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My son Kai started playing tennis at the age of 7 after meeting and being inspired by Roger Federer. Tennis has been a great safe sport for him to gain strength and confidence. Kai wants to be the first short statured professional player and would also love to represent his country in the Paralympics. 

Adaptive Standing Tennis is a form of tennis for individuals with physical disability who play the sport of tennis standing, or ambulatory as opposed to their counterparts who play wheelchair tennis, playing tennis in a wheelchair. Our dream is for adaptive standing tennis players to play along with wheelchair players in grand slams and in the Paralympics.

We are calling on

1. the International Tennis Federation to officially sanction Adaptive Standing Tennis as a category of tennis.
2. the International Paralympic Committee to include standing adaptive classifications for tennis in Paralympics 2028.
3. Every National Tennis Association should follow Tennis Australia's lead and endorse our #TennisForEveryone campaign.

Wheelchair tennis started 1988 at the Seoul Paralympics as a demonstration sport. Since this launch, wheelchair tennis has taken off and is played worldwide. For over 32 years, standing adaptive players who play tennis have not been recognized, can’t be classified and represent their country in the Paralympics. 

The ITF and Paralympics won’t recognize these people as athletes and they are forced to try and play in a wheelchair, but how can a one arm amputee play in a wheelchair? My son tried to get classified as a standing athlete but he was turned away and told to try a different sport. Every player deserves a fair chance at playing the game they love, and it is high time for standards to evolve to be more inclusive of diverse abilities.

For years now, many athletes around the world have been seeking recognition for adaptive standing tennis to become a sanctioned category of tennis just like wheelchair tennis. We need your help to get the attention of international bodies.

Kai is currently training hard. He plays disability and wheelchair tournaments but his dream is to be able to play internationally against other standing players with disabilities. Please sign this petition to make Kai’s dream a reality and make sports more accessible for people with disabilities.