It’s been a strong week for the Brits in Wimbledon’s wheelchair tennis, with Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid winning their seventh title at SW19 as a doubles partnership at the tournament as well as Hewett reaching the final of the men’s singles.
You’ve sent in lots of questions about the sport, and our expert pundits, former professional players Jayant Mistry and Louise Hunt Skelley, have been on hand to answer them.
Question: What’s the difference between wheelchair tennis and quad wheelchair tennis?
Grace in Newcastle
Answer: The Open division is for players whose impairment affects their lower limbs, while the Quad division is for athletes with impairments affecting three or more limbs, including reduced arm or hand function. That additional upper-body impairment makes shot-making and racquet control even more challenging.
Why is the prize money for wheelchair players so much less than non-wheelchair players when their expenses may be greater?
Hilary in Poole and Susan in Scotland
Answer: The draw size is smaller in wheelchair tennis than in non-wheelchair tennis, meaning there are fewer rounds so less prize money in the pot. But it is an area that is improving every single year. Compared with most other disability sports it’s very high. Each Grand Slam event will have a different rationale behind their prize money.
Question: What speed do gents wheelchair players serve at?
Roger in Bedford
Answer: In the men’s division, Tokito Oda has the fastest serve in the world and tops out at about 112mph. In the women’s division Diede de Groot, one of the best players of all time, has a serve of about 90mph, so also pretty fast!
Typical first serve speeds are 90-115mph (145-185kmh) in the Men’s Open division. The biggest servers can occasionally reach 120mph (193kmh).
In the Women’s Open division, typical serve speeds are 70-95mph (113-153kmh) and the fastest servers may occasionally exceed 100mph (161kmh).
The Quad division can see serves of about 55-90mph (89-145kmh) for men and 50-80mph (80-129kmh) for women. Speeds vary more here because of the differing levels of upper-limb function.
Question: Is the net the same height for wheelchair tennis?
Rachel in Lincolnshire
Answer: Yes the net is the same – every single thing in terms of the court, the dimensions, net height is exactly the same for wheelchair players as it is for standing players.
Question: How is Hawk-Eye adjusted to account for the Wheelchair game?
Danesh in Horsham
Answer: Hawk-Eye isn’t affected by whether it’s tracking play from a standing or wheelchair player as it only tracks the ball. In fact, in some ways Hawk-Eye is a better system than line judges in wheelchair tennis, because something that used to happen with officials is that a wheelchair player could block their view of the line more.
Question: Do wheelchair players use different wheels for different surfaces?
Jill in Norfolk
Answer: The key thing players often change per surface is a slight tyre pressure adjustment. So on a surface such as grass they might let a little bit of PSI out of the wheels so they don’t dig in quite as much, but the wheels themselves stay the same. The only time there is an actual wheel rule is when it comes to castors – the smaller wheels at the front and back of the wheelchair. Wimbledon have a special rule where they have to be a certain width just to make sure they don’t damage the grass.
Question: Is there a foot fault equivalent in wheelchair tennis?
Lynda in Edinburgh
Answer: It’s called a ‘wheel fault’ if the front wheel is over the line before the serve has been hit.
Question: Do the wheelchair tennis players use different chairs for singles/doubles to optimise for speed/manoeuvrability, or do they stick to one chair? And what are the wheelchairs made from?
Answer: Tennis wheelchairs are made of:
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Aluminium alloy – The most common material. It’s lightweight, durable and relatively affordable, making it popular for club and competitive players
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Titanium – Premium chairs often use titanium. It’s lighter than aluminium for the same strength, absorbs vibration well and resists corrosion, but it is significantly more expensive.
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Carbon fibre – Used for selected components (and occasionally parts of the frame). Carbon fibre is extremely light and stiff, helping improve acceleration and manoeuvrability.
They use the same wheelchairs for singles and doubles.
This article is the latest from BBC Sport’s Ask Me Anything team.
Tokito Oda of Japan, one of the fastest wheelcahir tennis servers in the world, opted to include his chair in Wimbledon’s white dress code [Getty Images]
More questions answered…
Read the full article here