3 October 2017 | Tennis Australia

Over the next five months, Tennis Australia is rolling out a range of international, national and social wheelchair tennis events set to increase awareness, participation and international experience for current and aspiring players.

Over the weekend, the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour commenced in Canberra with Aussies Keegan Oh-Chee (NSW) and Janine Watson (Qld) taking out the inaugural Canberra Wheelchair Tennis Open titles.

Tennis Australia Wheelchair Tournaments Coordinator Holly Tawse said the events are vital to providing players of all levels and abilities exposure to professional tournaments.

“Creating tournaments provides a valuable platform to increase awareness of the sport in communities and hopefully encourages people of all abilities to get involved,” Tawse said.

“Demand for wheelchair tennis continues to grow, thanks to a bigger investment in the sport and the popularity of Paralympic gold medallist Dylan Alcott.

“Off the back of this success, Tennis Australia has increased the amount of competitive and social tournaments run to help create opportunities and provide pathways for people of all ability levels to get involved.

“Tennis Australia also collaborates with the International Tennis Federation to help bring international level tournaments to the country, which helps provide our elite athletes with the best preparation leading into the Australian Open.”

Wheelchair tennis events, including the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour, Australian Nationals and, Fast4 social tournaments, Run & Roll and Come and Try days will be hosted between September 2017 and February 2018.

Australian wheelchair tennis fast facts

• An increase in Australia from three to 33 weekly junior wheelchair tennis players since 2015/16
• Two new state Wheelchair Development Hubs developed for wheelchair tennis players and their families to connect, socialise and play (one in Victoria and one in NSW)
• Twenty new sport wheelchairs have been purchased to be part of the National Wheelchair Loan Program
• 37 new specialised Wheelchair Development Coaches identified to help boost the sport
• Through tournament and player development, Australian representatives in the ITF Junior Wheelchair Tennis rankings has risen from one to eight junior players
• 2016 was the first time the Australian National Wheelchair Tennis Championships fielded players in all four divisions including men’s, women’s, quads and juniors
• Ten new wheelchair tennis tournaments and competitions have been developed for 2017
• International Tennis Federation (ITF) wheelchair tennis tournaments are run across six tiers, ITF Futures, ITF 3, 2 and 1 Series, ITF Super Series and Grand Slams
• In 2016 The UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour consisted of more than 150 tournaments in over 40 countries. Total prize money for the tour in 2016 was over $2 million.
• The Australian Wheelchair Summer Series consists of three ITF events, Sydney International, Melbourne Open and Australian Open.

2017/18 Wheelchair Tournaments Schedule

For more information on how you can get involved, visit tennis.com.au/wheelchair

For information on ITF Wheelchair Tennis visit itftennis.com/wheelchair

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Australian Wheelchair Tennis event sponsors include:

• ITF Wheelchair Tennis Tour sponsor: UNIQLO

• Tournament Sponsor, NSW and ACT – Wheelchair Sports NSW
• City Community Tennis
• NEC
• City of Sydney
• GIO
• Hume City Council