The USTA announced the field for the 2006 US Open Wheelchair Tennis Competition. The event, in its second year, will be held September 7 - 10 at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y. The competition will feature 16 (8 men, 8 women) of the top wheelchair tennis athletes from around the globe and will include four events: men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles and women's doubles. The top 7 ranked players to enter (according to the 7/28/06 ITF Rankings) and one wild card were selected on both the men's and the women's side. The total purse for the competition will be $50,000, which has been increased from $10,000 from last year's competition.
Headlining the event are the Champions of the 2005 US Open Wheelchair Tennis Competition, which was the inaugural year of the event: Esther Vergeer of the Netherlands (women's singles) and Robin Ammerlaan of the Netherlands (men's singles). The entire field features:
| Men | Rank | Women | Rank | | Michael Jeremiasz (FRA) | 1 | Esther Vergeer (NED) | 1 | | Robin Ammerlaan (NED) | 2 | Florence Gravellier (FRA) | 2 | | Shingo Kunieda (JAP) | 4 | Sharon Walraven (NED) | 3 | | Tadeusz Kruszelnicki (POL) | 5 | Jiske Griffioen (NED) | 4 | | Ronald Vink (NED) | 6 | Maaike Smit (NED) | 5 | | Maikel Scheffers (NED) | 7 | Kori Homan (NED) | 7 | | Jon Rydberg (USA) | 26 | Beth Arnoult- Ritthaler (USA) | 12 | | WC- Larry Qunitero (USA) | 71 | WC- Kaitlyn Verfuerth (USA) | 20 | |
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The USTA was officially designated by the USOC as the national governing body for the Paralympic sport of wheelchair tennis in June, 2002, becoming the first Olympic national governing body to earn this recognition. As the national governing body for wheelchair tennis, the USTA manages wheelchair tennis in the United States, including the sanctioning of tournaments, the overseeing of the U.S. wheelchair rankings, creating and maintaining a High Performance program for developing elite disabled athletes, and selecting teams to compete internationally for the United States.