{"id":894814,"date":"2026-10-26T03:16:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T03:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/894814\/"},"modified":"2026-10-26T03:16:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T03:16:13","slug":"hot-springs-native-wins-idd-national-tennis-tournament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/894814\/","title":{"rendered":"Hot Springs native wins IDD national tennis tournament"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hot Springs native Rachel Sweatt captured the championship title at the USTA’s Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) Singles Championships on Friday at the United States Tennis Association National Campus in Orlando, Fla.<\/p>\n

Sweatt put on a “remarkable performance” in the championship match as she beat Cedar Rapids, Iowa native Nathan Williams 6-2, 6-0 in the finals to win the championship, according to a press release.<\/p>\n

The IDD Singles Championships were created to give high-performing athletes a national spotlight and provide them an equal opportunity to build and compete in a supportive sports community.<\/p>\n

Prior to the event, the USTA and the Special Olympics announced a multi-year commitment to expand opportunities for athletes with intellectual and developmental disabilities on Oct. 19. The USTA National IDD Championships, which took place Oct. 22-25, were the launching of the new collaboration, which set a new standard for accessibility and inclusion in tennis, per the press release.<\/p>\n

The goal of this premier annual tennis event is to provide a high-quality, competitive environment while fostering sportsmanship and camaraderie among adapted tennis players. This year, 16 athletes competed in the singles tournament \u2014 up from eight in 2025. Twenty-five teams competed in unified doubles competition, where players with and without disabilities competed together.<\/p>\n

“Special Olympics does an incredible job elevating adapted tennis programs across the country and engaging thousands of athletes,” Marisa Grimes, USTA’s Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer, said. “Unified partners and coaches to foster inclusion on and off the court, and we are proud to work together to help grow the game. This collaboration unites our missions to inspire people through sport and create more pathways for participation across all levels and abilities, making tennis more accessible than ever.”<\/p>\n

As part of the three-year collaboration, the USTA and Special Olympics also plan to work together on joint initiatives, including localized programming, adapted tournament regulations, and opportunities to increase workplace recruitment and retention for neurodiverse talent to foster long-term professional and athletic development.<\/p>\n

“What excites me about the future for tennis athletes with intellectual disabilities is the high level of play people will see,” said Wyatt Spalding of Special Olympics Nebraska. “The partnership gives us the platform to finally show that people with ID can compete at the highest levels possible and live out our dreams of becoming elite tennis players. I believe this tournament is only the beginning of ID tennis tournaments in the USTA.”<\/p>\n

\"CompetitorsCompetitors from the IDD National Singles Championships tennis tournament take a photo at the USTA campus in Orlando. (Photo courtesy Julio Agular of Turtlebox Pictures)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hot Springs native Rachel Sweatt captured the championship title at the USTA’s Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) Singles…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":894815,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[99,428],"class_list":["post-894814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/894814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=894814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/894814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/894815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=894814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=894814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=894814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}