HOW PETER FOUND A PERFECT MATCH
Wheelchair tennis offers hot contest for independent spirits, discovers
Richard Peach as he catches up with a leading light of the game.
Peter Norfolk should have been in Switzerland competing, but an injury
meant he was at work instead. "I wish I'd gone now," he admitted,
when Disabled Motorist finally reached the front of the queue of people
demanding his attention. He would clearly have preferred to be on court
smacking a tennis ball to talking about why he does it. In fact, he was
far happier to let his ex-wife, Pam Norfolk, tell his story, one that
has seen him a leading player in what has become, in just over 25 years,
a highly competitive, international sport.
Peter is straight-talking, balks at sycophancy and clearly likes to do
things his way, on his own, which is probably why an individual sport
like tennis suits him. Pam says it is the way players compete in wheel-chair
tennis that really appeals to Peter. 'The one thing Peter likes about
wheelchair tennis is that it is down to your ability, not your disability.
"Its how good you are that matters, which is brilliant."
"To watch Peter play tennis is an absolute joy because he really
is a natural player. "Also, he just cannot stand to lose, even now
when he is having to strap his racquet to his hand." This determination
brought him victory in the US Quad Open in San Diego last year, a year
which Peter believes was his best since taking up the sport. The year
before he had switched to the Quad category after he lost function in
his right hand.
As we chatted, he was missing the Swiss Open but had just been at the
British Open in Nottingham, where he lost in the final of the Quad Doubles.
It has been his life for more than a decade now, traveling the globe playing
tennis, then returning to his and Pam's business. He'll probably be on
his way back from the Italian Open as you're reading this.
Peter first picked up a tennis racquet in a wheelchair in 1989. He'd played
tennis and squash at school and, Pam says, he was always very sporty.
Then, when he was a teenager, he had a motor-cycle accident. That was
Christmas 1979 and around a year later he wheeled himself from hospital,
a paraplegic T4/5. Peter returned to work in the hotel and catering industry,
rising to become a hotel with stints at such venues as the Hyde Park Hotel,
Knightsbridge, en route. Meanwhile, he played basketball, tried archery
- "all the usual stuff. I went through all the different sports".
He and Pam were married in 1988 and the following year they left the world
of hotels behind as they started their own business, EPC Equipment for
the Physically Challenged. Pam explains that their company was formed
after Peter decided he was no longer going to struggle around in a "standard-issue"
wheelchair. "He thought, 'this is so un trendy, I'm only in my 20s,
I don't want to be seen in one of these'," recalls Pam. "We
thought there must be many other 20-somethings who felt the same and that's
why we started up EPC."
EPC began by selling light-weight chairs imported from the United States
and the company has continued to appeal to the performance market ever
since. "I would describe us as selling the Rolls-Royce of wheelchairs,"
says Pam. When EPC was in its early days Pam and Peter had to work hard
to find a market for their wheelchairs. "We looked at all the sports
where we could sell wheelchairs," Pam explains. "We were looking
for places to expand and we saw a tiny article in a magazine saying there
was a wheelchair tennis tournament up at Telford. "Peter said, 'I'm
going to drive up to Telford and see if I can get someone interested in
our wheelchairs'. "He phoned me that night and said, 'They let me
play and I beat the guy I was playing. I've got to stay overnight because
I'm in the next round'." There were only a dozen or so players in
those days as wheelchair tennis had only come in from America a few years
earlier. "It then got bigger and bigger," says Pam, with the
Norfolk's helping with the growth.
They both got involved in the administration of the sport through the
National Wheelchair Tennis Association, although they eventually had to
step back as their business took off. "We used to go around the country
to any new tennis centre that was opening and do courses - both for coaches
and for players -called Tennis Camps. "It looks easier than it is.
It is a skill to wheel a chair and to wheel a chair with a racquet in
your hand is quite a skill," says Pam. "It is good now to see
children have the opportunity to try wheelchair tennis. "But back
then I had no idea that it would grow like it has."
The technology has changed as the sport has become more competitive and
more sponsorship has been attracted.
"When Peter began there was no such thing as a tennis wheelchair,"
says Pam. But in the time he has been playing, they've gone from four
wheels, to three and the current models have five to aid speed and turning
around the court. As Peter competes internationally, it means he is always
seeing the vanguard of wheelchair technology, always bringing home the
latest advances to EPC's headquarters in Hampshire. At the same time,
he is marketing his company's products wherever he goes. "It means
I can use my experience to get the right chair for the right people,"
he explains.
Peter's version of how he first took up the sport differs a little from
Pam's - hers is far more entertaining, so we'll stick with that one -
but what mattered most was that he found tennis from a wheelchair wasn't
a "can't do" sport, it was very much a "can do". "The
guys are serving at up to 100mph, you can do anything you want. "You
can go on court against any county player and have a great game. You need
to see it to get the full power of it."
Peter explained that international wheelchair tennis follows the International
Tennis Federation with the same rules and the same drugs testing, for
example. And he says there are all the same characters, with "loads"
of John McEnroe-types, but you don't have to be a top sports person to
play wheelchair tennis and it is possible on any tennis court with anybody.
He urges people to try it for themselves. "You can play for rehabilitation,
recreation or competition."
