If we ever see a Paralympic sport in the Olympics, it will be wheelchair tennis

I don’t think that California native Brad Parks, who was paralyzed from the waist down following a ski accident and invented wheelchair tennis in 1976, ever imagined that 40-something years later, his sport would be featured in all four Grand Slams and all other major tournaments as a full title event. In many tournaments, including the US Open, Wimbledon, the Roland Garros and the Australia Open, there’s a division for men, there’s a division for women, there’s a division for doubles, and there’s a division for wheelchair tennis.

While still played in courts numbered in the high teens and not the main stadiums, wheelchair tennis stars are drawing increasingly bigger crowds and media attention, their prize money is being gradually increased, and the demands on the athletes are growing accordingly – a full time competitive wheelchair tennis player on tour will have to travel 20-25 weeks per year, train daily, maintain an elite athlete life style, and receive the support of a multi-disciplinary professional team, including a nutritionist, a fitness expert, a physician, an analyst and more. The discussion on the Israel ParaSport Center’s role in this, as an organization which supports athletes with disabilities, is a heated internal debate, maybe a subject for a future post.

The amazing progression of wheelchair tennis from a single person’s California dream to one of the fastest growing wheelchair sports, featuring a staggering annual 160-tournament worldwide tour with $3.5 million US in accumulative prize money, and hundreds of ranked players globally, is an interesting case study of Paralympic sports and their potential. But in order to explain, I am going to need you to fasten your seatbelts, as we are taking a little tour into the boring world of governing bodies and international sports politics.

Unlike all other wheelchair and Paralympic sports, which are governed by specific disability sports federations, wheelchair tennis took a bold turn back in 1988, when it was invited to join the International Tennis Federation (ITF) as an integral part of its governance structure. In other words – the ITF which governs and controls able bodied tennis, took over wheelchair tennis.

By joining the ITF, wheelchair tennis gained access to better resources and infrastructure, and much more exposure; The integration allowed wheelchair tennis players to compete on a global stage with standardized rules and regulations; this partnership has since led to the sport’s immense growth, including its integration into Grand Slam events and the establishment of the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour, which now features tournaments in more than 40 countries worldwide.

The title of this blogpost should therefore not start with “if.” As I see it, it is only a question of when; when will wheelchair tennis cordially break away from the Paralympic Games and become a full medal event in the Olympics?

Why not really? Men, Women, Doubles, Wheelchair. It makes all the sense in the world. Doesn’t it?

Well, yes, it makes all the sense in the world and it will be an amazing opportunity for exposure and normalization of parasports and disabilities in one of the world’s biggest events (drum roll, here it comes)…

BUT, we must never forget why wheelchair and parasports were created in the first place; they were created so that everyone with a disability has the opportunity to participate and play, to create safe and friendly environments where people with disabilities can fairly compete with each other, and to include a variety of disabilities as wide as possible – from the most severely disabled to those with mild and even transparent disabilities.

This is where the conversation about wheelchair tennis becomes more interesting. While the sport has undoubtedly achieved incredible milestones, its integration into the ITF and its alignment with able-bodied tennis have unintentionally created barriers for athletes with more severe disabilities. The demands of the sport at the elite level—both physical and financial—mean that only a small subset of athletes with disabilities can realistically compete. Today when you watch the amazing wheelchair tennis matches, it’s very clear that those with milder disabilities, who are closer to the physical capabilities of able-bodied athletes, are disproportionately represented. In today’s environment, I’m not even sure that I would have been able to earn the silver medal I won in Beijing 2008.

This shift has made wheelchair tennis an amazing, competitive, and highly attractive sport to watch, but it also raises an uncomfortable question: has wheelchair tennis drifted away from the original vision and mission of adaptive sports? Are we prioritizing the right things? Are we staying true to the core values of wheelchair sports, or are we chasing mainstream success at the expense of inclusivity (see my first post to understand what I think about inclusivity)?

While we wait for the day when wheelchair tennis takes its rightful place in the Olympics, let’s not lose sight of the bigger picture. Let’s ensure that the sport continues to inspire, include, and empower athletes of all abilities—just as Brad Parks dreamed it would.