Celebrating 50 years of Wheelchair Tennis

The LTA and Getty Images are proud to celebrate 50 years of wheelchair tennis, with a digital exhibition of 50 images – some published for the first time.

Created in 1976, by American Brad Parks, what began on public courts in California quickly gathered momentum. By the mid‑1980s, international tournaments were being staged, the World Team Cup had been launched, and the ITF had formally recognised wheelchair tennis. Today, wheelchair tennis is fully embedded across the four Grand Slams and the Paralympics Games, with men’s, women’s, quad and junior events now contested on the world’s biggest stages.

Britain has achieved remarkable success on the world stage over the past 50 years, with notable athletes including Alfie Hewett, Lucy Shuker, Gordon Reid, Jayant Mistry, Jordanne Whiley, Peter Norfolk, Andy Lapthorne, and Antony Cotterill.

As national governing body for tennis in Britain, the LTA and the Tennis Foundation has played a significant role in the development of wheelchair tennis in Great Britain, supporting an elite wheelchair performance pathway and grassroots participation through LTA Open Court. Inclusion of disabled people in tennis sits at the heart of the LTA’s vision of tennis opened up, and mission to transform communities through tennis. Our Open For All ambition is to continue to be a world leader in opening tennis up for disabled people.

We want to use this anniversary as an opportunity to celebrate the success of British and global wheelchair tennis over the past 50 years, as well as inspire a new generation of players and supporters that will continue the growth of wheelchair tennis for the next 50 years.

Alongside the exhibition, at the LTA’s grass court events in Birmingham, Ilkley, Nottingham, Eastbourne and Roehampton, and on Saturday the 6th of June as tennis takes over Trafalgar Square, Get In and Go wheelchair tennis taster sessions, powered by Lexus, will allow event spectators to try wheelchair tennis using specialist sports wheelchairs, provided by Alfie Hewett. The LTA is also hosting an induction ceremony for British individuals and organisations being inducted into the ITF's Wheelchair Tennis Hall of Champions, at the Lexus Eastbourne Open with a ceremony on centre court.

Led by Getty Images’ Senior Director of Creative EMEA, Jacqueline Bourke, the LTA brought together key figures from the world of wheelchair tennis, Marshall Thomas, Jayant Mistry and Caroline MacDonald, on a panel to curate and select 50 images. The exhibition includes iconic images from across the years from the Getty Images’ vast tennis archive, as well as previously unseen historic photographs contributed by Dawn Newbery.

See more by clicking the links below:

News article - LTA

Exhibition

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