Submitted by Melanie Clark:
Wednesday, May 1 – Sunday, May 5, 2013
Dunwoody Country Club
1600 Dunwoody Club Drive
Dunwoody, GA 30350
This tournament has the top 5 players in the world. The tournament has over 100 players from different countries…Definitely an inspiring event to watch.
Note from Audra…I just noticed the tournament Director is Scott Docktor…author of Chips’ Book of Prayers...not surprising that he is helping out another great cause!
Wheelchair tennis is one of the fastest growing and most challenging of all wheelchair sports. Rules are the same as stand-up tennis, except the wheelchair player is allowed two bounces of the ball. Wheelchair tennis provides persons with disabilities the opportunity to share in activities with their peers and family, whether able-bodied or disabled. Playing wheelchair tennis adds to the socialization and normalization of life after sustaining a disabling injury. Proficient wheelchair users can play and actively compete against stand-up players. A wheelchair tennis player must have a medically diagnosed, mobility-related disability, with a substantial or total loss of function in one or more extremities. In wheelchair tennis, the player must master the game and the wheelchair. Learning mobility on the court is exciting and challenging, and helps build strength and cardiovascular ability.
As part of the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour, the Atlanta Open draws approximately 100 of the most accomplished wheelchair tennis athletes worldwide. Since inception,the event has grown to become one of the top five attended events on the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour in North America, and continues to grow. Competitors from fourteen countries including Argentina, Chile, Great Britain, Japan, and Poland join American players from more than a dozen states on for five days of action packed tennis. Last year, the International Tennis Federation upgraded the tournament from an ITF Series-2 to a Series-1 as a U.S. Major Championship on the NEC Tour.
Now in its 27th year, the 2013 Atlanta Open returns to Dunwoody Country Club, May 1-5, where it has been hosted for the past seven years. The club is located at 1600 Dunwoody Club Drive, Atlanta, GA 30350.
The Atlanta Open is presented by PBD Worldwide and the Atlanta Lawn Tennis Association (ALTA), and sanctioned by the United States Tennis Association (USTA National Championship – Category I) and the International Tennis Federation (ITF Series 1).
