Wheelchair tennis: Invented in Utah, Players finding more ways, places to play

SALT LAKE CITY — Ryan Nelson is a 16-year-old tennis player from Sandy who is ranked No. 1 in the nation. He has three national junior titles to his credit as well as a fifth-place finish in a World team cup competition.

What makes Nelson different is that as he roams the tennis court tracking down balls and smashing winners, he does it while sitting in a wheelchair. Born with spina bifida and confined to a wheelchair his whole life, he played wheelchair basketball as a youngster before taking up tennis about five years ago.

A three-time member of the USA team, Nelson has played in California, Louisiana, Florida and Missouri and internationally in England, Turkey and South Africa. He has also played for the Brighton High tennis team and this past year played JV doubles for the Jordan High team.

Nelson is one of several Utahns who compete in wheelchair tennis tournaments and one of a few dozen who play recreationally in the state.

"It's opened up a lot of opportunities, taken me a lot of places, and I've met a lot of great people," Nelson said. "It's raised my confidence and made it so I'm more independent."

Wheelchair tennis actually got its start at the Salt Lake Swimming and Tennis Club about 30 years ago and has grown all over the country and all continents of the world.

One of the pioneers of wheelchair tennis in Utah is Dean Oba, a 59-year-old engineer who lives in Salt Lake and works in Clearfield. Also born with spina bifida, Oba has competed in national tournaments for years and in 2009 received the Wheelchair Tennis Champion of the Year award from Racquet Sports Industry magazine.

He credits Kathy Rothfels, the former manager of the Salt Lake Swimming and Tennis Club, for helping wheelchair tennis get its start in the early 1980s. He said the interest has ebbed and flowed ever since, but says now "we're in a period where the group is vigorous."

Besides the SLSTC, wheelchair athletes play tennis at the Ivory Ridge Tennis Club in Lehi and at Liberty Park in Salt Lake. Recently Dan James, the National Manager for the Wheelchair Tennis Society for United States Tennis, visited the SLSTC to give a clinic to local wheelchair players.

"We know there are 500 to 600 tournament players that travel the nation playing tournaments. We're definitely growing, but a lot of players are missing out on a lot of opportunities," he said. "That's what makes a local program in Salt Lake where they have different levels of wheelchair tennis players so exciting. It's exactly what a local program should be."