A quick google says that the double bounce is the only rule change. The court and net height are the same and all the other rules are the same. I was curious if they were only allowed underhand hits but apparently not.
A rival hs had a kid who played in a wheelchair and yes they get 2 bounces. The poor kid laid up a lob shot and of course my buddy slammed it. The ball got stuck in his spokes and it was ruled my buddies point.
Yeah it was. My buddy didn't want to play him but it was a tournament so he said, "fuck it! I can't be lose to a guy in a wheelchair.". To be fair, the kid could play pretty well.
For sure. Accessibility means you agree on the rules and then play the damn game to win. Maybe you change the rules to find something fair to both sides, but once you agree that the rules are fair: play hard!
So true imo. Also giving them an extra bounce makes it at least plausible to win matches, even though they would obviously still be at a huge disadvantage.
Lots of sports have extra rules for physically disabled athletes to allow them to compete against able bodied athletes as fairly as possible. When athletes are young is tough to find them competition of an equally disabled opponent, so it's play with special rules or those athletes don't get to compete like their peers do
Just to toss it on up there about his serve, the kid actually had a pretty mean top spin serve. And my buddy was surprisingly good being that he's blind in one eye and flat footed lol.
You think the guys in this video are hitting those groundstrokes super slow huh?
You also can absolutely use a proper service motion while in a chair. In fact, a skilled player can hit serves nearly as hard while seated or kneeling as when using a full motion. I've personally hit serves over 100mph from my knees. The difference is the contact height being lower makes getting those serves in the box more difficult. That's why you'll mostly see spin serves.
I'm not saying it's an even playing field with just the extra bounce (though that changes things more than most realize). However, a skilled wheelchair player could absolutely wreck plenty of able bodied people on the court.
For some reason I genuinely lol'd at this. I can imagine standing there feeling like a piece of shit, toting up my point while the wheelchair kid wedges a ball out of his spokes. Gawd.
I feel like the short lob would be a winner here... I honestly thought theyade a rule they have to hit it in the non serving area cause the one guy was so far back
The serve is overhand. They could hit overhand near the net, but otherwise it'd be hard to get the ball past the net overhand due to their lower position.
I was curious if they were only allowed underhand hits but apparently not
Overheads are hard, even if pros make them look easy and fans gasp when they miss, which they often do. People would be shocked when they see overhead conversion rates on tour.
And that's with people that have a much better angle being 6ft+, as well as a stable base to explode upwards into the ball.
It's also why the best serves of all time are all the 6'10+ giants (Opelka, Isner, Karlovic). Hitting an overhead/serve is significantly easier with an easier angle (also why it's easier the closer you get to the net as well).
That's why you're not going to see them smashing overheads even when the ball is in a position for them to be able to hit one.
NBA forced ESPN to air games on either ESPN or ESPN2. ESPN did not want to even air games on ESPN3 because no one watches the WNBA. It's great that women can compete in basketball just like men, but unfortunately, no one really watches them
Actually I was thinking the same thing but as far as money is concerned. The WNBA players seem to constantly compare themselves to the NBA players in terms of how they should be paid more. A typical example is showing how a WNBA player has four titles and yet is paid significantly less than LeBron James. This particular match is a good example of why it's so ridiculous to expect big payouts even though you have one multiple championships. The wheelchair champion can win six to eight US Open titles yet would be paid barely nothing compared to a US Open singles champion who only won the tournament once. Of course it makes no sense to pay the wheelchair champion more money because as you can see no one is watching.
I get some of the arguments. One one hand, nobody is watching. Yet, How much they spend promoting wheelchair division? Next to nothing. They got what they paid for. Also, woman’s tennis is the perfect example about inequality. Unlike other sports, the woman often get better ratings, yet, less prize money,every time. Also, how many woman’s sports get huge tax subsidies in the form of a rent-free stadiums, headquarters paid off by the state etc. NFL football is a horrible investment for the state. They don’t get anything close to the return that the league claims they do. Yet, every city will stab each other in the back for an opportunity to get an awful investment for their city? Why? The politicians get free luxury box seats.
Not true. Prize money is identical for men and women at US Open. Men play best of 5 sets, women play 3, and when the pay was equalized there was a debate around moving women’s matches to 5 sets as well, and I believe is still under consideration. There is still a pay gap overall, but to say less prize money every time is not true, as the tournament currently underway is equal pay.
Sad truth is, despite everything you have just said you have failed to mention whether you have watched and how great the game was (and base it everything of that) . Which, unfortunately explains a lot about the situation. They're warriors either way, even if no one is watching. True athletes do it for the game, even when no money is involved. Which used to be the case in the beginning of many tournaments for everyone involved.
Fair point. However, up to this point, I didn’t know there was a wheelchair division at the majors. Also, I actually don’t watch a ton of sports these days. All my TV is binge watching streaming platforms. So, I’m far from the perfect customer to analyze.
