Getting Started

Contact WTSA
Please make contact to Wheelchair Tennis South Africa who can put you in touch with players and / or join you to programmes in your area.

Find a friend to play against
The beauty of wheelchair tennis is that you can play with your able bodied family and friends as well as other wheelchair players. Under the rules of tennis the wheelchair players are permitted two bounces and the able bodied players one but when you are practising you can play to your own rules to suit the standard of the players on the court.

Find a court
You can contact the WTSA to find out which facilities are accessible. Or you can go along to your local courts and discuss with whoever runs them how they could be made accessible for you to play.

Find a coach
A coach will help you improve and will be able to advise you on how to get what you want from your tennis whether you want to play with your family or if you want to compete on the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour. Contact WTSA to get the contact details of a coach with wheelchair tennis experience. If you are with a coach who has not worked with wheelchair players before, do not worry, you will have a lot of fun learning together. Coaches working with WTSA

The Wheelchair
When you start playing you do not require a sports wheelchair. You can play in a day chair. You may wish to strap yourself into the chair to improve your stability. Straps can be used around the waist, knees and ankles, depending on the players balance. The availability of sports chairs varies around the world. For further information on tennis wheelchairs contact WTSA .

Quads
Many tetraplegics and quadriplegics play tennis by strapping/taping the racket to their hand.