Anderson Parker, Heath Davidson and Ben Weekes will head to Paris as a part of the Australian Wheelchair tennis group for the 2024 Paralympic Video games.
Melbourne, Australia, 5 August 2024 | Rhys de Deugd
A 3-strong group of Australian wheelchair tennis stars is about to make a mark on the Paris 2024 Paralympic Video games.
Ben Weekes and Anderson Parker will compete in males’s wheelchair singles and doubles, whereas 2016 gold medallist Heath Davidson will take the courtroom within the quad singles occasion.
Davidson, quad wheelchair tennis world No.7, will don the inexperienced and gold on the Paralympics for the third time and can embrace the highlight for the subsequent technology when he takes centre stage.
“I’m extraordinarily completely happy to be over there and symbolize my nation once more for the third time – it means the world to me,” Davidson mentioned.
“Rising up watching the Olympics, it was on TV, it wasn’t the Paralympics, now we’re attending to see athletes with incapacity on mainstream TV which is superior.”
We’re thrilled to announce our Wheelchair Tennis group for the 2024 Paralympic Video games.
Be a part of us in supporting these athletes as they go for gold in Paris!@TennisAustralia | #WheelchairTennis #ImagineWhatWeCanDo #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/TCv13e0lzQ
— AUS Paralympic Staff (@AUSParalympics) August 5, 2024
Anderson Parker, who gained the open males’s singles division on the 2023 Australian Wheelchair Tennis Nationwide Championships in November, will make his Paralympic debut.
“Doing the official announcement it’s now type of turning into extra of a realisation, so I’m very nervous however excited as nicely,” Parker defined.
“With all my household coming down, to only expertise Paris with them if I get the chance to get out and discover.”
Parker was a top-ranked junior earlier than being de-classified from the game and taking over wheelchair basketball.
After a number of years away from the sport, Parker returned to tennis and labored carefully with skilled Australian gamers together with Ben Weekes, who he’ll share the courtroom with for doubles in Paris.
Weekes is about to compete in his sixth Paralympic Video games, breaking his personal Australian tennis document.
“I bear in mind again to my first (Paralympic) Video games, and for me, the very best half was having these different Australians round to sort of cope with the strain,” Weekes mentioned.
“It’s good that I can provide again to Andy (Parker) in his first Video games and hopefully we will group up rather well within the doubles and get a great end result.”
Anthony Bonaccurso, who teamed with David Corridor to say the Athens 2004 Paralympic doubles bronze medal, introduced the group with their QANTAS boarding passes as a part of the presentation led by Chef de Mission Kate McLoughlin on the Nationwide Tennis Centre in Melbourne.
“Wheelchair tennis has produced a few of Australia’s biggest Paralympic moments because it was launched as a medal sport on the Barcelona Video games in 1992,” McLoughlin mentioned.
“From David Corridor’s unimaginable gold medal at Sydney 2000 to Danni di Toro’s wonderful profession and Dylan Alcott’s profitable gold medal defence at Tokyo 2020, Australia has a proud historical past in Paralympic wheelchair tennis.”
Discover your solution to play: Go to play.tennis.com.au to get out on courtroom and have some enjoyable!
