women’s singles at London 2012 for her fourth Paralympic gold medal. She closed the curtain on her storied career after marking a remarkable winning streak of 470 matches.
Four years later at Rio 2016, Jiske Griffioen continued the golden momentum for the Netherlands, rallying her way to gold in the women’s singles.
At Tokyo 2020, Diede de Groot made it eightstraight women’s singles gold medals for the Netherlands. Dutch athletes have won every women's singles tournament at the Paralympics.
At Rio 2016, Dylan Alcott of Australia became a two-sport Paralympic gold medallist. The Beijing 2008 wheelchair basketball champion topped the podium in both the quad doubles and singles events.
Japan’s Shingo Kunieda captured his fourth gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. Kunieda had thought of retiring from the sport after missing out on a medal at Rio 2016. But five years later, he returned to the podium after beating Tom Egberink of the Netherlands in the final.
Also at Tokyo 2020, Niels Vink of the Netherlands won the quad doubles tournament with Sam Schroder in his Paralympic debut. After winning the doubles tournament, Vink got off his wheelchair and raced on his hands to greet his coach in the stands – the moment went viral on social media, gathering thousands of views on TikTok.
Paris 2024 sport programme
Wheelchair tennis will feature six medal events, taking place from 30 August-7September.
Men’s singles
Men’s doubles
Women’s singles
Women’s doubles
Quad singles
Quad doubles
Paris 2024 venue
Wheelchair tennis competitions will be held at the Roland Garros Stadium.
One of the most iconic tennis venues in the world will open a new chapter when wheelchair tennis stages its Paralympic competition here. Named after French aviator Roland Garros, the famous clay courts host the French Open, one of the four Grand Slam tournaments, every year.
Discover more about wheelchair tennisand the 22 sports in the Paris 2024 Paralympic sports programme
Book your tickets forthe Paralympic Games by visiting the Paris 2024 ticketing website
