Rick Draney
Rick Draney, a quadriplegic athlete, was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in July 2023. He is the first quad wheelchair tennis player to be inducted. He is one of seven wheelchair tennis players currently in the hall of fame.
- Inductees into the International Tennis Hall of Fame are honored for their contributions to the sport, not just their accomplishments as an athlete. Draney’s contributions include bold additions to the quad division of wheelchair tennis.
- First, he worked “to encourage consideration for the same opportunities for the quad division that the elite men and women divisions were experiencing.” He started advocating in 1992, and the Paralympics finally added a quad division for tennis in 2004.
- Second, Draney developed a method of securing a racket in his hand with athletic tape around a wristband. With this method, he tapes each finger individually around the racket handle firmly yet comfortably, then he reverses the tape with the sticky side out to make better contact with the wheelchair’s push rim. While other methods exist to secure a racket in quad tennis, this taping method has worked the best for Draney and many other tennis players.
- Third, he has organized and taught at tennis camps and clinics around the world for those of various types of abilities and circumstances. This includes instruction specifically for the athletes in the quad division of tennis, such as producing a video with the International Tennis Federation to share his taping method with others in the sport.[1]
He was a number 1 ranked US quad division player for many of the formative years of the division.
In 1981, just three weeks before he was scheduled to leave on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 19-year-old Draney was severely injured in a car accident. The accident damaged his spinal cord, leaving him without the use of his legs and with only limited use in his hands. Three years later, in 1984, he picked up a racquet for the first time through a class offered at Saddleback College (California). His competitive wheelchair tennis career began later that same year.[2] That fall, he heard about a tennis tournament in Fresno, California, with a quad division. He entered — and he won his first tournament.[3]
Draney achieved a wealth of accolades around the world, including gold medals at the 1993 International Stoke Mandeville Games and the 1995 U.S. Olympic Festival. He earned a gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Paralympics with the U.S. wheelchair rugby team.
- In 1998, the quad division was officially recognized by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), and the official quad division world rankings began. Draney reached No. 1 in singles and doubles on those rankings for a total of 118 weeks and 102 weeks, respectively. The quad division of the World Team Cup was officially added in 1998.[4]
Draney was a member of that inaugural US team, winning titles in 1998 and 2003. Over the course of Draney’s Hall of Fame career, he earned 20 singles and doubles Super Series titles at the US Open and British Open Championships,.[5]
He was also a world-class wheelchair rugby player. Draney won three national championships, received three national championships all-tournament team awards, and won Gold medals with Team USA at the 1994 World Championships and the 2000 Paralympic Games.
Draney has been honored with the Brad Parks Award by both the USTA and the ITF in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the development of wheelchair tennis.
