LTA celebrates most accessible grass court season yet
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As Disability Pride Month draws to a close, we are proud to report that the 2024 grass court season was the most accessible to date for disabled people.
In the UK, one in five people live with a disability. Making tennis more inclusive for disabled people sits at the heart of our vision of Tennis Opened Up and mission to grow tennis by making it welcoming, enjoyable and inspiring to everyone.
Tennis has led the way in many regards when it comes to the inclusion of disabled people – from the well-established international pro wheelchair tennis tour, to grass roots tennis programmes such as LTA Open Court. But disabled people still face significant barriers to inclusion in tennis, and more work is needed to ensure they have fair and equitable opportunities to access tennis.
Our ‘Open for All’ plan, launched in December 2022, sets out five key strategic objectives including to “make tennis more inclusive for disabled people” and “reach new and different audiences”, which our major events are key to achieving.
While more work must be done to address the systemic issues for disability-inclusion in sport and society, we are proud to have made the 2024 grass court season our most accessible yet.
Improving fan experience for disabled people
Across LTA events in 2024, significant improvements were made to the accessibility for disabled fans. Disability awareness training was carried out with all members of staff working at our major events, including volunteers. Sensory bags were available to fans, containing ear defenders, ear plugs, sunglasses and fidget toys, alongside use of a quiet room to reduce sensory overload for neurodiverse fans.
At the cinch Championships, key messages on the big screen had British Sign Language translations thanks to a partnership with Signapse and hearing induction loops were available. Action Audio was also available for all semis and finals matches of the cinch Championships, a partnership between the LTA, BBC & AKQA strongly supported by RNIB and British Blind Sport through their Sport England funded programme ‘See Sport Differently’. The programme creates a 3D spatial audio experience for live sports to allow blind and partially-sighted audiences to follow the action in real-time.
Putting disability tennis in the spotlight
This year’s Rothesay International Eastbourne was the first of our major grass court tournaments to feature men’s, women’s and quad wheelchair draws all at one venue. 12 top 10-ranked wheelchair players competed, and seven Brits, including Alfie Hewett, Gordon Reid, Andy Lapthorne and Lucy Shuker.
We also saw the Lexus British Open Roehampton, the LTA’s – and the world’s - premier standalone grass court wheelchair tennis tournament, debut in its new home, at the Wimbledon Qualifying and Community Sports Centre. One of the strongest ever entry lists saw a world-class international field of 40 players, including 10 British stars compete for the titles. Seven of the top 10 ranked men’s player’s took part, alongside all of the current top 14 world ranked women’s players.
The cinch Championships saw British wheelchair tennis super-stars, Hewett and Reid take on two of the world’s best– Joachim Gerard and Tom Egberink – in exhibition matches. For the first time in its prestigious history, learning disability tennis featured at The Queen’s Club with British stars, Anna McBride, Oliver Beadle and Fabrice Higgins taking on an Australian team, during Learning Disability Awareness Week.
Ensuring the voices of disabled people are at the heart of British tennis
The newly established LTA Disability Advisory Group met for the first time at the Lexus British Open Roehampton this year.
Consisting of six expert individuals, the group has been established to help guide and shape the future of disability tennis in Britain, as laid out in our ‘Open for All’ plan which sets out five key strategic objectives:
Open for All strategic objectives
- Continue to recover and rebuild from the pandemic
- Make tennis more inclusive for disabled people
- Continue to grow and improve the LTA Open Court programme
- Reach new and different audiences
- Continue to support the player pathway
The Disability Advisory Group ensures the voices of experts and lived experience are at the centre of British tennis and will work strategically to build on the LTA’s success to date. This will include growing the LTA Open Court programme, which supports nearly 600 tennis venues to deliver formats of the sport including learning disability tennis, visually impaired tennis, wheelchair tennis, deaf tennis and sensory tennis.
LTA Open Court county leads from across Britain also attended a workshop at the British Open, to share expertise and best practise, with a view to growing the programme.
LTA Director of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, Jon Hughes said: “The LTA’s vision is Tennis Opened Up and ensuring disabled people can access and enjoy tennis without any barriers is central to this plan, whether they are players, fans or volunteers.
“While more work must be done to address the systemic issues for disability-inclusion in sport and society, we are proud to have made the 2024 grass court season our most accessible yet.
“We look forward to working with the Disability Advisory Group, partners and disabled people themselves to build on this positive work for grass court seasons to come, so that we can continue to grow tennis by making it welcoming, enjoyable and inspiring to everyone.”
