Britain’s Andy Lapthorne has referred to as for an answer to be discovered after the US Open determined to not maintain wheelchair occasions in 2024 due to a scheduling conflict with the Paralympics.
Subsequent yr’s US Open is scheduled from 26 August to eight September, with the Paralympics in Paris going down throughout the identical fortnight.
It’s the fourth time the wheelchair occasions is not going to happen on the New York Grand Slam because of this.
Nonetheless, Lapthorne – a two-time quad singles champion at Flushing Meadows – says cancellation isn’t the reply.
“It is disappointing and from a participant perspective, I am making an attempt to talk up for the taking part in group as a result of there’s loads of gamers from nations who actually depend on the 4 Grand Slams for his or her earnings, to pay their payments and to proceed to play on the tour,” Lapthorne informed BBC Sport.
“To lose one of many largest occasions of the yr, particularly on the finish of the yr, goes to be actually powerful for lots of the taking part in group. You are actually asking them to go from Wimbledon in July to the tip of the Australian Open, which would be the begin of February, with no actual pay.
“It is a powerful state of affairs however I hope we are able to discover a answer on this event.”
The overall prize cash pot for the wheelchair occasions in 2023 was $1.4m (£1.2m), in comparison with $44.7m (£36.8m) for the boys’s and ladies’s singles. The Paralympics presents no prize cash.
A US Open spokesperson informed BBC Sport it had checked out holding the wheelchair occasions concurrently the US Open’s qualifying match, which takes place the week earlier than the championships start, however had dominated rescheduling wouldn’t be “logistically doable” due to an absence of “court docket stock”.
Lapthorne, additionally a four-time quad doubles US Open champion, mentioned: “I do not see why a few of the courts could not be used for the occasion as a substitute of getting the able-bodied athletes utilizing them as observe courts. I feel we might in all probability solely want three or 4 courts for 4 days to get the occasion performed.
“It is not excellent however taking part in it on one other date in order that the gamers get the rating factors, they get to be champion for that yr however, extra importantly for the gamers who’re struggling financially, they receives a commission.
“I really feel there is a answer to get the occasion performed, it may not be good for everybody however I really feel like conversations have to occur. I really feel the ITF (Worldwide Tennis Federation) and USTA (United States Tennis Affiliation) are far too fast to simply decide on cancelling the occasion.”
Wheelchair occasions didn’t happen on the US Open in 2008, 2012 and 2016 due to a scheduling conflict with the Paralympics, although they did run in 2021 as that yr’s Video games – postponed in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic – completed earlier than the beginning of the Grand Slam.
Lapthorne, 32, criticised the US Open’s determination to omit wheelchair competitions from the 2020 Covid-19-affected match as “discrimination” and a “kick within the tooth”. The US Open later backtracked on its determination, and Lapthorne went on to win the doubles title at that yr’s match.
A US Open spokesperson mentioned: “Earlier this yr, the USTA investigated the potential of transferring the 2024 US Open wheelchair championships to US Open fan week for the reason that Paralympic Video games will happen throughout the occasion’s usually scheduled timeframe.
“We labored with the ITF all through this course of. Sadly, such a rescheduling isn’t logistically doable. Because of the variety of gamers on-site for the US Open qualifying match and people practising prematurely of the beginning of the principle draw, there wouldn’t be sufficient court docket stock to carry the occasion on-site.
“That is compounded by the rise in draw sizes for the boys’s, ladies’s, and quad divisions over the previous two years. It must be famous that the US Open junior wheelchair championships will happen in 2024.”
BBC Sport has approached the ITF for remark.
