Eighty budding wheelchair tennis players of all ages took to the courts over the weekend for the Tennis Foundation’s Ticket2Tokyo Talent ID Festivals hosted at 11 venues across the UK.
Launched with support from the Lawn Tennis Association and UK Sport, Ticket2Tokyo aims to attract potential athletes with the desire and dedication to train to become elite athletes and compete for ParalympicsGB at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
There was plenty of support for the aspiring players from current members of the Tennis Foundation’s Wheelchair Tennis Performance Programme, with British men’s No.1 and world No. 3 Gordon Reid on hand to encourage and pass on tips to those being put their paces in Glasgow by Reid’s fellow Paralympian-turned-coach Kevin Simpson and Karen Ross, the Tennis Foundation’s Talent Manager & Senior Programme Coach.
In Wales, six-year-old Cameron proved to be the player of the weekend at Swansea Tennis Centre, one of two Welsh venues to host Ticket2Tokyo Festivals, and declared he was “100 per cent certain” to return to continue his wheelchair tennis journey.
“We’ve had a wonderful weekend of wheelchair tennis activity across all parts of the UK and a broad age range of athletes taking to the courts, including players as young as five years old in Taunton,” said Ash Smith, the Tennis Foundation’s Performance Development Coach.
“Some had never played wheelchair tennis before and some are at the very early stages in their playing careers and we have identified a number of athletes that will be invited back to national event as part of working towards our performance pathway, while everyone will be encouraged to progress their talents and realise their potential through their regional Disability Tennis Networks supported by the Tennis Foundation.”
Jordanne Whiley, who recently became the first Brit to win a calendar year Grand Slam after partnering Japan’s Yui Kamiji to win the full set of Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and US Open women’s doubles titles, joined former world No. 1 ranked junior Lauren Jones in Sutton on Saturday before heading to Welwyn Garden City on Sunday.
Meanwhile Paralympian Louise Hunt was also among the leading players inspiring a new generation of wheelchair tennis players and passing on the benefit of her experience in Taunton.
Reid, Whiley and Hunt will be among those aiming to inspire with their own performances on home soil in November, when many of the world’s leading players come to Britain for the ITF 1 Series Nottingham Indoor at Nottingham Tennis Centre on 19 - 23 November.
The Tennis Foundation then also hosts the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters at Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on 26 - 30 November. Reid, Whiley and US Open quad singles champion Andy Lapthorne are all currently in line to qualify and provide a strong British challenge at the year-end singles championship featuring the top eight men’s and women’s players and the top four quad players.
Tickets for the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters can be purchased via the tournament website: www.wheelchairtennismasters.com
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