11th Annual Jana Hunsaker Memorial Wheelchair Tennis Tournament to Begin June 9th
June 8, 2011 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
On Thursday, June 9th, wheelchair tennis players from around the world will return to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center for the 11th Annual Jana Hunsaker Memorial Wheelchair Tennis Tournament. The four-day event is sanctioned by the United States Tennis Association and the International Tennis Federation, and is part of the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour. There will be $10,000 in prize money along with 65 competing athletes. Players will be participating from the United States, Japan, Colombia, Great Britain, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Chile.
Wheelchair tennis follows the same rules as able-bodied tennis, except that wheelchair players are allowed two bounces of the ball instead of one. Jana Hunsaker, who passed away in 2000, was a tennis instructor at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. She was an advocate for wheelchair tennis and instrumental in starting a wheelchair tennis program at the National Tennis Center.
Events during the tournament include wheelchair tennis demonstrations and a kids clinic. More than 150 local disabled children will be taking part in the kids’ clinic on Friday, June 10 from 10:45 a.m.-noon.
For more information on the 11th Annual Jana Hunsaker Memorial Wheelchair Tennis Tournament, contact Amanda Korba by phone at (914) 697-2219 or e-mail korba@usta.com.
