British tennis celebrates a year of progress on International Day of Disabled Persons
• 3 MINUTE READ
One year ago we launched our ‘Open for All’ plan which set out the actions we would take to become a world leader in opening up tennis for disabled people across Britian.
Today on International Day of Disabled Persons we’re reflecting on a year of progress, as we’ve worked hard to open up grass roots provision further whilst continuing to support our national teams and performance disabled athletes.
At the heart of grass roots provision is our LTA Open Court disability tennis programme which provides impairment specific sessions at local venues – including for those with a learning disability, wheelchair users, visually impaired (VI) people, deaf people and those with long term health conditions.
We also support Great Britain national teams and stages events in all these disciplines. Read more about all these teams’ incredible achievements this year.
Highlights from 2023 include:
- Over £2m invested in disability tennis this year by the LTA, LTA Tennis Foundation and Sport England.
- Over 600 venues now delivering the LTA Open Court programme, a rise of 15% year on year.
- A total of 15,863 players attending an LTA Open Court session – up 10% on 2023.
- LTA Open Court sessions now being available to attend in Scotland, Wales and every county in England.
- The LTA and AELTC’s Play Your Way to Wimbledon competition, powered by Vodafone, introduced wheelchair, visually impaired and learning disability formats for the first time this year.
- Great Britain’s wheelchair tennis athletes won titles this year. Including both the Men’s and Junior’s World Team Cup – the ITF’s flagship wheelchair tennis team event.
- Alfie Hewett finished the year ranked world No.1 in men’s wheelchair tennis.
- The British Visually Impaired, Learning Disability, and Deaf teams won a total of 20 medals at their respective World Championships.
Dave Hardman, Inclusion Development Manager at the LTA, commented: "In our one-year journey with the Open For All disability tennis plan, we've overcome a number of challenges, restored participation and expanded to more venues on the LTA Open Court programme, and achieved medal success globally across all impairment groups. This success is not just a milestone but a solid foundation for how we continue to make tennis more inclusive for disabled people."
The 12 months ended on a high as the LTA took the first steps in introducing para standing tennis as a new format of the game. Para standing tennis is a format of the game for those with ambulatory impairments. Players play with either one or two bounces, depending on their level of impairment.
The first para-standing tennis event staged in Great Britain was held at the LTA’s National Tennis Centre on 25 November. Adam Hill’s, presenter of Channel 4’s 'The Last Leg' was one of the participants who were joined by Sir Andy Murray and Gordon Reid OBE as they took to the courts.
