Forget Murray, prepare to be dazzled by Shuker

By Holly Hamilton, Tennis Foundation

MOST people would agree that tennis is a fairly difficult sport to play well. It looks a lot easier on the TV. Just get it over the net and within that big open space on the other side more times than your opponent can.

STANDARD BEARER: Lucy Shuker is the only British player in action in the wheelchair tennis event at this year's Wimbledon (Getty Images)

But I know I am not alone in finding myself getting more and more frustrated because I know exactly where I want the ball to go but I can't get my racquet to actually direct it there.

So imagine how difficult it would be if you didn't have the freedom to run all over the court chasing down balls and giving yourself time to play the shot you want.

That's why I am still amazed every time I watch our current crop of British wheelchair players practising here at the National Tennis Centre. 

The speed and power behind their shots is frightening and their manoeuvrability around the court is impossible to believe until you've seen it with your own eyes.

The sport was summed up brilliantly by wheelchair tennis manager at the International Tennis Federation Mark Bullock when he said: "Wheelchair tennis is tennis, you don't need anything extra, the only difference is that players are allowed two bounces to reach the ball."

Wheelchair tennis was only conceived in 1976 by an American called Brad Parks, an 18-year-old who wanted to continue playing tennis after a skiing accident left him confined to a chair.

By 1992 the ITF had established the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour and now the sport is represented at each of the four Grand Slams. It is estimated that over 6,000 people now play the sport in more than 70 countries worldwide.

In fact, Parks will become the first wheelchair tennis player to be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame next month in Newport, Rhode Island.  

And the good news is that Great Britain has a number of world class athletes playing the sport. Only last week British number one and world number 13 Lucy Shuker reached the semi finals of the French Open Wheelchair Tennis Championships in Paris beating two top ten players along the way.

And in the quad division Peter Norfolk has long been the world number one and has two Paralympic gold medals and numerous Grand Slam titles to prove it.

The wheelchair doubles tournament kicks off at Wimbledon on Friday with Shuker representing GB at the All England Club where she will team up with Aussie Daniela di Toro.

The pair will be hoping they can recreate last year's success when they reached the final at SW19.

For the fours pairs in the men's and women's doubles there is £30,000 in prize money available, a far cry from the million pounds available for the winner of the men's singles but not bad for a competition which is only in its second year for the women and sixth for the men.

So if you're at Wimbledon over the weekend make sure you catch a glimpse of these incredible athletes and don't forget you can register your interest in wheelchair tennis ahead of the London 2012 Paralympics at https://www.tickets.london2012.com/member/registration.

You can find out more about playing or coaching on the Tennis Foundation website - http://www.tennisfoundation.org.uk/disabilitytennis/