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In 1976, Brad Parks, a former acrobat skier, suffered an injury that left him paraplegic. While he was in rehab, Parks met Jeff Minnenbraker, an athlete in a wheelchair. By 1977, Parks and Minnenbraker were promoting wheelchair tennis across the west coast and starting to establish rules of the sport. Also in this year, the first wheelchair tennis tournament was hosted by the city of Los Angeles. In 1980, the National Foundation of Wheelchair Tennis was formed and there were over 300 players actively playing wheelchair tennis. In 1981, a series of four wheelchair tennis tournaments were established, culminating in the U.S. Open in October. In 1987, wheelchair tennis was officially included in the Wheelchair Games in Stoke Mandeville. In 1988, wheelchair tennis was officially sanctioned as a sport by the ITF (International Tennis Foundation) and the IWTF (International Wheelchair Tennis Foundation) was formed.
The rules of wheelchair tennis are essentially the same as the rules of able-bodied tennis except that wheelchair tennis players are allowed two bounces of the ball. For the service, the server is allowed one push before serving the ball. The server must not cross the baseline with any wheel while serving. If conventional methods of service are difficult (especially for quadriplegic players), then another person may drop the ball. A player loses a point if he uses any part of his feet or lower extremities and if he doesn’t keep at least half of his body in contact with the wheelchair while hitting the ball. Lastly, if a wheelchair tennis player and an able-bodied tennis player are playing a game, the wheelchair tennis player still gets two bounces while the able-bodied tennis player gets one bounce.
A wheelchair tennis player must have a medically diagnosed permanent physical disability that results in a substantial loss of function in one or more lower extremities. Lower extremities are defined as the lower limbs, including the hip, thigh, leg, ankle, and foot. If this loss of function prevents the player from competitive able-bodied tennis, the player may participate in wheelchair tennis tournaments. A quadriplegic division player must have a permanent physical disability in at least three extremities. Examples of disabilities that meet the eligibility criteria are paralysis, amputation, joint ankylosis, limb shortening, and joint replacement. These physical disabilities must regularly interfere with functional mobility for the player to qualify.
ELIGIBILITY
HISTORY
RULES