Roland Garros 2023: Wheelchair tennis in Paris becomes free

A jump or two and relentless battles. On Tuesday, June 6, the most impressive events at Roland Garros, wheelchair tennis, begin. Year after year, this discipline has been ignored for a long time, with the only modifications to the rules being the possibility, extent and visibility of the second rebound. In this 2023 edition, which runs until June 10, 16 players and as many women players are now in the singles table, compared to 12 and eight in 2022. One of the finals will be held on Court Philippe-Chatrier and will be broadcast live on France Télévisions.

The Quad category, intended for players who also have functional impairments in the upper limbs, will see 8 participants as of 2022, against 4 in previous years. It does not (yet) contain a female table. As for the public interested in this sport, which is both physically demanding and spectacular, it will have the opportunity to learn about it at “All Wheelchairs” today, Friday, June 9, organized by the French Tennis Federation. (FFT) and Adecco Group for sponsoring this wheelchair tennis tournament.

This year, the number of invitations (“wild cards”) allocated to each event has increased from one to two, with four Frenchmen competing in the tournament: Frédéric Cattaneo and Stéphane Houde for the men, Paulin Derulet and Emmanuel More. women.

Another French quartet wanted to enter the Roland Garros clay court in a wheelchair. This year: four members of FFT’s French wheelchair tennis division. But Charlotte Fairbanks (31, 26^e World), Zoe Maras (21, 28^e), Guillaume Laget (25, 28^e) and Jeffrey Jasiak (30, 26^e), is a little fair in the classification of the International Tennis Federation. They are now targeting the 2024 edition of the tournament and major international competitions such as the Paris 2024 Olympic Games to be held in 2028 on the clay courts of Port d’Otis or Los Angeles.

Changing life and gear

In January, these four players “With strong potential and an ambitious personal project”, According to FFT, has joined a new division of French tennis carts, “The first disabled sports center in France for individual sports”, Emphasizes the Federation. Since then, between the two tournaments, it is in the French tennis high-level temple, the National Training Center (CNE), not far from Roland Garros, that they do their ranges. A total change of life and equipment in terms of practice. “They played for several hours a week, often with the available equipment. Now it’s five hours a day of tennis five days a week, plus two hours of physical training.” Summarizes Jean-Philippe Fleurian, head of the center and men’s coach – the former tennis professional is also involved in securing a concession for tennis courts in the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris for the support of a private company.