article: You can be excused for thinking Wimbledon is nearing its nail-biting end with the finals in sight, but in reality, it's only just getting started. The world's best wheelchair tennis players are about to take to the court and the British players have titles to defend. Here's the lowdown on the latest championship at SW19. Wheelchair tennis is for men and women who are disabled below the waist and use wheelchairs to compete in the singles and doubles championship. The size of the courts, balls and rackets are the same, but the ball can bounce twice before you hit it and the wheelchairs are bespoke. British number one, Lucy Shuker says: "The wheels are cambered out at about 22 degrees, they have wheels at the front and back so it means, in theory, you shouldn't tip out backwards. I've got straps around my waist and knee guards which lock me in place." Geraint Richards, performance director of GB Wheelchair Tennis says the players "literally zoom around the court". He says: "Gustavo Fernandez, the reigning Australian Open champion, will actually fall out of his chair and still win that point. The audience will be amazed." It might seem odd, but the wheelchairs do take to the perfectly manicured courts. "It's hard work," Shuker says. "The bounces aren't necessarily true and where you think you're going to take a ball at shoulder height it's probably going to bounce a lot lower. "There's a definite drag on grass and you have to continually keep pushing otherwise the chair will stop." But she reveals drop-shots work well as your opponent probably wont get there in time. You bet we are. British players are currently Paralympic, grand slam-winning, world-rank topping, Wimbledon champions in both the singles and doubles. Here are three names to look out for: Reid, 25, is the defending Wimbledon singles and doubles champion. He won Paralympic gold in the singles at Rio and silver in the doubles with fellow Brit Alfie Hewitt. In 2007, aged 15, Reid became Britain's youngest men's Singles National Champion and in 2016 he won his first grand slam singles title at the Australian Open, followed by Wimbledon. Reid is from a tennis family. Aged six he contracted Transverse Myelitis a neurological condition in which the spinal cord is inflamed and damages nerve fibres. Hewett, 19, started playing in 2005 and was ranked world number one junior between 2013 and 2015. He made his Paralympic debut at Rio and took silver in the men's doubles with Gordon Reid. He also claimed silver in the singles after Reid defeated him in an all-British final. Shuker turned to wheelchair tennis after a motorbike accident in 2001 paralysed her from the chest down. She hadn't even been discharged from hospital before she tried the game. Having previously played badminton she went on to represent Great Britain at the Beijing, London and Rio Paralympics and was the first Brit to contest all four major Grand Slams. She says "when I first started everyone said I was too disabled" but she focused on developing a
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