USTA announces team for 2026 BNP Paribas World Team Cup in Orlando, Fla.

The United States Tennis Association has announced the players and coaches who will represent the United States at the 2026 BNP Paribas World Team Cup, to be held Sept. 16–19 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando.  The American team is made up of a variety of veterans and newcomers as they all look to claim titles on U.S. soil.

The BNP Paribas World Team Cup is the wheelchair tennis equivalent of the Davis Cup and the Billie Jean King Cup by Gainbridge and has grown into the largest team competition in the sport. Over 50 nations have competed across this year’s World Team Cup qualification and main draw stages.

This year—which marks the 50th anniversary of the sport’s creation—sees the prestigious competition return to the USA, where it was first staged in 1985.

Wheelchair tennis came into existence in 1976, when a young man by the name of Brad Parks became paralyzed after a freestyle skiing accident. Brad and Jeff Minnebraker, a fellow rehab patient, decided to try wheelchair tennis at the local courts across from the hospital.  While the two of them labored to push the heavy and cumbersome hospital chairs around the court, a couple of able-bodied players on the next court yelled over, “Why do you guys even bother?” That was all the motivation Brad and Jeff needed to practice harder. Together, they worked to develop a sport that would survive the early days of struggle and grow to be recognized, 50 years later, as the most professionalized of all disabled sports.

American teams will compete in three separate divisions: quad (8 nations), men’s (12 nations) and women’s (12 nations). This year’s finals will also feature a new knockout format, replacing the previous round-robin structure.