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WHEN WILL ANY ENGLISHMAN EVER CLAIM A GRAND SLAM
TITLE?
By Danny Buckland
The trauma of Tim Henman's exit from the Australian Open begs the question
of when will any Englishman (even those born in Canada) ever claim a Grand
Slam title.
But the depression glued to his limp fourth round defeat can be tempered
with the knowledge that the nation does possess a current Grand Slam winner
who won his title in America, beating the world champion and top seed
en route.
Peter Norfolk can never be charged with choking at crucial moments or
failing to put body and soul into his efforts as he has been disabled
since a motorcycle accident at 19-years-old.
He lost just one set in his USA Open triumph and also joined team-mates
to win the disabled tennis equivalent of the Davis Cup.
"I was very disappointed when Henman lost." says Peter, 41.
"Everyone expected him to go all the way and that is what made the
defeat all that more crushing.
"But he does carry so much expectation and hope around with him.
It is a phenomenal amount of pressure. I think Bjorkman played very well,
particularly in the opening set, but I thought Tim would have enough to
come through."
Peter, who runs his own business selling wheelchairs, won $500 for winning
the US Men's Quad Open and is now raising funds to help his campaign to
win gold for Great Britain in the 2004 Olympics in Athens. His program
includes four coaching sessions, six physical workouts and a full nutritional
plan.
He took up wheelchair tennis shortly after his 250cc motorcycle skidded
on a country road on Boxing Day, 1979, and the accident, which broke his
back at T4 chest level, left the keen squash player in Stoke Mandeville
Hospital for ten months.
"My brother saw me after the accident and said I just looked like
a slab of marble. He thought I was dead," he adds. "I stopped
breathing a couple of times. My Mum came to see me every day. One day
I stopped breathing and she just sensed something was wrong. She knew
and called for help. But I was always going to live, I am a fighter.
"It was the best thing I ever did, though that might sound strange.
I would never have played tennis, won a Grand Slam, started my business
and met so many people. I saw it as a positive straight away.
"At the time, I was a fit healthy 19-year-old. I was like any other
teenager. I was enjoying life but I didn't know where I was going. The
accident gave me a purpose and a direction. You have to learn what your
body is capable of and you have to be confident. You have to get on with
and not get bogged down with excuses."
Peter returned to work at a Knightsbridge hotel, graduating to assistant
manager and explored different disabled sports before trying tennis.
Wheelchair tennis requires balance, precision positioning and a crucial
synergy between wheel movement and timing of the shoot. No stroke is out
of range and the top players can serve and swerve the ball at 100 m.p.h.,
which would have a lot of club players hopping about.
Peter started training and entered British tournaments before progressing
to international events but just as he was nearing the pinnacle of international
rankings, his health deteriorated and an infection spread up his spinal
column towards Peter's brain. The strength in his right arm, shoulder,
elbow and wrist faded and doctors advised a delicate operation which involved
slicing the spine in two.
"It took me six months to agree to the operation but it was a success
and I came back to work a year ago and was back on the tennis court two
months later," he says.
Because of the effects of the operation, Peter is allowed to play with
his racket in a fixed grip. He was soon back on the winning trail, helping
the British Quad Tennis team to its first success in the World Team Cup,
a Davis Cup style competition that features 30 countries.
"I was determined to have a go at the US Open because I thought I
could do well," adds Peter. "I played the No. 1 seen in the
second round and won in straight sets. I didn't lose a set until the final
when I played the world No. 1. I was 5-3 up in the final set and he broke.
But I was having none of that and broke back for 6-4. It was the first
Grand Slam by a Brit.
"It was brilliant especially after the operation. It was never in
any doubt that I'd continue, that's why I'm here. Without my accident
I wouldn't have done these things. I don't regret anything, its 22 years
ago now.
"You've got to be positive, none of this black cloud stuff hanging
over you. Don't get me wrong, it is not particularly pleasant and it is
not easy. But so what, don't mince about it. I am not going to walk and,
though it would be great if spinal research did progress, it is not going
to happen in my lifetime so I don't worry about it.
"I've been in the chair longer than I was out of it. You do the best
with what you've got and I like to share my enthusiasm with people. I
get a bit fed up with people who whinge and expect others to do everything
for them. You've got to get on with it yourself. I've got far more than
I ever could have if I'd been walking around."
Peter has helped set up tennis training courses for the disabled and is
pushing for greater government and sports bodies' investment. The £25
tyres of his ultra-light wheelchair wear out at the rate of one pair a
tournament and rackets are as expensive as the ones the pros use.
He gets funding but would struggle without the sponsorship of EPC wheelchairs,
the Farnborough-based company he established 12 years ago.
"I'm proud of holding a Grand Slam title but I really wanted Henman
to win. He and Rusedski are both very supportive of disabled tennis,"
says Peter. "I think he has just got to keep on trying. Has he got
what it takes? I think so, there is more evidence of that steely touch
about his game although we didn't see it against Bjorkman.
"He will win a Grand Slam title, I'm sure of that then we can forget
all those tournaments like Australia."
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Britain's
Peter Norfolk beat world number one and defending champion Nobuhiro Tachibana
in straight sets to claim the quad singles title at the British Wheelchair
Tennis Open in Nottingham. The Hampshire star played some superb tennis
to defeat his opponent 6-4 6-3.