What is para-standing tennis? A grassroots movement has sparked tennis inclusion
It has long been understood that tennis is a sport that can be played and enjoyed by everyone, but for years, it was thought that the only way that amputees or those with other major mobility issues could enjoy the game’s many benefits—to physical, mental, emotional and social health, and more—was by playing seated in a wheelchair. But times are changing, and the growth of para-standing tennis has opened the door for these players to get between the lines and find their place in the game.
While many might expect this discipline of the sport to be a modern endeavor, brought about by advancements in technology, prosthetics and orthotics, this is not the case. In Austria in the 1930s, lower-leg amputee John Poulin played tennis with peers on crutches and is thought to be the earliest known para-standing player on record. Mexican American Antonio Solano, who resides in Texas, is a modern example of an athlete who has achieved notable success in the sport with an extreme physical disability.
But one-offs such as these have given way to a greater worldwide movement over the last two decades, as further advancements in the sport have come about as a result of dedicated grassroots efforts by players, parents and coaches from all corners of the globe. The sport has its own informal international advocacy body which has worked tirelessly to advance its profile. Its president is Ivan Corretja, brother of former word No. 2 and two-time Roland Garros finalist Alex Corretja, who was an able-bodied junior player before his lower left leg was amputated as a result of a motorcycle accident in his teens. It also has a global circuit, the TAP World Tour, which was founded in Chile by Enzo Amadei and Ana Maria Rodriguez nearly 10 years ago.
Para-standing tennis classifications
PST-1: Unilateral upper limb amputee or similar impairment
PST-2: Unilateral below-knee amputee, mild cerebral palsy, or other impairment with similar mobility level
PST-3: Above-knee or bilateral below-knee amputee, bilateral arm impairment, or moderate to severe cerebral palsy
PST-4: Short stature or other impairment with similar impact on mobility
Texas’ Jeff Bourns, meanwhile, has been the sport’s shepherd in the United States. The first American to compete internationally in para-standing tennis, Bourns—who had his right leg amputated below the knee as a toddler as a result of a birth defect, and then above the knee in his teens—is a godfather of sorts to the U.S. branch of the movement, from the first time he first played against an able-bodied player as a high-school student at the turn of the 21st century, to the present. “Tennis was always kind of my jam,” he says, but unfortunately, he saw his enthusiasm for the sport dampened by teenage cruelty in his formative years as he experienced bullying and teasing. But he rediscovered his passion as he recovered from a spinal cord injury in 2010, and it changed the course of his adult life.
Bourns says that a wheelchair tennis clinic (he played standing with others seated) at Houston’s Metropolitan Multi-Service Center, the home of the city’s adaptive sports and recreation department, was “one of the most fun tennis classes” he’d ever taken—but it sparked something in him.
Photo courtesy of Jeff Bourns.
“I thought, ‘How come this sport isn’t available in the way I’d like to play it?’,” he recalls. “I just started throwing that question out there.”
Bourns, with the help of Cindy Benzon and the USTA Texas section, eventually organized a Houston-based program that started with a dozen players and two coaches, and the first American tournament on the TAP World Tour—which featured over two dozen players from 11 nations—followed in 2016.
“We just want to let people know that this is a sport that’s available to them,” Bourns says. “Just because you may have a physical impairment, or any disability, that doesn’t make you any less of a person, and shouldn’t stop you from picking up a racquet and learning to play a great sport.”
Para-standing tennis at the 2023 US Open. Photo by Darren Carroll/USTA.
Their collective efforts continue to bear fruit. Bourns estimates that when he first got involved, around a dozen countries offered para-standing tennis programming and tournaments; now, he estimates that number to be “more than 30, or even in the low 40s.” The sport has held demonstrations at some of tennis' crown-jewel events, including the ATP and WTA 1000 event in Cincinnati, and the US Open. Last year, the International Tennis Federation, the sport’s international governing body, even began supporting the sport. This year’s world championships, held in Turin, Italy in June, were sanctioned by the ITF for the first time, and featured more than 70 players from nations around the world.
Over the first six months of 2024, more than a half-dozen countries have hosted events—including an inaugural event at the famed Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park, Md. that produced Frances Tiafoe.
But they’re not stopping there. One of the group’s biggest long-term goals is to have para-standing tennis be included in the Paralympics and Grand Slam tournaments, similar to the way in which wheelchair tennis has been integrated into the sport in recent decades.
Elevating it to the game’s biggest stages can only help in making the world more inclusive for future generations, Bourns says.
“One of the coolest things for me through this is seeing all that these kids now have access to,” he adds. “I was 19 when I first met someone my age with an amputation, and it changed my life. What we try to do now is network kids and adults together, network parents and caregivers together, to say, ‘Hey, I’m going through this, and I’m not alone.’
“Not only is tennis a great sport physically for people with disabilities to get healthier, but you can hang out with communities like you. You have so much in common with these other people, and you can really talk about life. It really is a different world for a lot of us who have disabilities. You’re the only color of your Skittle in the pack a lot of the times, so to speak, but being able to get together and see a large group, where they’re all the same as you … it’s an incredible experience.”
To learn more about adaptive tennis and to get involved in a program near you, click here.
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