Tennis Foundation delighted with wheelchair tennis singles announcement at Wimbledon
The Tennis Foundation is thrilled to support today’s announcement from The Championships that from 2016 there will be a singles event in the men’s and women’s divisions of wheelchair tennis.
The announcement, which comes on the tenth anniversary of wheelchair doubles being introduced at SW19, means there will now be singles at each of the four Grand Slams and cements wheelchair tennis on the world stage.
Executive Director of the Tennis Foundation, Geoff Newton said:
“Wheelchair tennis is really growing in Great Britain spurred on by the inspiration of the London 2012 Paralympic Games and the unprecedented success of a number of British players on the world stage. With more and more people now playing recreationally, we hope that introducing singles into The Championships will take the sport to a whole new level and inspire a new generation of people to play tennis, whatever their ability.”
Defending doubles champion Jordanne Whiley, who is playing in the women’s final later today, said:
“I’m really pleased that there will be a singles tournament at Wimbledon from next year. I love playing here at Wimbledon and am already looking forward to playing both singles and doubles in 2016. This is a great opportunity to showcase our sport at the highest level in this country. Wheelchair tennis is a fantastic sport, it’s great fun to watch and to play. The Tennis Foundation are working hard at getting more people playing, the future looks good and I’m excited to be part of it.”
World No.3 Gordon Reid, who is also in action competing for the men’s doubles crown today, added:
“It’s really exciting that we’ll be playing singles at Wimbledon next year. It’s the tournament I grew up watching on TV when I was younger, so to have the opportunity to play singles here in front of a home crowd is going to be amazing and I’m looking forward to the challenge. It’s going to be a really good thing for our sport, now we’ve got singles at all the Grand Slams it’s the right step forward and hopefully it will help wheelchair tennis continue to grow and grow."
Great Britain now hosts nine events on the ITF’s UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour, as well as hosting the Tennis Foundation Development Series for those just starting out in the sport. These events include the year-end spectacular that is the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters, which features the top eight men and women, as well as top four ranked quad players. This will be hosted by the Tennis Foundation in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London from 25-29 November 2015.
This week’s Wimbledon competitors will travel straight to Nottingham for the British Open Wheelchair Tennis Championships Super Series from 14-19 July, where crucial ranking points will be on offer ahead of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.
