World’s best in California for Wheelchair Tennis Masters

Current world No. 1 Kunieda won his maiden NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters men’s title in 2012, a year after current world No. 2 Stephane Houdet won his first NEC Masters title.

Shingo Kunieda, Jiske Griffioen and David Wagner go into this week’s 2013 NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters and ITF Wheelchair Doubles Masters as the defending men’s, women’s and quad champions in the event, which begins on Tuesday (5 November) in Mission Viejo, California in the USA.

It’s the first time since 2002 that the ITF’s year-end singles and doubles championships for the world’s leading wheelchair tennis players have been held at the same venue at the same time, and the first time that both prestigious events have been held outside of Europe. Thirty-eight players from 12 nations will play across both tournaments.

The NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters, which was first held in 1994, features the world’s top eight men’s and women singles players and the world’s top four quad singles players. The eight players in the men’s and women’s singles will start the event in two round-robin groups of four players, with the two in each pool progressing to the semi-finals later in the week. After the initial round-robin phase in the quad singles, the top two players will go forward to the final.

Current world No. 1 Kunieda won his maiden NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters men’s title in 2012, a year after current world No. 2 Stephane Houdet won his first NEC Masters title.

The Japanese player and the Frenchman are both in contention for the year-end world No. 1 ranking this time, making for a fascinating week.

Current world No. 3 Maikel Scheffers of Netherlands has also won the title in the last four years, while world No. 4 Gordon Reid has beaten the world’s top three on more than one occasion this season.

With 2012 runner-up and current women’s world No. 1 Aniek van Koot of Netherlands having withdrawn from this year’s events due to injury, the door is open for Roland Garros champion Sabine Ellerbrock of Germany to try and become only the second non-Dutch player to top the year-end women’s singles rankings.

Ellerbrock was third in the women’s singles in 2012 and will be bidding to become only the second non-Dutch player to top the year-end women’s singles rankings and the first non-Dutch player to win the NEC Masters women’s title.

The three-strong Dutch challenge this year will be led by defending champion Griffioen and the world No. 3 has a good track record in head-to-heads against Ellerbrock. However, with several of the eight players in the women’s field having beaten each other this season, the competition could be wide open.

Five time-NEC Masters quad singles champion Wagner will bid to retain his title on home soil in USA, but the current world No. 1 is likely to face strong opposition from South Africa’s US Open champion and current world No. 2 Lucas Sithole as well as 2011 and 2012 runner-up Andy Lapthorne of Great Britain.

The ITF Wheelchair Doubles Masters is the flagship wheelchair tennis doubles event. First staged in 2000, the season-ending event currently features the world’s top eight men’s pairs, top six women’s pairs and top four quad pairs.

Among the leading contenders in the men’s doubles this year will be Houdet and Reid, who were on opposite sides of the net in the 2012 final, when Houdet triumphed partnering Kunieda.

Griffioen, who partnered van Koot to win the women’s doubles in 2012, will partner fellow Dutchwoman Sharon Walraven this year. Marjolein Buis and Lucy Shuker, the Australian Open runners-up, and Yui Kamiji and Jordanne Whiley, the Wimbledon runners-up, will be among their main opposition.

Six-time champions Nick Taylor and Wagner will start as warm favourites in the quad doubles as the USA’s three-time Paralympic gold medallists bid to retain their title on home soil.