ParalympicsGB superstar Alfie Hewett is aiming for a gold medal (Picture: Getty)
Wheelchair tennis at the 2024 Paralympic Games is firmly under the spotlight this week.
The action is already underway at Roland-Garros – which hosts the French Open every year – and we are quickly approaching the latter stages of the six events.
There are plenty of medals up for grabs with the men’s singles, women’s singles, quad singles, quad doubles, men’s doubles and women’s doubles tournaments.
Alfie Hewett is competing in the men’s singles, as well as the men’s doubles with his partner Gordon Reid, with the ParalympicsGB pair facing Dutch duo Maarten Ter Hofte and Ruben Spaargaren in the last eight today (Tuesday, August 3).
Tennis fans are keen to know the rules and full world rankings with some questioning how many times can the ball bounce, so Metro.co.uk has explained it all for you here…
What are the rules of wheelchair tennis and how may times can the ball bounce?
ParalympicsGB outlined the full rules of wheelchair tennis on their website, with players allowed to let the ball bounce twice – not once – before returning it.
British star Gordon Reid is ranked world No.5 in the men’s singles (Picture: Getty)
‘Wheelchair tennis at the Paralympic Games follows Olympic tennis rules, with a few important differences,’ ParalympicsGB posted online.
‘The most significant difference is the ‘two-bounce rule’, which means a player can allow the ball to bounce twice and must return it before a third bounce. The second bounce can be inside or outside the court boundaries.
‘At the serve, the server must be in a stationary position before serving the ball, but is allowed one push of the wheelchair before striking the ball.
‘Each nation may enter a maximum of four men into men’s singles, four women into women’s singles and a maximum of three quad players in the quad singles.
‘A maximum of four men and four women may compete as teams in men’s and women’s doubles and a maximum of two players may compete as a team in the quad doubles.’
How many sets are there in wheelchair tennis at the Paralympics?
Wheelchair tennis matches at the Paralympics are the best of three sets, with a tie-break settling each set as required.
How do the world rankings look for wheelchair tennis and what are the different categories?
Alfie Hewett beat Martin De La Puente in this year’s Wimbledon final (Picture: Getty)
Men’s singles:
1. Alfie Hewett (Great Britain)
2. Tokito Oda (Japan)
3. Martin De La Puente (Spain)
4. Gustavo Fernandez (Argentina)
5. Gordon Reid (Great Britain)
Women’s singles:
1. Diede De Groot (Netherlands)
2. Yui Kamiji (Japan)
3. Aniek Van Koot (Netherlands)
4. Jiske Griffioen (Netherlands)
5. Ziying Wang (China)
Quad singles:
1. Sam Schroder (Netherlands)
2. Niels Vink (Netherlands)
3. Guy Sasson (Israel)
4. Andy Lapthorne (Great Britain)
5. Ahmet Kaplan (Turkey)
Diede De Groot of the Netherlands is world No.1 in women’s singles (Picture: Getty)
Men’s doubles:
1. Alfie Hewett (Great Britain)
2. Gordon Reid (Great Britain)
3. Tokito Oda (Japan)
4. Takuya Miki (Japan)
5. Stephane Houdet (France)
Women’s doubles:
1. Kgothatso Montjane (South Africa)
2. Yui Kamiji (Japan)
3. Diede De Groot (Netherlands)
4. Aniek Van Koot …read more
Source:: Metro
