Historic moments
The LTA and Getty Images are proud to celebrate 50 years of wheelchair tennis, with a digital exhibition of 50 images - some published for the first time, selected with the help of key figures from the wheelchair tennis community.
While wheelchair tennis may be just 50 years old, it has a rich history of iconic individuals and groundbreaking moments. This gallery illustrates pivotal events and pioneers of the sport over the past five decades.
Californian Brad Parks, the founder of wheelchair tennis in 1976, playing at the sport’s US Open Championships in Irvine, California in October 1986 - Credit Todd Friedman/Popperfoto via Getty Images
In the early days of an international wheelchair tennis circuit in the 1980s, the US Open Championships was the only Super Series tournament and was widely considered as the premier wheelchair tennis tournament in the world.
Ten years before this photo was taken, Parks was the catalyst for the national and international development of wheelchair tennis after hitting tennis balls from a wheelchair while he was in rehabilitation following an accident as an acrobatic skier.
It’s truly amazing to relive those early days and smile with pride at how far the sport has come – far beyond anything I imagined.
Dutch players Chantal Vandierendonck and Ellen de Lange shake hands following the women’s singles final at the 1987 US Open Wheelchair Tennis Championships in Irvine, California – Credit: Credit: Budd Symes/Allsport/Getty Images
Dutch players have been the dominant force in women’s wheelchair tennis from the game’s earliest days as a competitive sport and Vandierendonck and de Lange have been pivotal in the sport’s history.
Five-time Paralympic medallist Vandierendonck was the first female wheelchair tennis player to be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2014.
Meanwhile, De Lange went on to become the first full-time administrator for wheelchair tennis in 1991, based at the ITF offices in London. Some 40 years later, former world No.2 De Lange maintains a crucial role in the sport’s development as Team Lead in the ITF Wheelchair Tennis Department.
Spectators watching the 1987 US Open on the outside courts at the Racquet Club in Irvine, California, home of wheelchair tennis’s premier tournament of the time – Credit: Budd Symes/Allsport/Getty Images
With wheelchair tennis now enjoying significant crowd support on some of the biggest show courts at the Grand Slams, back in 1980 the tournament that was the sport’s first ‘US Open Championships’ was born in Irvine, California.
During the early days of its existence, the US Open was the only tournament that had Super Series status and it had a star-studded roll of honour featuring legends of the sport such as Brad Parks, Randy Snow, Chantal Vandierendonck, Monique van de Bosch-Kalkman and Rick Draney.
25 years later, the US Open Grand Slam in New York added competitive wheelchair tennis draws to its roster of events, in 2005.
Athletes from the Great Britain team at the opening ceremony of the 1987 Stoke Mandeville Games, when wheelchair tennis was first included as a sport at the Games – Credit: Jayant Mistry
As the growth of wheelchair tennis flourished during the 1980s, thoughts turned to pushing for the sport’s inclusion in the Paralympic Games.
A vital element in this journey was wheelchair tennis’s debut at the world-renowned Stoke Mandeville Games, held at the spiritual home of the Paralympic Movement, in 1987.
Opened by His Royal Highness Prince Charles (now King Charles III), the Games saw Britain’s Jayant Mistry and Janet McMorran among 30 men and seven women contesting the wheelchair tennis events.
Barcelona 1992 Paralympics - Great Britain’s wheelchair tennis team - Credit: Dawn Newbery
Five years on from wheelchair tennis’s debut at the Stoke Mandeville Games, the sport made its Paralympic debut as a full medal sport in Barcelona in 1992, having been a demonstration sport at the Seoul 1988 Games.
Four players represented ParalympicsGB in Barcelona - Jayant Mistry and Simon Hatt in men’s singles and doubles, and Christine Blackmore and Janet McMorran in women’s singles and doubles, with Dawn Newbery and Martin McElhatton in the roles of men’s and women’s coaches
Mistry’s singles challenge ended in the men’s second round, against top seed and eventual gold medallist Randy Snow of the USA, with Hatt also exiting in the second round.
