Nimrod Bichler (born 6 October 1974) is an Israeli wheelchair tennis coach. At the 2012 Summer Paralympics he coached gold medalist Noam Gershony [1] in the Quad division.
Nimrod Bichler (born 6 October 1974) is an Israeli wheelchair tennis coach. At the 2012 Summer Paralympics he coached gold medalist Noam Gershony [1] in the Quad division.
Nimrod Bichler was born in Jerusalem, Israel. He started playing tennis at the age of ten in the Israel Tennis Center in Jerusalem, and competed in national junior tournaments until the age of 18. By the year 1992, he was ranked 4th in Israel in the junior tennis rankings. Shortly after his military service, he began coaching junior players in the Ingber Tennis Academy in Jerusalem. In late 1996, he joined Spivak Sports Center for the Disabled as the Head Wheelchair Tennis Coach. During his time at Spivak, he coached the Israeli National Wheelchair tennis team (Quad), led the team to back-to-back World Team Cup wins (1999 and 2000), and guided Shraga Weinberg to becoming the first Israeli player ever to win a super series tournament at the British Open and consequently to world #1 ranking in 2001. [2] In 2002, Nimrod became the Head Wheelchair Tennis Coach at the Beit Halochem Sport Center for Disabled Veterans. Since then, he has coached both the Men's and Women's National Teams. In 2007, when Noam Gershony joined Beit Halochem, Nimrod began coaching him. Noam participated in international tournaments beginning in 2010, including a first ever Israeli win in the Singles Masters [3] and winning super series titles in Sydney, Paris, and Nottingham. [4] In May 2012, Nimrod led the Israeli Quad Team to its fourth World Team Cup in Seoul, Korea. [5]
In 2012, Nimrod led Noam Gershony to two medals at the London Summer Paralympic Games. [6] The first medal, Bronze in doubles, shared with Shraga Weinberg, following a bronze medal match win against the Japanese team of Shota Kawano and Mitsuteru Moroishi. [7] A second medal, Gold, in singles, following a finals game in which Noam defeated world number one, David Wagner of the US. [8] This was Israel's only gold medal in the London Games [9] and the first ever singles medal in Israeli tennis history. [10] Following the Paralympics, Noam reached world number one, making him the second player that Nimrod had coached that had reached world number one in the rankings of the quad division of wheelchair tennis. Nimrod was part of the team that was honored at the Presidential Residence by President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in September 2012. [11]
Wheelchair Tennis is one of the forms of tennis adapted for wheelchair users. The size of the court, net height, rackets, are the same, but there are two major differences from pedestrian tennis: athletes use specially designed wheelchairs, and the ball may bounce up to two times, where the second bounce may also occur outside the court.
Esther Mary Vergeer is a retired Dutch wheelchair tennis player. Combining singles and doubles, she has won 48 Grand Slam tournaments, 23 year-end championships and 7 Paralympics titles. Vergeer was the world number one wheelchair tennis player from 1999 until her retirement in February 2013. In singles matches, she was undefeated since January 2003 and ended her career on a winning streak of 470 matches. She has often been mentioned as the most dominant player in professional sports.
Shingo Kunieda is a Japanese wheelchair tennis player. Kunieda is a right-handed player whose favorite surface is hard court. He is coached by Hiromichi Maruyama. He is a former world number one wheelchair tennis player and was the ITF World Champion from 2007 to 2010. He was also the Year End Number One in doubles in 2007. In 2007, 2009, 2010, 2014, and 2015 Kunieda achieved the Grand Slam in singles. In 2007 and 2008, Kunieda won three of the four Masters series events. Kunieda is the only player to retain the men's singles title at the Paralympic Games. In addition, Kunieda won the gold medal in the doubles of the Paralympics in 2004, and has been part of two World Team Cup wins. With 101 career titles over singles and doubles combined, including 42 Grand Slam titles, Kunieda is considered by many to be the greatest male wheelchair player of all time.
Shraga Weinberg is an Israeli wheelchair tennis player.
Boaz Kramer is an Israeli former professional wheelchair tennis player.
Peter Robert Norfolk OBE is a British wheelchair tennis player. Following a motorbike accident which left him paraplegic, he uses a wheelchair. He took up tennis and following a further spinal complication in 2000 he began competing in the quad division. He is nicknamed The Quadfather.
