Weeks 35 & 36 - US Open, Flushing Meadows, New York City (hard) - doubles

JonH · All-time great

Weeks 35 & 36 - US Open, Flushing Meadows, New York City (hard) - doubles

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

JonH wrote:
Well done to hewett and Reid winning the wheelchair mens doubles over the top seeds!

I've often wondered, should there be a wheelchair section on this site? I don't know correct answer and whether anyone has interest in it but it feels like it's missing?

It would be a good thing to have, indeed the seniors tour is also missing. But it needs someone to be really keen on it and to run with it.

Personally, I don't follow the wheelchair tennis. Although I know I'm on dodgy ground, I even have a slight problem with it in that - of all those that I know/have seen - the players are not wheelchair bound and can walk.

I realise that they are not at all completely able-bodied, long way off in some cases, and I support disabled sport completely. But when the player goes to collect his prize in the wheelchair and then, five minutes straight after the ceremony, he gets out of the chair, walks around with his mates, goes and loads the chair into the car, etc., I do feel that it is rather misleading.

That said, I wish all the players well (and the Brits in particular), and would probably read the posts, but I don't follow the events themselves.

indiana · Tennis legend

And Andy Lapthorne of GBR and his partner, David Wagner (USA), have won the straight final of the Wheelchair Quad Doubles.

JonH · All-time great

Coup Droit wrote:
JonH wrote:
Well done to hewett and Reid winning the wheelchair mens doubles over the top seeds!

I've often wondered, should there be a wheelchair section on this site? I don't know correct answer and whether anyone has interest in it but it feels like it's missing?

It would be a good thing to have, indeed the seniors tour is also missing. But it needs someone to be really keen on it and to run with it.
Personally, I don't follow the wheelchair tennis. Although I know I'm on dodgy ground, I even have a slight problem with it in that - of all those that I know/have seen - the players are not wheelchair bound and can walk.
I realise that they are not at all completely able-bodied, long way off in some cases, and I support disabled sport completely. But when the player goes to collect his prize in the wheelchair and then, five minutes straight after the ceremony, he gets out of the chair, walks around with his mates, goes and loads the chair into the car, etc., I do feel that it is rather misleading.
That said, I wish all the players well (and the Brits in particular), and would probably read the posts, but I don't follow the events themselves.

I hadn't realised that . I'm pretty ignorant here, so is the quad event where the player is actually wheelchair bound or paralysed and the wheelchair event itself where person is disabled so they couldn't play able bodied tennis but not necessarily wheelchair bound? I've always wondered on the distinction between the two event types

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

I don't know much about it either, Jon. I believe that to be eligible for the normal wheelchair events you need a lower limb mobility impairment and for the quad events you need both lower and upper limb impairments. i.e. I don't think you have to be actually wheelchair bound for either. NB I'm not at all trying to play down the players' disabilities; I simply fell into the category that Gordon Reid referred to on the BBC site, those who - like you - just didn't realise:

"Next on the agenda for the Glaswegian [Reid] is his third Paralympic Games. He suffers from a neurological condition called transverse myelitis and is aware the public are confused when they see he can walk.

"Some people think I'm a fraud sometimes when I walk in," he told BBC Scotland.

"The thing with wheelchair tennis and a lot of disability sport is you see a lot of different types of disability.

"You've got amputees who play our sport, who obviously need the chair to play sport but when they've got their prosthetic on and it's covered and they are walking down the street, you wouldn't be able to notice anything.

"For me, I can walk, I can stand but I can't run, so that's why I need to use the chair to get around the court."