Barcelona 1992 women’s singles medallists Monique van den Bosch, Chantal Vandierendonck and Regina Isecke – Credit: Dawn Newbery
Four years on from Chantal Vandierendonck beating Monique van den Bosch in a long three-set women’s singles final, as wheelchair tennis made its Paralympic bow in the demonstration event at the Seoul Paralympics, the Barcelona 1992 women’s singles final was contested by the same two players.
However, this time Van den Bosch came out on top, winning 6-3, 6-4 to live up to her world No.1 ranking and become the first official Paralympic women’s singles gold medallist. Van den Bosch and Vandierendonck paired up to win the women’s doubles gold medal, too.
Germany’s Regina Isecke denied British No.1 Janet McMorran in the women’s singles bronze medal match, prevailing 6-3, 6-7, 6-3.
Rick Draney serves a ball during the 1998 British Open at Nottingham Tennis Centre – Credit: Gary M. Prior/Allsport/Getty Images
As wheelchair tennis continued breaking new ground in the 1980s, American Rick Draney played a particularly pioneering role in the development of the sport’s quad division, for players whose disability affects both upper and lower limbs.
Draney took up the sport himself in 1984 and, while going on to win multiple titles at many of the sport’s leading tournaments, including the US Open and British Open Wheelchair Tennis Championships, he continued to work enthusiastically to champion the quad division.
A former world No.1 in quad singles and doubles, and World Team Cup champion with his USA teammates, Draney never had the chance to play wheelchair tennis at the Paralympic Games.
I hope my greatest achievement was that I was respected as a player and competitor on and off the court, that I was known as someone who strived to conduct himself with dignity and honour.
Women’s doubles finalists at the 2002 Australian Open, as wheelchair tennis made its Grand Slam tournament debut before US Open and Wimbledon inclusion in 2005 – Credit: Nick Laham/Getty Images
Wheelchair tennis’ journey at the Grand Slam tournaments began in 2002, when the inaugural Wheelchair Tennis Classic 8s at the Australian Open was held at Melbourne Park towards the end of the second week of the first major of the year.
Dutch players dominated, with Robin Ammerlaan and Esther Vergeer winning the men’s and women’s singles titles, while Vergeer and Sonja Peters teamed up to win the women’s doubles title.
The men’s doubles draw held particular historic significance for British wheelchair tennis as Jayant Mistry partnered Ammerlaan to victory. Thereby becoming the first British wheelchair tennis player to win a Grand Slam title.
Peter Norfolk, ParalympicsGB’s flagbearer at London 2012, leads out the British delegation at the opening ceremony, alongside his fellow Great Britain wheelchair tennis players – Credit: Getty Images
Representing your country at any home Paralympic or Olympic Games is a proud moment, but the London 2012 Games brought Peter Norfolk the extraordinary honour of being elected by his fellow athletes to be ParalympicsGB flagbearer.
As such, the 10-strong squad of British wheelchair tennis players selected for London 2012 led out the ParalympicsGB delegation at the opening ceremony, with Norfolk front and centre.
With the fanfare of the opening ceremony over, the London 2012 Paralympic Tennis Event brought two wheelchair tennis medals for British players, as Norfolk and Andy Lapthorne took the silver medal in quad doubles and Lucy Shuker and Jordanne Whiley claimed bronze in women’s doubles.
Esther Vergeer and Rick Draney were inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2023, becoming the sixth and seventh wheelchair players to receive the highest honour in tennis - Credit: Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images
The giant strides made by wheelchair tennis during its first 50 years are numerous, but the sport gained one of the most significant recognitions in 2010, when the first wheelchair tennis player was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Rhode Island, USA.
Quite rightly, that inaugural wheelchair tennis inductee was Brad Parks, the sport’s founder, in 2010. Since 2010, Monique Kakman-van den Bosch, Chantal Vandierendonck, Randy Snow, and David Hall have all been inducted,
However, 2023 was the first occasion that two wheelchair players were inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in the same year - that honour going to Rick Draney and Esther Vergeer.
