I was looking at today's order of play and noted that there is a wheelchair competition at RG. Quite apart from the fact that I think it's enormously impressive that anyone can play tennis in a wheelchair period, wheelchairs on clay does seem a bit difficult. I suppose I should not have been surprised because I was aware of this form of the sport.

I would have thought that wheelchairs and clay do not mix at all and that the courts would have to be brushed after pretty much every game to deal with the ruts.

Has anyone on this board watched wheelchair tennis, on clay or otherwise, and what does the standard look like? Do they play at the net, or do they stay on the baseline?

A notable lack of response on this! Must admit I don't know much about wheelchair tennis apart from the fact that the ball is allowed to bounce twice, and the competitors' arms are very strong! I think this is the first year there is a wheelchair competition at Roland Garros.

I also think that the TV channels (both BBC and the foreign broadcasters) should give it a bit more of a profile - how about a bit more emphasis on it as part of the coverage of the slams? During the second week of a slam there are often large gaps between the big singles matches, especially when the womens's semi-finals are as one-sided as yesterday. It makes sense then to show a nice mix of: junior tennis, wheelchair tennis, seniors' tennis and maybe even that dreaded 'comedy tennis' that Bahrami and Co do...

To be fair to the Beeb they did give a mention to a British player in the womens' wheelchair event - she reached the semi-finals, where she was beaten by the number 1 seed, a Dutch lady who is apparently the Nadal of womens' wheelchair claycourt tennis!

Yep British number 1 and world number 11, Lucy Shuker was granted a wildcard into the ladies wheelchair event. She defeated world number 6 Smit of the Netherlands in her quaterfinal, but was trashed by Esther Vergeer of the Netherlands in the SF 6-0 6-2. Vergeer apparrently hasn't been beaten since 2003!