Many wheelchair users enjoy playing sports, so it was only natural that wheelchair tennis was created. Wheelchair was created in 1976 and officially founded in 1980 with the formation of the National Foundation of Wheelchair Tennis which later on lead to the International Wheelchair Tennis Federation in 1988.

Recently wheelchair tennis have become more and more popular, it has become one of the most exciting events at the Paralympics making its first appearance in the 1992 Summer Paralympics in Barcelona. Wheelchair is gaining more and more popularity as time passes by and one day is it may be even be viewed equal to regular tennis.

The rules of wheelchair tennis are almost the same as regular tennis except that the ball is allowed to bounce twice, but the second bounce can occur on any part of the terrain, even outside of court. This allows more time for players to reach the ball, and therefore makes longer rallies. This is the only difference, as the courts used are even the same, but the truly great thing about wheelchair tennis is that wheelchair tennis players can play against non-wheelchair players if they wanted. This allows wheelchair players to play against other players on the same level.

Wheelchair tennis was created by Brad Parks, who became a paraplegic after a skiing accident. Brad was only 18 years old when this happened, and being a young athlete, he began to search for new sports to play. After hitting a few tennis balls in his wheelchair he became very excited and enthusiastic about a possible game of wheelchair tennis.

He later met Jeff Minnebraker, who was also a former athlete. Together they designed a wheelchair that was mobile enough to play tennis and the two then went to hold exhibition matches to generate interest, which lead to the formation of the International Wheelchair Tennis Federation (IWTF) in 1988 which consisted of 8 countries; Australia, Canada, France, England, The Netherlands, Israel, Japan and USA, and naturally Brad was made president of the IWTF.

After IWTF was founded, wheelchair tennis popularity jumped even more, with more tournaments, and international matches, the number of players kept increasing. Also, with athletes such as Chantal Vandierendonc, a tennis player before becoming a paraplegic after a car accident, wheelchair tennis became more and more known to people.

Then wheelchair tennis was officially a paralympic sport in 1992, and another form of wheelchair tennis was created, quad wheelchair tennis. Quad wheelchair tennis was a division of wheelchair tennis but it is for people who are affected by three or more limbs while regular wheelchair tennis is less than three limbs.

Wheelchair tennis has really taken off as a great and fun new sport. It is now featured at international tennis tournaments and it also started a new pointing system, similar to the ITF (International Tennis Federation). With its quick and nimble wheelchairs and players, wheelchair tennis is bound to become even more popular. Starting with only one player, now there are thousands thanks to Brad Parks and other wheelchair tennis enthusiast.