The UK and World No.1 in blind tennis shares his journey to becoming a double champion in the sport.
Naqi Rizvi was born visually impaired, becoming fully blind at seven years old.He started playing the sport in 2016 and quickly "fell in love" with playing blind, or visually impaired, tennis.The tennis player quickly excelled in his category.Seven years on, the banker by profession quickly rose the ranks and has now become not only the UK but the world's no.1 in his category.He won the UK national championships in 2021 and 2022 at the Visually Impaired National Finals.
"Blind tennis is split into four categories: B1, B2, B3 and B4.B1 is for completely blind players, like Mr Rizvi, whilst the latter three are for visually impaired players. Mr Rizvi coined B1 blind tennis as "sound tennis" as players rely on sounds, and also touch, to play a match.This includes a bell in the tennis ball, a tactile base line, and players being required to vocalise when they are "ready" to serve.The UK and World No.