LTA grass court season to spotlight wheelchair tennis as sport celebrates 50th anniversary

World class competition on the south coast will mark 50 years of wheelchair tennis

From the 25^th to the 27^th of June, the Lexus Eastbourne Open will host an ITF WC500 tournament at Devonshire Park. Whilst tournaments have been held on the south coast since 2023, this year’s occasion will be extra special, as the Lexus Eastbourne Open will play host to celebrations marking the 50^th anniversary of wheelchair tennis.

The LTA, in partnership with the ITF will host an induction ceremony for British individuals and organisations being inducted at the Lexus Eastbourne Open on Centre Court on Friday 26 June ahead of play beginning at 11am. As part of the 50th anniversary celebrations, half a century on from when American pioneer Brad Parks first developed the sport in California, the ITF has launched the Wheelchair Tennis Hall of Champions - a digital platform recognising players, coaches and contributors who have played a pivotal role in the growth of the sport, with inductees honoured at presentations held at tournaments throughout the year. 

In addition to the ceremony in Eastbourne, the LTA is partnering with Getty Images to celebrate 50 years of wheelchair tennis, with a digital exhibition of 50 images - some published for the first time, selected with the help of key figures from the wheelchair tennis community. The exhibition will be launched on the LTA website at the start of British grass court season.

Exhibitions to start the summer

Over the weekend of the 20^th and 21^st of June, the Lexus Nottingham Open and the HSBC Championships at the Queen’s Club in West London will each host their annual wheelchair exhibitions featuring some of Britain’s leading wheelchair players. Nottingham will once again host women’s and quad wheelchair exhibitions. The women’s event will feature Britain’s leading female players: Lucy Shuker, Cornelia Oosthuizen, Abbie Breakwell and Ruby Bishop while Andy Lapthorne and Greg Slade will feature in the quad draw, alongside Australia’s Heath Davidson and Ben Wenzel.

In the capital, Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid will be among those to head to the Queen’s Club and the HSBC Championships. The exhibition will feature over a sold-out weekend in West London, bringing wheelchair tennis to one of tennis’s biggest tournaments for the third year in a row.

Bigger and better Lexus British Open Roehampton

Finally, the world’s best wheelchair tennis players will head for the Lexus British Open Roehampton from the 30^th of June to the 3^rd of July, their final preparation before The Championships, Wimbledon. This year, the event has been upgraded to an ITF WC1000 level tournament, the highest level below the Grand Slam tournaments.

Last year, Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid were the pick of the Brits in action, with the pair teaming up for the men’s doubles title and Hewett claiming the men’s singles title. The event will see an uplift in prize money, improved hospitality for players and additional community activities including a family fun day, giving the local community an opportunity to try wheelchair tennis.

Get in and Go Taster Sessions

Giving people the opportunity to try wheelchair tennis is a key theme running throughout the summer. At the LTA’s grass court events in Birmingham, Ilkley, Nottingham, Eastbourne and Roehampton, and on Saturday the 6^th of June as tennis takes over Trafalgar Square, Get In and Go wheelchair tennis taster sessions, powered by Lexus, will allow event spectators to try wheelchair tennis using specialist sports wheelchairs, provided by Alfie Hewett.

Record funding levels for British disability tennis in 2026

The uplift in status and prize money for the Lexus British Open Roehampton comes as part of a 25% uplift in funding for disability tennis competitions more broadly. Alongside wheelchair competition, this investment is helping to deliver more opportunities to compete across deaf, learning disability and autism, para standing, and visually impaired tennis.

Highlights of this include a brand-new Virtus-sanctioned Learning Disability and Autism tournament at the Lexus Nottingham Open, support for a para standing IPSTA 1000 tournament in Surbiton from the 13^th to the 16^th of June, a showcase of deaf tennis during the Lexus Eastbourne Open Community Day, and a trial of visually impaired tennis on grass for the first time at the Lexus British Open Roehampton.

As national governing body for tennis in Britain, the LTA and LTA Tennis Foundation have played a significant role in the development of wheelchair tennis in Great Britain, supporting an elite wheelchair performance pathway and grassroots participation through the LTA Open Court programme. Inclusion of disabled people in tennis sits at the heart of the LTA’s vision of tennis opened up, and mission to transform communities through tennis. Our Open For All ambition is to continue to be a world leader in opening tennis up for disabled people.

Chris Pollard, LTA Managing Director of Commercial and operations said, “In this milestone 50^th year of wheelchair tennis, we’re proud to continue our work making the sport a key part of our events across the grass court summer. The Hall of Champions induction ceremony at the Lexus Eastbourne Open, in partnership with ITF, will be a special occasion, celebrating those figures who have helped establish Britain as one of the world’s leading nations for wheelchair tennis, and we hope the various tournaments and exhibitions on show throughout June can inspire people to pick up a racket and explore opportunities in tennis they may not have thought were available.”