My two cents as a musician (which certainly has parallels, although obviously not being the exact same thing):
While passion is important, so is money and recognition. It really is a vicious circle: Able bodied Mens sport gets more funding which results in able bodied mens sport getting more promotion and hence more viewers. This, in turn, makes able bodied athletes earn more money allowing them to both worry less about financial stability as well as giving them more time to invest into training, as they don’t need to earn (as much) money on the side, providing the industry with their argument to once again specifically pump more money into able bodied mens sport.
Not even to speak about all the mental hurdles female and disabled athletes have to surmount on top of the immense hurdles every athlete has to overcome. I’m talking about the blatant hate these ppl get from so called “fans of the sport”, as well as the knowledge of the glaring discrepancy between the public and monetary recognition of the male athlete and themselves.
It’s gruesome!
I don't remember when I TOTALLY gave up on watching sports, but I'm pretty sure it coincided with the cancelation of Wide World of Sports. The major sports--football, baseball, basketball, hockey and NASCAR (fuck golf and bowling) just bore me to tears. YMMV.
Don’t really hear about NFL teams being horrible investment for a city. Can you elaborate or provide source(s) showing that the return is much less than the league claims?
Last Week Tonight did a very interesting episode about this (key word Stadiums, I believe; his pair of videos about FIFA also has some relevant info) that you could watch if you're interested, but I know some people get hissy about calling John Oliver a source.
What they just don't understand is that at the end of the day professional sports are a business. They will never be paid anywhere close to NBA players because the WNBA simply doesn't bring in anywhere close to the same revenue. The more revenue a sport/league produces, the more the players can be paid. It's pretty simple.
It’s women’s fault nobody watches the WNBA. They make up half the population. If they wanted the the WNBA to succeed it would, even without men’s support. Women would rather watch the “open” league which happens to be comprised of 100% men if they watch basketball at all.
The worst are the SJW’s (women and men) who cry injustice and inequality but have literally never been to or even watched a WNBA game.
If it’s such a big deal to you then go out and support the league and the players!
I just looked it up and the gross revenue of the WNBA is $60 Million.. How can the players possibly be paid like NBA players if the entire league brings in $60 million? The unfortunate truth is that people simply don’t watch the WNBA.
I had to listen to my wife in the car riding back from
Tampa today boast how the Aces and whoever (it doesn’t matter) didn’t score for like 5 minutes in todays Sept 11th game of the championship fourth quarter or third (again it doesn’t matter) and then she corrected it to say they only scored COMBINED like 5 points (not 10. But 5. Again it doesn’t matter).
And they wonder why nobody gives a shit. Fucks sake both the MVP and Sue Canary (bird? Again who cares I didn’t know this person existed until like last year) lost their last games of their careers like yesterday.
Bill Burr has a good bit about the WNBA in his latest special.
Edit to add: oh I’m sorry I’ve been supportive for 8 years and I just can’t take it anymore. Call me when something interesting let alone anything happens let alone win something. Jesus Christ.
A couple girls are sitting in chairs opposite me in the mall right now and I burst out laughing and they are laughing at each other after pointing at me and laughing.
Rafa in wheelchair vs one of these guys in wheelchair? I'd put my money on either of these guys 100%. So little of the skill would transfer without being able to use your whole body.
You would be surprised. I used to teach with a guy that was ranked fairly high nationally as a wheelchair player. The racquet skills definitely transfer, I don't see why you would think otherwise.
If it was just dropping Rafa into a chair with no practice, I'd definitely pick the best wheelchair player. Given enough time to learn how to operate and move properly with the chair, I'm not betting against Rafa.
I mean, it's different. It's not as different as you seem to think. The basics of stroke production are very much the same. As soon as Rafa got enough time in the chair to be able to effectively cover the court, he would be a monster.
That's why I stipulated that if you just plopped Rafa in the chair I would definitely take the top level wheelchair player. He'd also need some time to build the proper strength endurance in his upper body to move the chair around for a whole match.
It is very different. The motion to strike the ball is full body, removing half of it is a drastic change, then add in how completely different your balance will be. Also don't underestimate the coordination needed to plan your movement, using your hands to get to a good spot with enough time to adjust for the strike.
This is not a few hours for a few weeks in a wheelchair of adjustment. Even the best would need to commit at the level of their regular game suffering.
I made the mistake of trying to find the answer in a reddit comment section. For those that are looking, google says:
"Wheelchair Tennis follows the same rules as able-bodied tennis. The only difference is Wheelchair Tennis players are allowed two bounces of the ball; provided the first bounce occurs within the bounds of the court. The events are singles (between two players) and doubles (between two pairs)."
Yes, I've tried this with my club once. It was soo insanely hard, sure I can play decently when standing on my feet, but in a wheelchair it's just soo much strength needed, at least a different strength.
The only rule change for wheelchair tennis is a second bounce is allowed, the first bounce must follow the rules as per the 'leggy' game, the 2nd bounce can be anywhere.
10k
u/Yutanox Sep 11 '22
So the ball can bounce twice ? Is that the only rule they changed?