Wheelchair tennis at the Paralympics: How does wheelchair tennis work?

However, you do need a sports wheelchair for this. This not only enables more dynamic maneuvers, but also protects the player from falling backwards, for example when serving, thanks to a tilting wheel. Anyone who wants to try tennis for the first time in a normal everyday wheelchair must also pay attention to the tilting wheel. In the long run, however, only playing tennis in a sports wheelchair makes sense.

Wheelchair tennis since 1976

The inventor of wheelchair tennis is considered to be the American Brad Parks, who suffered paraplegia as a result of an accident. He made his first attempts at playing tennis in a wheelchair while undergoing rehabilitation in 1976. Wheelchair tennis has now become very popular. It is easy to integrate into regular tennis and can be played on any court surface without changing the dimensions, rackets or balls.

Wheelchair tennis has been a Paralympic sport since 1992 and an official part of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) since 1998. No other sport for disabled people was as inclusive at the time. Today, wheelchair tennis is played in all possible combinations such as singles, doubles or mixed, both in competitive sport and in recreational sport.

There are also national and international classifications and championships at different levels. Wheelchair tennis is also always a big topic at the Paralympics.