Sports

Mono Tennis Club hosts special wheelchair tennis day

June 26, 2025   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

The Mono Tennis Club partnered with Tennis Canada to host a special wheelchair tennis event at the Mono Centre Club on Saturday, June 21.

The Mono Tennis Club is celebrating improvements to their courts, thanks to provincial and federal infrastructure grants which provided nearly $500,000. The Club designed a new entrance and court-side area that is accessible for people who use a wheelchair.

Several disabled players turned out for the event and played some sets on the newly resurfaced courts.

“The Mono Tennis Club has partnered with Tennis Canada for this event,” explained event organizer Patti Powell. “When we applied for the grant, we thought we should make the courts wheelchair accessible and it might help us get the grant. Wheelchair tennis is becoming very popular. Even at Wimbledon there’s wheelchair tennis. We also wanted to build a wheelchair accessible washroom. There are some clubs who could host these type of games but they don’t have washrooms. A lot of clubs are old and they just don’t have that facility. We had to put in a septic system, we put in bathrooms, and we built ramps so people can get to the courts. We have players from across Ontario.”

Pattie contacted Lisa Myers from Tennis Canada, who then reached out to players to see if they would like to try the new setup at the Mono Club.

“What’s interesting about wheelchair tennis is they play on the same courts and it’s all the same rules,” Lisa explained. “The only difference is that a wheelchair player gets two bounces of the ball, compared to one bounce in able-bodied tennis. This makes it a really inclusive sport. You can go to a local club and be the only individual that’s in a sports chair, and they can play against able-bodied people – they just use the two-bounce rule.”

Wheelchair athletes also play doubles with able-bodied players.

They come from a variety of backgrounds.

“Sometimes it’s families reaching out, or individuals whether they have always had their disability or acquired their disability,” Lisa explained. “There are a lot of wheelchair sports out there. Pretty much any sport you can think of, there is a para-sport for it. This session is part of our Ontario player development series.”

Now that the Mono Centre courts are wheelchair accessible, the club expects more individuals with disabilities to come out and play.

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