WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., June 22, 2022 – The USTA introduced that the US Open Wheelchair Championships offered by Deloitte will once more develop in dimension, with expanded fields within the males’s and girls’s divisions and the introduction of the inaugural US Open Junior Wheelchair Championship. That is the second consecutive 12 months that the US Open is increasing the wheelchair subject, and this improve in subject dimension for the boys’s and girls’s divisions is the single-largest draw enlargement in Grand Slam wheelchair historical past. Upfront of the 2021 US Open, the quad draw was doubled in dimension, growing from 4 to eight rivals.
The 2 key parts of this newest enlargement of the US Open Wheelchair Championships are doubling the scale the of the ladies’s and males’s singles and doubles attracts from eight singles gamers and 4 doubles groups to new draw sizes of 16 girls, 16 males, eight girls’s doubles groups and eight males’s doubles groups; and the introduction of US Open Junior Wheelchair Championships with draw sizes of eight ladies and eight boys.
The boys’s and girls’s occasions see a rise of 16 gamers. The bigger draw sizes will present alternatives for skilled wheelchair tennis gamers to compete on the Grand Slam stage and earn invaluable rating factors and prize cash.
The purpose of making the US Open Junior Wheelchair Championships is in order that different younger athletes with disabilities can proceed to aspire to the best ranges of competitors. These Championships will showcase the world’s prime junior wheelchair tennis gamers on the US Open platform.
The USTA not too long ago grew to become the primary nationwide governing physique on this planet to completely combine skilled wheelchair competitors operations inside its able-bodied Professional Tennis Operations equal. It’s the subsequent step in furthering the USTA’s dedication to the inclusive progress of the game.
“The USTA stays dedicated to offering extra alternatives on the highest stage of our sport,” mentioned Stacey Allaster, US Open Match Director. “We’re honored to have the ability to function a world chief, and to proceed to observe within the US Open’s total objectives of inclusivity and equality relating to the US Open Wheelchair Championships. We hope that this can be a catalyst for the continued progress of wheelchair tennis, essentially the most successfully built-in and inclusive Paralympic sport on this planet.”
“The enlargement of the wheelchair event on the US Open and the addition of the inaugural US Open Junior Wheelchair Championship are inspirational enhancements to one of many best occasions in all of sports activities,” mentioned Billie Jean King, the previous US Open champion and tennis icon, who has lengthy championed equality in all fields. “These new alternatives present progress at a number of ranges, permitting extra gamers to compete within the US Open and offering extra alternatives for followers to take pleasure in world class tennis.”
ITF President David Haggerty added: “The ITF is happy and supportive of the USTA’s management to develop skilled wheelchair tennis, improve the junior pathway, and be the primary Grand Slam to have a totally built-in Junior Wheelchair Championships inside our able-bodied US Open Junior Championships.”
Former gamers additionally reacted positively to the information. The primary wheelchair participant to be inducted into the Worldwide Tennis Corridor of Fame and the co-founder of wheelchair tennis, Brad Parks, mentioned: “It’s so exhausting to imagine how far wheelchair tennis has come from once we first began enjoying within the mid-Seventies. By no means did I feel the day would come when wheelchair tennis would have a full draw on the US Open enjoying alongside the world’s best skilled gamers. As well as, having the world’s prime junior wheelchair tennis gamers enjoying alongside the world’s greatest able-bodied junior tennis gamers is past unbelievable! The USTA has actually stepped as much as the problem of being the world’s chief in growing the game of wheelchair tennis. All I can say is thanks. ”
“It’s wonderful information on how the US Open is rising and making the trouble to proceed the event of wheelchair tennis,” mentioned Esther Vergeer, 48-time Grand Slam champion and seven-time Paralympic gold medalist. “What can be wonderful is to see the standard of play and stage rising, so it fits to have this chance created. It’s nice that the US Open needs to tackle this accountability. What can be unbelievable is the wonderful alternative for the juniors to play in such an setting. That’s the greatest inspiration and motivation to go and get the very best out of your self.”
“It’s so nice that this can be a actuality,” mentioned Worldwide Tennis Corridor of Famer David Corridor. “The US Open, since 1980, has been the historic heartbeat of the game. America led the way in which in so some ways by the many years, as wheelchair tennis went by many modifications worldwide, better professionalism, extra tournaments, camps and gamers coming into the game. “This enlargement of the US Open Wheelchair Championships is one other leap ahead in showcasing this nice sport and sustaining that the sport’s heartbeat is now stronger than ever.”
Rick Draney, who was instrumental within the growth of the quad division in the US was additionally excited concerning the historic announcement. “That is unbelievable information for wheelchair tennis,” Draney mentioned. “Kudos to the USTA for his or her management and for furthering the imaginative and prescient of those that have advocated on behalf of wheelchair tennis since its inception. It is going to be thrilling to see the rapid and long-term impacts this may have upon all the spectrum of participation and competitors in wheelchair tennis.”
