Davis Cup showcase for wheelchair tennis

Wheelchair tennis was in the spotlight over the weekend (7-8 March) during the first round of the 2015 Davis Cup by BNP Paribas, with demonstrations being played during the ties between Canada and Japan and Germany and France.

In Vancouver, 1993 ITF Wheelchair Tennis World Champion and three-time Paralympic medallist Kai Schrameyer, now national coach for Tennis Canada, joined fellow wheelchair tennis players Tomas Bourassa, Misha Bilenky and Jean-Francois Sylvestre in a doubles demonstration on Saturday (7 March) before the doubles rubber between Daniel Nestor and Vasek Popisil and Go Soeda and Yasutaka Uchiyama.

Earlier in the week, in the lead up to the Davis Cup tie, Popisil took part in a one-up, one-down wheelchair tennis exhibition at Kits Beach Tennis Club, during an event where he was honoured for his 2014 Wimbledon men’s doubles victory with USA’s Jack Sock.

Before Sunday’s final day of singles rubbers in the Germany v France Davis Cup first round tie, world No. 4 Sabine Ellerbrock joined German wheelchair tennis national coach Christoph Muller and junior player Daniel Altmaier for a wheelchair tennis demonstration at Frankfurt’s Fraport Arena with Altmaier trying his hand at playing in a wheelchair.