Dylan Martin Alcott, is an Australian wheelchair basketballer, wheelchair tennis player, radio host and motivational speaker. Alcott was a member of the Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team, known colloquially as the Australian "Rollers". At the age of 17 he became the youngest Australian "Rollers" wheelchair basketball gold medal winner for wheelchair basketball, and was the youngest to compete in the Wheelchair Basketball competition. In 2014, he returned to wheelchair tennis with the aiming of participating at the 2016 Rio Paralympics. At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, he won gold medals in the Men's Quad Singles and Doubles. He was named the 2016 Australian Paralympian of the Year due to his outstanding achievements at Rio Paralympics. Alongside his sporting career, he hosted the weekend afternoon radio show on Australian radio station Triple J, and the ABC live music show The Set, as well as being a commentator for the 2019 Australian Open. He also was a member of the panel on the AFL Footy Show in 2019. He is the only man to complete the Calendar-Year Grand Slam in quad doubles, winning all four Major titles in 2019; in addition he has also won a non-calendar year Grand Slam in quad singles.
David Wagner is an American wheelchair tennis player. Paralyzed from the mid-chest down and with thirty percent function in his hands, he competes in the Quad division. He plays by taping the tennis racket to his hand. He is currently ranked number three in the world in singles and number two in doubles.
Great Britain competed at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, United Kingdom, from 29 August to 9 September 2012 as the host nation. A total of 288 athletes were selected to compete along with 13 other team members such as sighted guides. The country finished third in the medals table, behind China and Russia, winning 120 medals in total; 34 gold, 43 silver and 43 bronze. Multiple medallists included cyclist Sarah Storey and wheelchair athlete David Weir, who won four gold medals each, and swimmer Stephanie Millward who won a total of five medals. Storey also became the British athlete with the most overall medals, 22, and equal-most gold medals, 11, in Paralympic Games history.
Jiske Griffioen is a Dutch former wheelchair tennis player. Griffioen is a thirteen-time Grand Slam champion in doubles and a three-time Paralympic medalist. She is also a seven-time Masters doubles champion and a former world number one. Alongside Aniek van Koot, Griffioen completed the Grand Slam in doubles in the 2013 season. In singles competition Griffioen is the 2012 Masters champion and the 2015 Australian Open, French Open and Masters champion and a former world number one.
Wheelchair tennis first entered the Summer Paralympic Games in 1988 as a demonstration sport and as a full medal sport at the 1992 Barcelona Games. Australia has competed at every Paralympic wheelchair tennis competition. There are teo categories of medals - open division and quad division.
Wheelchair tennis classification is the classification system for wheelchair tennis designed to bring fair play for all competitors. Classification is overseen by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and carried out by the International Tennis Federation (ITF).
Sharon Walraven is a Dutch wheelchair tennis player. She became paraplegic at age 23 after complications following a fall while she was ice-skating. She has won seven Grand Slams doubles titles partnering compatriot Esther Vergeer. At the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing she won the Gold medal in the women's doubles competition. At the 2000 Paralympics in Sydney she won a Silver medal in the women's singles competition. Walraven has a highest ranking of No.2 in singles and No.1 in doubles.
The Quad Singles event at the 2012 Paralympic Games took place on 2 September – 8 September, at Eton Manor, London.
Andrew David Lapthorne is a British wheelchair tennis player. He took up wheelchair tennis in 2005, and entered the quad division in 2008. He is active in both singles and doubles tournaments, and has won multiple doubles grand slams alongside his partner Peter Norfolk. He competed at his first Summer Paralympics at London 2012 in the quad singles and in the quad doubles, in which he won a silver medal.
Noam Gershony is an Israeli wheelchair tennis player. At the 2012 Summer Paralympics he won a gold medal in Quad Singles and shared a bronze in Quad Doubles with Shraga Weinberg.
Aniek van Koot is a Dutch wheelchair tennis player. She is a former Australian Open and US Open champion and World Number One. In doubles competitions, partnering Jiske Griffioen she has won the French Open, US Open and Doubles Masters.
Israel competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 September 2016. They are scheduled to compete in sailing, cycling, shooting, and rowing.
Heath Arthur Davidson, is an Australian quad wheelchair tennis player. He represented Australia in at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, where he teamed up with Dylan Alcott to win the Men's Quad Doubles gold medal.
Rick Draney is a former wheelchair tennis and wheelchair rugby player. In wheelchair tennis, he competed in the Quad division of the sport.
Draney became involved with wheelchair tennis in 1984. He was instrumental in the development of the quad division in the United States.