The Rules of Tennis
When this sequential march through the ITF Rules of Tennis was first initiated, I anticipated that discussion of wheelchair tennis might be omitted altogether. However, after the backlash against the USTA for attempting to eliminate the wheelchair tennis from the US Open in 2020, it became a topic that was impossible to ignore.
I have very limited exposure to wheelchair tennis. I worked with someone for many years who played wheelchair tennis in college. It was the way he satisfied the PE credits required by his degree program. He always extolled the adaptive rules in tennis that allow wheelchair players to compete head to head with able bodied players. Tennis is unique in that regard.
A tennis tournament that I regularly play in Houston includes wheelchair divisions. As a result, I have played tournament matches on an adjacent court to a wheelchair match and have observed the format in person. During one of those matches, my opponent wanted to ask the tournament director to move us to another court. Quite frankly, I found it to be no different than playing next to any other match.
The announcement by the US Open that the wheelchair divisions would be eliminated from the 2020 tournament was either an oversight, an unfortunate miscommunication, or blatant discrimination. At the time, the US Open was struggling to find a way to conduct the event at all. Events eliminated included the junior and mixed doubles in addition to the wheelchair divisions. It was a part of an overall effort to reduce the number of competitors required to be onsite for the tournament.
One of the top competitors in wheelchair tennis, Australian Dylan Alcott, was livid. From his perspective, eliminating the wheelchair divisions was equivalent to the USTA making health decisions for him because he is disabled.
The negativity publicity forced the USTA and US Open into a quick reversal of the decision. At the same time those events were transpiring, I made a pledge to myself that wheelchair tennis would be fully covered once we reached that point in the rules. We have reached that point.
Next Wednesday’s “Rules of Tennis” post will start in on the Wheelchair Tennis adaptive rules content.
- US Open restores wheelchair tennis to 2020 tournament, Associated Press article carried on ESPN.com, June 24, 2020.
- Dylan Alcott calls out ‘disgusting discrimination’ at US Open, Joey Riordan, 7 News (Australia), June 17, 2020.
- The Journey to High Performance Wheelchair Tennis with Jason Harnett, USTA Compete Like a Champion Podcast, February 17, 2020.
