9 June 2021 | Tennis Queensland

Deaf and hard of hearing tennis players will compete in the Queensland Open for the first time.

The athletes will compete at the Queensland Tennis Centre from June 26,  as part of an all-inclusive 9 day program of competitive tennis.

The addition of deaf and hard of hearing players is a reflection of burgeoning numbers in Queensland’s inclusive tennis program, with development squad members having tripled in just one year across the state.

Queensland’s head of inclusive tennis, Alison Scott, has overseen a 12 month comprehensive program to increase participation of players with a disability and identify talent for state and national representation.

“Just in the last year, we have added 15 players to our development pathway program which spans Blind or Low Vision players, competitors with an Intellectual Disability, players with Down Syndrome, wheelchair athletes, deaf or hard of hearing players and athletes on the Autism spectrum.

We are very fortunate in Queensland to have role models such as the world number one Down Syndrome player, Tim Gould and PWII world’s number three and eight, Archie Graham and Mitchell James who give up their time regularly to encourage and support people with a disability to try tennis.”

Some of Australia’s best wheelchair players have entered the Queensland Wheelchair Open including Ben Weekes (NSW), who recently booked his ticket to the Paralympics with some strong international results.

This year’s wheelchair competition in Brisbane marks the return to Australian Ranking points events after a 15 month hiatus due to COVID-19 restrictions.

There will be a strong Queensland contingent including women’s defending champion Lisa Edwards, who will be looking to add a third QLD Open title to her list of accomplishments.

The inclusive events at the Queensland Open will be played alongside a platinum level AMT tournament which will involve current and prospective professional players.

Register for the Queensland Open events here.