Wheelchair Tennis Q&A

[MichEE]

I did not see much here about or concerning wheelchair tennis so I thought I would start a thread for those intersted in any aspect of wheelchair tennis.

If anyone is interested in USTA or ITF Wheelchair Tennis for instruction, information or play please feel free to post and I'll try to answer your questions.

[MichEE]

Since you may be wondering what question to ask below is a YouTube video link to some very basic instruction to get your questions and thoughts started.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMOXRxlnUv8

[MichEE]

As another resource ITF has a great site available at http://www.itftennis.com/wheelchair/coaching/ that has several issues of their wheelchair tennis coaches review.

[Rickson]

Originally Posted by MichEE

I did not see much here about or concerning wheelchair tennis so I thought I would start a thread for those intersted in any aspect of wheelchair tennis.

If anyone is interested in USTA or ITF Wheelchair Tennis for instruction, information or play please feel free to post and I'll try to answer your questions.

Are you a wheelchair player? Just curious.

[MichEE]

Originally Posted by Rickson

Are you a wheelchair player? Just curious.

Yes I am. I have been playing since 1992. I am on the USTA National Wheelchair committee and one of the coaches that run the wheelchair tennis program in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Sorry that I did not get back sooner... this thread was not configured for e-mail notification for some reason.

[babar]

Hi MichEE,

Last weekend, my 8-year old daughter came running to tell me that there were girls playing tennis on TV (the Tennis Channel is our default TV station ) in wheelchairs! We watched the 1/2 hour hosted by Bud Collins on the 2007 US Open wheelchair division which featured Esther Vergeer (Netherlands) and Shingo Kunieda (Japan). Vergeer has not lost a match in 4 years!!!!

I have the good fortune of living the DC Metro area and go to the Legg Mason Tennis Classic every year in the summer. They usually have wheelchair tennis matches on some of the outer courts during the week and it usually gets a fair amount of spectator attention.

I hope to be able to play with a wheelchair tennis player some day, but I have not come across any in any of the leagues I play in Northern Virginia.

Please keep this thread going for those of us interested. Thanks!

[MichEE]

Originally Posted by babar

Hi MichEE,

Last weekend, my 8-year old daughter came running to tell me that there were girls playing tennis on TV (the Tennis Channel is our default TV station ) in wheelchairs! We watched the 1/2 hour hosted by Bud Collins on the 2007 US Open wheelchair division which featured Esther Vergeer (Netherlands) and Shingo Kunieda (Japan). Vergeer has not lost a match in 4 years!!!!

I have the good fortune of living the DC Metro area and go to the Legg Mason Tennis Classic every year in the summer. They usually have wheelchair tennis matches on some of the outer courts during the week and it usually gets a fair amount of spectator attention.

I hope to be able to play with a wheelchair tennis player some day, but I have not come across any in any of the leagues I play in Northern Virginia.

Please keep this thread going for those of us interested. Thanks!

Barar, I am glad you were "urged" to watch the match. Yes, Ester is in a league of her own, for sure!

I have played in the Legg Mason tournament and played one of my best matches ever because of the spectators! It is a great venue and support for WC tennis.

There are a couple of guys that play able-bodied leagues out there but the only one that I know for sure lives in Columbia, SC, not really that close to you...

Thanks for your post!

[spiritboy3]

wheelchair tennis... wow would that be hard and the ball wouldnt be tough if its like that but honor those person whom hav such confident to play tennis .... i honored them ..

[JW10S]

As a competitive player I have nothing but the utmost respect for the wheelchair tennis players. Years ago I was asked to play an exhibition doubles match that paired an able bodied pro and a wheelchair player against another able bodied pro and a wheelchair player. When I met the guy who was going to be my partner we went out to warm up. As we were hitting he could see that I was reticent to hit the ball hard to him. He said it was OK, that he could handle it, so I started hitting harder and he was right, he could handle it. We went out to play the exo and at first I thought I would have to cover pretty much the whole court, I was wrong. At one point they brought out 2 more wheelchairs for me and the other able bodied pro to use and to say we were pathetic would be putting it mildly. I'd forget that even with a racquet in my hand I needed to still use both hands to make the wheelchair move in a straight line so I'd sometimes end up spinning in a circle. At another point I almost fell out of my chair. My partner ended up having to cover most of the court for us. I remember talking to the other able bodied pro afterward and he said 'Ya know, on 2 feet we're good, in a wheelchair we suck'. I came away with nothing but respect for these 'athletes', and they are that in every sense of the word. Since then I've seen a couple of wheelchair tournaments and have always walked away amazed.

