The UNIQLO Interview: Mark Bullock
Unbeknown to Mark Bullock, his first experience of wheelchair tennis would provide a prophetic insight into this future career path while simultaneously proving central to the future international development of the sport.
In June 1991 a then 23-year-old Bullock was working as Tennis Development Officer at Nottingham Tennis Centre when the venue staged a wheelchair tennis exhibition on the final day of that year’s Billie jean King Cup (then called the Federation Cup). The exhibition was key to sparking NEC’s interest in wheelchair tennis and while the multinational information technology and electronics corporation continue to be wheelchair tennis’s longest-standing sponsor to this day, for Bullock it was his introduction to Britain’s Jayant Mistry and Netherlands’ Ellen de Lange, two of the four players entertaining the crowd and showcasing the sport.
“I was very impressed at the level and curious to know more. I had no idea I would go on to coach one of the players and work with another,” says Bullock are he recalls the occasion.
“Shortly afterwards I did some work locally with pupils with a physical impairment. One of the people to contact me as a result of that work was Rod Thorpe, from Loughborough University, who had a student coming to the University who was keen to play wheelchair tennis. He asked if I could help, as he had seen I had done something and so I sat with this student, Will Behenna in the cafe at Nottingham Tennis Centre, having never worked with a wheelchair tennis player before, and we agreed to go on a collaborative journey.
“Will did okay for himself and then Jayant asked if I could work with him,” adds Bullock. “After working with Jayant for a while I was asked to be the Great Britain Assistant National Coach, which which led to me becoming the Men's National Coach.”
Bullock’s wheelchair tennis journey was rapid and varied during the 1990s as he moved from being Tennis Development Officer at Nottingham Tennis Centre to fulfilling the same position at the Welsh National Tennis Centre in Cardiff, where he initiated a wheelchair tennis programme in the city, before returning to Nottingham Tennis Centre as General Manager in 1997.
Throughout this period he coached Mistry for five years and spent three years as Great Britain National Coach, roles that provided plenty of valuable experience and insight into the international wheelchair tennis circuit, its major events and its star payers.
“I was travelling internationally with Jayant and the GB wheelchair tennis team in my early 20s, going to Grand Slam venues, the Lipton Championships in Key Biscayne and to the US Open Wheelchair Tennis Championships in Irvine California”, says Bullock. “That’s where I met Brad Parks for the first time and watched the legends of the sport including Chantal Vandierendonck, Randy Snow and Steve Everett. I will never forget sitting on the bank overlooking the courts in Irvine watching Steve play in a powerchair. He transformed my thinking and shaped my belief that anyone can play tennis.”
Such experience proved crucial as Bullock’s career path evolved in 2001 and he joined the ITF as Wheelchair Tennis Development Officer, a role that would see him working alongside Ellen de Lange some 10 years on from watching the former women’s world No. 5 play in the exhibition at Nottingham Tennis Centre.
In all, Bullock would spend 15 years working for the ITF, the first seven as Wheelchair Tennis Development Officer and the last eight as Wheelchair Tennis Manager. Since leaving the ITF in 2016 he’s been self-employed as an international advisor in inclusive sport. He’s travelled to more than 80 countries to develop and promote wheelchair tennis, attended four Paralympic Games and two Olympic Games and, coupled with his time as coach to Mistry and the Great Britain national, he’s attended numerous World Team Cups. Such a wide-ranking career has provided numerous highlights.
“There have been so many,” says Bullock. “Each Paralympics were a milestone in the evolution of the sport, but I think London 2012 was the game changer. The contribution of all four Grand Slams has been amazing and I have been privileged to be at many of them. From a personal perspective, this year's Wimbledon Championships were transformational with the two matches on No.1 Court. It wasn't the first time on that court, but it was the first time in front of a packed stadium.”
However, for every Paralympic Games, Grand Slam or World Team Cup highlight at the elite end of the sport, its wheelchair tennis’s ability and the ability of sport as a whole to transform lives that leaves some of the most abiding memories.
“I have incredible memories of every visit to every country, with each one being unique and there are stories from every trip,” Bullock says, with typical passion for the development work he has done and continues to do.
“I feel very privileged to have had the opportunity to travel so much and learn from so many people worldwide. On one visit to Nigeria, we visited a young woman at home in Lagos and encouraged her to come and play the following day. We were not sure she would, but she did and she played for the first time and was interviewed on national television.
“Staying in a rehabilitation centre just outside Bucharest for 10 days gave me an incredible insight into the lives of people with a spinal cord injury in Romania,“ he adds. “My recent visit to Kazakhstan was a reminder of the huge impact wheelchair tennis can have on disabled people and their families. We ran workshops and players were invited to the Billie Jean King Cup and given the opportunity to meet one of the team. Moldova also stands out as a visit, as the wheelchair player that persuaded me to go there went on to serve as Minister of Sport for the country.”
Having seen and been a part of so many key moments, transitions and developments within wheelchair tennis over the last 30 years, Bullock sees a bright future ahead.
“The journey of the sport has been so exciting, to date. and I think we only evolve further in the future, he says enthusiastically. “The profile at the Grand Slams will increase. For me, it is really important that the whole wheelchair tennis ecosystem flourishes and that enables a larger number of players to compete across the UNIQLO Tour at all levels. I see a very bright future and I am so grateful for what Brad Parks and others started. Without their vision in those early days, my career would have been very different, and the current players would not have had the opportunities they now have. Disability tennis, and wheelchair tennis, in particular has completely shaped my career and my life. It has given me so many opportunities that I would not otherwise have had.
In being named the winner of this year’s UNIQLO Spirit Award and recognised as an individual who embodies the principles and core values of UNIQLO, who embraces challenge in pursuit of the promotion of wheelchair tennis and is admired for their integrity and character, Bullock is quick to acknowledge the role that countless others have played in influencing his career.
“I would like to thank so many people that have shaped my career but there is not space here to recognise them all. Wheelchair tennis has truly changed and shaped my way of thinking and my passion to ensure tennis is genuinely a sport for everyone,” he says.
“The opportunity to travel to 80 plus countries has taught me so much. I have made so many friends through the sport and met my wife through the sport. Thank you wheelchair tennis, thank you ITF, thank you to everyone that I've met over the years and who has supported me, personally and professionally, on this incredible journey that I am still on. And finally, thank you to UNIQLO for the award.“