Entries announced for wheelchair tennis US Open

The athletes are returning to New York after a year’s hiatus due to the London 2012 Paralympic Games, which were scheduled during 2012 US Open.

The USTA announced on Thursday (1 August) the field for the 2013 US Open Wheelchair Competition. The event, in its sixth year, will be held from 5-8 September at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre in Flushing, New York.

The athletes are returning to New York after a year’s hiatus due to the London 2012 Paralympic Games, which were scheduled during 2012 US Open.

This year’s field will feature 20 of the top wheelchair tennis athletes from around the globe.

The 2013 US Open Wheelchair Competition will feature a men’s, women’s and quads division and will include six events: men’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s singles, women’s doubles, quad singles and quad doubles.

This is the first time that each of the divisions will feature the world’s top-eight ranked men’s and women’s wheelchair players.

The top four quads players in the world will also be competing.

The total purse for the event will be US$ 150,000, a US$ 30,000 increase in prize money from 2011.

Men

(1) Shingo Kunieda (Japan)

(2) Stephane Houdet (France)

(3) Maikel Scheffers (Netherlands)

(4) Joachim Gerard (Belgium)

(5) Gustavo Fernandez (Argentina)

(6) Gordon Reid (Great Britain)

(7) Ronald Vink (Netherlands)

(8) Michael Jeremiasz (France)

Women

(1) Sabine Ellerbrock (Germany)

(2) Aniek van Koot (Netherlands)

(3) Jiske Griffioen (Netherlands)

(4) Marjolein Buis (Netherlands)

(5) Yui Kamiji (Japan)

(6) Kgothatso Montjane (South)

(7) Lucy Shuker (Great Britain)

(8) Jordanne Whiley (Great Britain)

Quads

(1) David Wagner (USA)

(2) Andy Lapthorne (Great Britain)

(3) Lucas Sithole (South Africa)

(4) Nick Taylor (USA)

This year’s field will look a bit different, with 10 newcomers entered in the tournament. The most notable name not entered in the competition is six-time US Open Wheelchair Competition women’s singles champion Esther Vergeer of the Netherlands.

Vergeer retired after claiming the gold medal at the Paralympic Games last year in London with a 10-year winning streak. She ended her career with 470 consecutive wins, with her last loss coming in January 2003. Vergeer’s retirement means that for the first time since the inception of the US Open Wheelchair Competition in 2005, there will be a new women’s champion.

On the men’s side, world No. 1 Shingo Kunieda of Japan will look to extend his reign as the men’s champion for a fifth consecutive time. Kunieda last lost in 2007 in the men’s singles competition. The title was not up for grabs in 2008 and 2012 due to the scheduling of the Paralympic Games.

The USA will be represented in quad singles and doubles by the three-time Paralympic auad doubles gold medallists David Wagner and Nick Taylor.

Wagner is the defending US Open quad singles champion and will be looking to win his third consecutive US Open quad singles title. In doubles, Wagner and Taylor will look to put their names on the doubles trophy for a fifth time and remain the only team ever to hoist the trophy.