Wheelchair tennis is one of the forms of tennis adapted for wheelchair users. The size of the court, net height and 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 Dutch former professional wheelchair tennis player. Vergeer won 48 major titles, 23 year-end championships, and seven Paralympic gold medals. She was the world No. 1 in women's wheelchair singles from 1999 to her retirement in February 2013. Vergeer went undefeated in singles for ten straight years, ending her career on a winning streak of 470 matches. She has often been named the most dominant player in professional sports.
Shingo Kunieda is a Japanese former wheelchair tennis player. With four Paralympic gold medals, 28 major singles titles – an all-time record in singles of any tennis discipline – and 50 major titles overall, Kunieda is widely considered the greatest male wheelchair player of all time.
Dylan Martin Alcott, is an Australian former wheelchair tennis player, former wheelchair basketball 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 Rollers gold medal winner, at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, and was the youngest to compete in the wheelchair basketball competition. In 2014, he returned to wheelchair tennis with the aim of participating at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, at which 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.
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.
Stéphane Houdet is a French wheelchair tennis player. Houdet is a former singles and doubles world number one. In 2014, he became the first man in history to complete the calendar-year Grand Slam in men's wheelchair doubles.
The ITF Wheelchair Tennis Tour is a tennis tour for disabled men and women. There are three divisions: Men, Women, and Quad. The Quad division is a mixed-gender division, for players which have impairments in at least three limbs, and the competitors are allowed to use motorized wheelchairs. The tour was formed in 1992, comprising just 11 events. The tour now has over 150 events.
David Robert Hall, OAM is an Australian former professional wheelchair tennis player. With eight US Open singles titles, two Masters singles titles, and a Paralympic gold medal in singles, he has been referred to as Australia's greatest ever wheelchair tennis player.
Nazim Erdem, is an Australian wheelchair rugby Paralympic gold and silver medalist. He has won two gold and two silver medals at five Paralympics from 2000 to 2016.
Jiske Griffioen is a Dutch professional wheelchair tennis player. In doubles, Griffioen is a 19-time major champion, Paralympic gold medalist, seven-time Masters champion, and a former world No. 1. Alongside Aniek van Koot, Griffioen completed the Grand Slam in doubles in 2013. In singles, Griffioen is a three-time Masters champion, Paralympic gold medalist, four-time major champion, and a former world No. 1.
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).
Maaike Smit is a Dutch former professional wheelchair tennis and wheelchair basketball player.
Yui Kamiji is a Japanese professional wheelchair tennis player. She has won 28 major titles, as well as a Paralympic silver and bronze medal in singles and doubles, respectively, at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. She also won a bronze medal in singles at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
Heath Arthur Davidson, is an Australian wheelchair tennis player. Davidson is a four-time Australian Open doubles champion, all partnering Dylan Alcott. He has also won two Paralympic medals, a gold and silver in doubles at the 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, respectively.
Chantal Vandierendonck is a Dutch former professional wheelchair tennis player. Vandierendonck won various wheelchair tennis championships held by the International Tennis Federation and multiple Paralympic medals from 1988 to 1996. She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2014.
Monique Kalkman-Van den Bosch is a Dutch former professional wheelchair tennis and table tennis player. Monique competed at the Paralympics in 1984, 1988, 1992 and 1996. In 2017, she was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
Diede de Groot is a Dutch professional wheelchair tennis player who is the current world No. 1 in both singles and doubles.
Wheelchair tennis at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan took place at the Ariake Tennis Park from 27 August to 4 September 2021.
Brad Alan Parks is an American wheelchair tennis player who co-invented wheelchair tennis with Jeff Minnebraker. During the Uniqlo Wheelchair Tennis Tour in the 1990s, Parks won five singles and seven doubles titles during Championship Series events. During the 1992 Summer Paralympics, Parks reached the quarterfinals in the men's singles and won gold with Randy Snow in the men's doubles. At the 1994 Wheelchair Tennis Masters, Parks also reached the quarterfinals in the men's singles. As an executive, Parks co-founded the National Foundation of Wheelchair Tennis in 1980 before becoming the first president of the International Wheelchair Tennis Federation in 1988. Parks became part of the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2010 and was the 2016 Philippe Chatrier Award recipient from the International Tennis Federation.
United States