Preview: 2025 US Open Wheelchair Championships
After a two-year break, with the dates for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Tennis Event coinciding with the dates for the 2024 US Open, the world’s leading men’s, women’s and quad wheelchair tennis players are back in New York this coming week for the 2025 US Open Wheelchair Championships (2-6 September).
The chance of sporting history is pending for some, Grand Slam or US Open debuts await for others, while there are plenty of other stories to be told in between these two extremes as the fourth and final major of 2025 enters its third week.
Even before the draw takes place on Sunday afternoon in New York, with matches starting on Tuesday for the first round of the men's, women's and quad doubles, one significant landmark is already assured as the US Open Wheelchair Championships celebrates its 20th Anniversary this year, with a number of now-retired star names from the last two decades set to be among the guests of honour at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre.
Among them will be former world No. 1 Shingo Kunieda, winner of a record eight US Open men’s singles titles between 2007 and 2021.
But it could be Japan’s current world No. 1 Tokito Oda making the headlines on court this year, with the 21-year-old needing just the US Open title to join Kunieda and Alfie Hewett as the only men’s wheelchair players so far to complete the career Grand Slam. If he happens to triumph, Oda would also join Kunieda as the only two men’s wheelchair players to complete the career Golden Slam.
Since Kunieda won the 2022 Wimbledon Championships to complete his career Golden Slam, Hewett and Oda have won the last 11 Grand Slam men’s singles titles between them – Oda winning six and Hewett winning five, but whereas Oda has yet to reach a US Open title in two appearance in New York, four-time champion Hewett has reached the final on all seven of his appearances between 2017 and 2023.
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In the 16 editions of the US Open Wheelchair Championships since the inaugural event in 2005 – allowing for the four occasions when there were no men’s, women or quad wheelchair draws due to dates coinciding with the Paralympic Games, Kunieda and Hewett are two of just four former multiple men’s champions in New York – and Hewett and Stephane Houdet are the only two active previous champions in this year’s field.
Houdet has the distinction of having thwarted Gustavo Fernandez in the Argentinian’s attempt to complete the elusive calendar Grand Slam in 2019, the Frenchman losing out to Hewett in that year’s final after ending the Fernandez’s historic bid in the semis.
Thirteen of the 14 men’s players who gained direct acceptance according to their ranking at the entry cut-off in July remain inside the top 14 – the only exception being current world No.15 Sergei Lysov. Meanwhile, of the three home-grown American players on this year’s entry list, Casey Ratzlaff has already made a guest appearance during the first week of play in New York, after being one of the participants in the ‘Stars of the Open’ charity exhibition.
Diede de Groot arrives in New York this year fresh from winning her prep tournament at the JTCC Championships and bids to make it seven US Open women’s singles titles in a row.
With just four months of competitive wheelchair tennis under her belt after eight months out of the sport to allow for hip surgery and her rehabilitation, it remains to be seen if De Groot can improve on her first round and quarter-final exits against Chinese world No. 3 Li Xiaohui at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, respectively.
If De Groot can do it, she would surpass the record of six US Open women’s wheelchair singles titles she currently shares with Esther Vergeer, another of the former champions set to be watching on in person this year as guests of the USTA.
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The first women’s wheelchair player to complete the calendar year Golden Slam when claiming her third US Open title in 2021, De Groot is one of three currently active previous US Open champions in this year’s women’s singles field, along with current world No. 1 Yui Kamiji and world No. 2 Aniek van Koot.
Van Koot was the 2013 champion in New York, the first new women’s champion after Vergeer’s retirement, while reigning Paralympic champion Kamiji earned the US Open title in both 2014 and 2017. The World N.1 will aim to make it three titles this year after having her bid for the career Golden Slam ended at Wimbledon by Chinese world No. 4 Wang Ziying.
Wang made history at Wimbledon, becoming the first Chinese wheelchair player to win a Grand Slam singles title and she and Li once again lead the Chinese bid to make more history in New York.
Fifteen of the top 16 players on the women’s singles world rankings at the entry cut-off date were among the 16 players on the women’s acceptance list announced in July, with the same 15 players still all currently ranked inside the top 15. Currently world ranked No. 28, the USA’s Maylee Phelps completes the field of 16 players as she prepares to make her senior Grand Slam debut.
Three different players – the top three players in the world rankings, incidentally - have won the quad singles titles at the first three Grand Slam tournaments of 2025 and Australian Open champion Sam Schroder, Roland Garros champion Guy Sasson and Wimbledon champion Niels Vink will each aim to end 2025 with a second Grand Slam title of the year.
Quad singles champion in 2020 on his US Open debut, Schroder added a second title in New York in 2023 and he will bid to join David Wagner and the now-retired Dylan Alcott as the only three-time champions of the quad singles title.
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With seven players currently on the US Open quad singles roll of honour, five of them have won the title more than once and three of those players - Andy Lapthorne, Schroder and Wagner are back in New York this year bidding for more success.
Meanwhile, current world No.1 and 2022 champion Vink has reached the final on each of his three visits to New York to date.
This year’s 16 players on the quad singles entry list were the top 16 players on the world rankings as of the entry cut-off date in July, and, with the exception of current world No. 17 Benjamin Wenzel, 15 of those players still occupy the top 16 world rankings.