Article 21 Dec 2023
Marshall Thomas
21 Dec 2023
ITF Wheelchair
The 2023 UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour has produced unprecedented success for many and increasing opportunities for wheelchair players of all ages and abilities to develop their talents, with the elite end of the sport also providing increasing opportunities for more players to make a living from the sport.
It’s been a season when new records have been set, but it started with new benchmarks firmly laid down for future generations to aspire to, as Shingo Kunieda announced his retirement before the Australian Open.
Kunieda’s record 50 Grand Slam titles and record 10 ITF World Champion’s trophies are just two of the reasons why he’s widely acclaimed as the greatest men’s wheelchair tennis player to ever live.
Before 2023 was out, Kunieda has turned his experience and passion for wheelchair tennis to another role as he made his tournament directorial debut at the Kinosh*ta Group Japan Open, one of 169 tournaments held in 40 countries on the 2023 UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour and the latest wheelchair tournament to he held alongside an ATP Tour event.
There were new opportunities for female players, too. The ABN AMRO Open in Rotterdam, while an ATP Tour event, introduced women’s wheelchair tennis to its schedule for the first time, with the Kinosh*ta Group Japan Open WTA Tour event staging it’s first women’s wheelchair tennis draw.
Diede de Groot and Yui Kamiji prevailed in Rotterdam and Osaka, respectively, as they continued to dominate at the top of the women’s singles rankings. And while Kunieda retired, one of his landmarks fell to De Groot as she became sole owner of the of the second longest singles winning streak in the history of wheelchair – which now stands at 127 singles matches after winning her sixth NEC Wheelchair Singles Masters titles.
Kunieda retires with Japanese men’s wheelchair tennis in rude health, with Tokito Oda leading the charge after a season when the 17-year-old continued to set records aplenty – most notably becoming the youngest man to win a Grand Slam singles title in any discipline after his maiden Roland Garros title and the youngest man to win a Wimbledon singles title in any discipline.
For the record, Oda, was 17 years and 33 days old when he triumphed in Paris, his first Grand Slam singles titles also earing him the distinction of becoming the youngest ever men’s singles world No. 1 just a few days later.
Grand Slam draw sizes continue to increase for wheelchair tennis, with a record 54 players across, men’s, women’s and quad singles and doubles having the opportunity to play at least one of the four Grand Slams in 2023 after the US Open increased it draw for quad players to 16.
During a record seaon for Niels Vink and Sam Schroder, the top two quad singles and doubles players, the Grand Slams brought the only losses for both players.
Vink was beaten by Schroder in the quad singles finals at both the Australian Open and the US Open, but was otherwise unbeaten in 53 matches during the year, while Schroder and Vink won 10 of the 11 doubles events they played together, their only loss coming in the sem-finals at Roland Garros.
De Groot led the way in terms of women's matches won on the 2023 UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour, earning 51 wins in her second full season unbeaten, a tally equalled by China, P.R. player Zhenxu Ji in men's singles.
Oda, De Groot and Kamiji also featured among the eight men’s and women’s singles gold medallists as the 2023 wheelchair calendar also included four regional games wheelchair tennis events all in one year for the very first time.
The year ends with all four men’s singles gold medallists and all four women’s singles gold medallists from the African Para Games, the European Para Championships, the Asian Para Games and the Parapan American Games having earned automatic qualification for the Paris 2024 Paralympics as what will surely be another ground-breaking season for wheelchair tennis awaits.
The European Para Championships was one of 14 singles titles for De Groot - a Tour record across men's, women's and quad divisions for 2023.
Meanwhile, with the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour encompassing seven tiers from Grand Slam down to ITF Futures Series, as well as ITF Junior Series events, future stars to look out for include Ksenia Chasteau.
The French 17-year-old world No.1 girl on the Cruyff Foundation Junior Wheelchair Tennis Rankings started the year without a singles title to her name, but goes into 2024 among the players to have won nine singles titles in the last 12 months - five junior titles and four ITF Futures Series titles.
