Anderson Parker, Heath Davidson and Ben Weekes will head to Paris as a part of the Australian Wheelchair tennis crew for the 2024 Paralympic Video games.
Melbourne, Australia, 5 August 2024 | Rhys de Deugd
A 3-strong crew of Australian wheelchair tennis stars is ready 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 era when he takes centre stage.
“I’m extraordinarily comfortable to be over there and signify my nation once more for the third time – it means the world to me,” Davidson stated.
“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 crew 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 Group (@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 kind 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 simply 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 intently with skilled Australian gamers together with Ben Weekes, who he’ll share the courtroom with for doubles in Paris.
Weekes is ready to compete in his sixth Paralympic Video games, breaking his personal Australian tennis report.
“I keep in mind again to my first (Paralympic) Video games, and for me, one of the best half was having these different Australians round to type of cope with the stress,” Weekes stated.
“It’s good that I can provide again to Andy (Parker) in his first Video games and hopefully we will crew up rather well within the doubles and get an excellent consequence.”
Anthony Bonaccurso, who teamed with David Corridor to say the Athens 2004 Paralympic doubles bronze medal, offered the crew 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 best Paralympic moments because it was launched as a medal sport on the Barcelona Video games in 1992,” McLoughlin stated.
“From David Corridor’s unbelievable 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!