[babar]

The TV show I watched on wheelchair tennis a couple of weeks ago featured Shingo Kunieda (Japan) whose backhand was lights-out! I mean, he was hitting the fuzz off the ball with his stroke! He had real nice form and the spin he generated along with the angle was a real cool thing to see. I know guys I hit with that could not hit with that much spin or angle.

JW10S, I feel for you in having to try to play in a wheelchair
I can't even imagine how much coordination, anticipation, and stamina you need to make the wheelchair go and stroke the ball.

[MichEE]

Glad to see some of you have been part of wheelchair tennis. That is just great and fantastic to hear!! In the ITF links above there are 2 mobility lessons and yes, this is obviously key to a good wheelchair tennis game!

Has anyone been approached to coach wheelchair tennis? Here is a great short video by the Woman's World #1 player. I hear that she takes games off of the local #1 woman's college player. Yep, she's good. Let me know what you think about her video!!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/sol/new...0/4942088.stm?

[MichEE]

Just curious if there are many people here that are from the ******* area.

Our ******* Wheelchair committee is planning events for 2008 if anyone is interested in having a Wheelchair tennis demo as part of their event.

[JCo872]

Originally Posted by MichEE

I did not see much here about or concerning wheelchair tennis so I thought I would start a thread for those intersted in any aspect of wheelchair tennis.

If anyone is interested in USTA or ITF Wheelchair Tennis for instruction, information or play please feel free to post and I'll try to answer your questions.

MichEE,

I saw wheelchair tennis first time on TV last week and was really impressed. I did have a question, which might some stupid, but I was wondering why you couldn't just hit a drop shot. It seems to me that it would be almost impossible to get to a drop shot in time. Are there rules against this type of shot in wheelchair tennis?

Jeff

[swimntennis]

Originally Posted by JCo872

MichEE,

I saw wheelchair tennis first time on TV last week and was really impressed. I did have a question, which might some stupid, but I was wondering why you couldn't just hit a drop shot. It seems to me that it would be almost impossible to get to a drop shot in time. Are there rules against this type of shot in wheelchair tennis?

Jeff

I have no idea about the rules, but I would imagine that at that close to the ground, it would be difficult to hit a good drop shot consistently with such little clearance over the net.

[JCo872]

Originally Posted by swimntennis

I have no idea about the rules, but I would imagine that at that close to the ground, it would be difficult to hit a good drop shot consistently with such little clearance over the net.

Yeah I didn't think of that.

[boojay]

I hit with the #80 or so wheelchair tennis player in the world and I can tell you dropshots are almost useless because of the 2nd bounce. That is, in wheelchair tennis, the ball can be hit after the 2nd bounce so unless the drop shot is absolutely perfect (i.e. bounces THREE times before the wheelchair player can reach it), he/she can get to the ball. That's why it's so nice playing doubles with a wheelchair player as your partner. He/she can always save your @$$ if you let the ball get by you and he/she can still take it after the 2nd bounce.

[rbq4h4]

i'm just curius and i hope this dont sound offensive, but what are the rules for wheelchair in other words do you have to be handicaped to play or can anyone do it? if handicaped how much degree and do you have ot have proof from yur doctor?

[Foraserve]

I watched the USO Women's WC Finals and Ester Vergeer was amazing. If I ever get to attend the USO, I hope she's playing.

[MichEE]

Originally Posted by JCo872

MichEE,

I saw wheelchair tennis first time on TV last week and was really impressed. I did have a question, which might some stupid, but I was wondering why you couldn't just hit a drop shot. It seems to me that it would be almost impossible to get to a drop shot in time. Are there rules against this type of shot in wheelchair tennis?

Jeff

It is hard to explain here and I'll try to post a video but if you are moving it is rather easy to get all the way to the net on the 2nd bounce - which frankly is the only time is use the 2nd bounce. A good cross court shot is more effective than a drop shot.

Good question - no offence taken!

[MichEE]

Originally Posted by rbq4h4

i'm just curius and i hope this dont sound offensive, but what are the rules for wheelchair in other words do you have to be handicaped to play or can anyone do it? if handicaped how much degree and do you have ot have proof from yur doctor?

Great question!! Usually wheelchair sports are simply for someone that cannot play able-bodied sports due to some physical restriction. Bottom line it is really up to the player - if the player wants to use a weak excuse (a bad knee for instance) to play wheelchair tennis they can and some do abuse the system.

I am not saying that all people that play with a bad knee are abusing the system but there are some.

There are specific rules for quads and in general that means the limited use of 3 or more limbs - two legs and an arm or two legs and both hands for instance.

Let me know if you have further questions.