The image of Japanese wheelchair tennis star Tokito Oda is celebrating his first Paralympic gold medal is named the ITF Tennis Picture of the Year 2024.
Oda, 18 years old, won the men’s singles title at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Wheelchair Tennis event in August by beating Britain’s Alfie Hewett in a thrilling three-set match at a packed Roland Garros.
Celebrating his success, Oda removed the wheels from his chair and lay down on the court crying.a moment captured by a German photographer Frank Molter, This year’s winner who takes the main prize of 3,000 dollars.
In second place is the picture of Rafael Nadal leaving court Philippe Chatrier after his last participation in a Grand Slam at Roland Garros, the work of the French amateur photographer Agathe Monier. Monier won $1,000.
The image that came in third place was taken by an Australian Fiona HamiltonWHO won a $500 prize. It shows a smiling boy crawling under the net at the National Indigenous Tennis Carnival in Darwin, Australia, in August.
The winners and the list of 10 finalists were agreed upon by a panel of judges consisting of ITF President David Haggerty, the two-time Grand Slam champion Garbine Muguruza and the tennis photographer Paul Zimmer.
The other shortlisted images show a variety of tennis activities from around the world, from Christopher Bulus’ euphoric celebration after leading Nigeria to victory over Zimbabwe in the Davis Cup Africa Group III in July, to Novak Djokovic celebrating his Olympic gold medal in men’s singles with his family.
David Haggerty said: “In addition to congratulating our winners and finalists, I would like to thank all the photographers, both novice and professional, who participated in the contest. This year we received hundreds of entries from a total of 47 countries. As the global guardians of tennis, our role is to foster the development and maintenance of tennis from the grassroots to the pinnacle of our sport, so seeing the volume and variety of entries we received was overwhelming. enjoyable.”
Garbine Muguruza said: “I was very impressed with the quality of the photos submitted and it was very difficult to select a list of finalists. Tokito Oda’s winning image represents the hard work, dedication and commitment of tennis players around the world. It’s a real moving image. The image of Rafa, in a special year, is important and the image of the smiling boy in third place is the perfect reflection of everything positive about our sport. Thank you to everyone who entered this year’s contest.”
Frank Molter said: “It’s unbelievable. I never thought I would have a chance to win. I thought that Oda might fall over when he won, but I was stunned by how he dismantled his wheelchair. What surprised me the most was the fact that a photo of a tennis player in a wheelchair took the crown. It’s also a great recognition for athletes with disabilities who invest so much in their sport and I hope my photo will raise awareness of the sport.”
Source: La Verdad
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