Fifty years ago, American Brad Parks invented the sport of wheelchair tennis after being paralysed in a freestyle skiing accident at the age of 18. What began with him hitting balls from a heavy hospital wheelchair at a family picnic in 1976 grew into a fully fledged sport now played at Grand Slams and the Paralympics. His story matters because it charts how one determined individual, refusing pity and insisting on living fully, created lasting opportunities for disabled athletes worldwide.

Parks joined forces with physiotherapist Jeff Minnebraker, and together they experimented with rules before settling on a deliberately simple format: the only difference from standard tennis is that the ball may bounce twice, a rule that still stands today. They held the first event in 1977 in Irvine, California, often playing on dusty public courts with no umpires and organisers who barely knew the rules. Parks faced scepticism and questioning, including from a wheelchair basketball official who dismissed the idea as unfeasible, yet he persisted through demonstrations at hospitals, clubs and car parks. Minnebraker's lightweight aluminium wheelchair, far more mobile than the 60lb hospital models, proved a turning point for the sport's development.