Australian comedian and television personality Adam Hills is a passionate tennis player and hopes to encourage more people to play the sport he loves.
Australia, 12 September 2024 | Leigh Rogers
Australian comedian and television personality Adam Hills is proudly fronting a new marketing campaign for Tennis Australia.
The “Tennis for Every Body” campaign, which launched last week, highlights the adaptive and inclusive pathways that ensures tennis is for everybody.
This is a cause that Hills, who was born without a right foot, is passionate about, as he explains in this interview with tennis.com.au.
Adam, tell us about your connection to tennis?
Most people probably recognise me as the host of Spicks and Specks, but what they might not know, is that I’ve also been playing tennis since I was five years old. I have played competitively, I even coached for a while, but it was always against able-bodied people.
Having a disability hasn’t held you back from you playing?
I have a prosthetic foot, which really doesn’t stop me from moving that much. I remember attending the Paralympic Games at Beijing in 2008 and I was talking to the coach of the Australian wheelchair tennis team. When he heard I can play, he invited me to jump in a wheelchair and train with them. I just thought ‘No, that doesn’t sound right’. But the way it is, my disability requires me to play wheelchair tennis. I remember thinking at the time, ‘I wish there was a better way I could play against people with similar disabilities, but while standing’.
You’ve since discovered that is possible, haven’t you?
Thankfully, I have. It turns out there is a growing movement around the world called Para Standing Tennis. The president is a Spanish guy Ivan Corretja, whose brother Alex is a former world No.2. He has a below-knee amputation and is leading the Para Standing Tennis movement, which is now recognised by the International Tennis Federation and played in more than 21 countries. I played in the first Para Standing Tennis tournament in Sydney last year. It was run by City Community Tennis, who regularly run adaptive sessions, and was supported by Tennis Australia. There were only five us in that tournament, so all the categories were lumped in together. But it was a promising start.
Can you explain how Para Standing Tennis works?
It’s standing tennis for people with disabilities,…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Tennis.com.au – Tennis Australia…