"Speed in Wheelchair Tennis: Exploring Techniques Inspired by 'Spiders', 100m Sprints, and Basketball Dunks"

 

"Speed in Wheelchair Tennis: Exploring Techniques Inspired by 'Spiders', 100m Sprints, and Basketball Dunks"

Spider, butterfly, and suicide – these aren't Marvel superheroes but rather the names of intense drills wheelchair tennis players use to boost their speed on the court.

Speed is crucial when competing on the lively clay courts of Roland Garros at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.

"I love it. The faster, the better for me," Dutch quad player Niels Vink shared with Olympics.com about his experience playing in the iconic French tennis venue. "My game style is perfect for that, so I love clay. In the stadiums, the bounce is a little bit higher, the game is faster, so it's all good for me."

Vink, a double medallist from Tokyo 2020, thrived in the faster-paced play during his quarter-final victory over Canada's Robert Shaw on Monday, September 2nd, a match he considers one of the “top five” of his career. His preparation for such a high-speed match was thorough.

The Dutch team, featuring Paralympic and Grand Slam champions like Vink, Diede de Groot, Aniek van Koot, and Sam Schroder, integrates various speed drills into their training to gear up for fast-paced games.

While drills can often seem monotonous, they are anything but for the Dutch players, who add a touch of fun by naming them “spider” and “butterfly.” Other national teams at Paris 2024 also incorporate enjoyable elements into their wheelchair tennis training, improving their speed through friendly 100m sprints or wheelchair basketball games.

Discover more about the inventive ways wheelchair tennis players are enhancing their speed on the court, and why it's essential in their sport.

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Wheelchair Tennis Drill Names 101

You might have mastered all of these as a tennis player, backhand, forehand, lob, slice, stroke. But can you spin like a butterfly or crawl like a spider?

In wheelchair tennis, these unique drills help players navigate the court as they move backward, forward, and sideways.

"We have the 'butterfly,' the 'fan' drill, and 'dead bugs,' which is a core exercise. You lie on your back, moving your arms and legs simultaneously, so you resemble a dead bug on its back," explained Gordon Reid, the Rio 2016 men's singles champion from Great Britain, in an interview with Olympics.com.

"The 'butterfly' is a movement drill on the court designed to simulate the motions of forehand and backhand shots. The way we maneuver around the court in figure-eight patterns mimics the shape of a butterfly."

The "spider" drill involves players making small figure eights around cones placed in the corners of the court. For the "fan" drill, the athlete begins at the centerline, moves to the right corner, returns to the middle, then to the far left corner, and back to the middle.

Some drills are even more intense.

"You start on the doubles line, then move to the singles line, back to the middle line, and repeat this sequence across the court," said Dutch player Niels Vink. "You go through the sequence twice, turning at each point to make a bigger round. We call it the 'suicide.'"

No matter the name, these exercises are crucial for staying at the top in wheelchair tennis.

"From a mobility standpoint, we focus on strength work to be as powerful as possible, but also on agility and reaction drills to stay sharp and move well," Reid said. "For ball speed, it's about maintaining freedom in the shoulder and the rest of the body, which involves a lot of stretching, physio, and specific exercises."

From Chasing Tennis Balls to 100m Sprints

While wheelchair tennis drills aren't named after cheetahs or gazelles, some are all about speed—and these tend to be the most fun.

The British men’s players recently held a 100m race during their final week of training for Paris 2024, and Gordon Reid was pleased to share the outcome.

"I won that one. I took the young guys out," said Reid, a four-time Paralympic medallist, with a smile. "I’m not breaking any records, but I’m happy to get the win."

The Dutch team opted for a shorter, 20m dash, competing individually. But like the Brits, they also keep a close eye on the results.

"We do a lot of measuring, just to see if we've improved." Diede de Groot told Olympics.com. "Even if we’re maintaining the same speed, we try to monitor it."

For de Groot and her teammates, the focus is on explosive power—something Argentina’s five-time Grand Slam winner Gustavo Fernandez also prioritizes.

"We do explosive exercises to move quickly around the court, especially in low movements. In tennis, getting behind the ball is crucial, and that requires a lot of upper body strength," Fernandez explained.

"We don’t do 100m sprints. We focus on 10m or 5m exercises, working on quick movements over short distances."

Unfortunately for Fernandez, there aren’t many wheelchair tennis players in Argentina to compete in a 100m race. But if players from other countries challenge him, he’ll be ready.

"In Argentina, I don’t have many players to race against, but I’d love to see who would win a 100m competition between all of us," Fernandez said, before considering his chances. "Gordon [Reid] is very fast, but I think I’d be on top."

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