The US Open -- America's premier tennis tournament -- crowned a new generation of champions this past summer. German phenom Alexander Zverev finally broke through in New York, defeating American Ben Shelton to win one of the most coveted trophies in all of sports. A day earlier, Elena Rybakina toppled two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka to win her first women's US Open title.

They weren't the only athletes competing for significant prize money, though. This year's US Open also showcased the world's best wheelchair tennis players, vying for their own title and a payout from a $2.3 million prize pool. 23-year-old Niels Vink won the quad wheelchair championship to complete a calendar-year Grand Slam -- sweeping all four of tennis's major titles in 2026. The last non-wheelchair player to achieve that feat was Steffi Graf, almost 40 years ago.

The national spotlight on these athletes with disabilities is well-deserved -- and crucial for helping get the roughly 5 and a half million Americans in wheelchairs, and the millions of others with disabilities, off the sidelines and onto the nation's courts and ball fields. Many of these Americans are eager not just for the physical exercise, but for the sense of belonging that sports can provide. It's up to sports leagues and organizations to reach out to these aspiring athletes and invite them in.

I saw firsthand how eager these athletes were for a challenge when, as a graduate student at the University of Alabama, I became involved with its wheelchair tennis program. Many of the athletes I met there had finally found a community of like-minded individuals, who'd faced many of the same challenges.

Unlike some other sports, tennis can be adapted to accommodate people with disabilities without fundamentally changing the game itself. Wheelchair tennis follows all the same rules as regular tennis, with just one modification -- it allows for two, rather than just one, bounce.

Meanwhile, players who are blind or visually impaired can use special tennis balls that emit noise, enabling them to track each serve and volley by sound. Other adaptations have similarly made the sport welcoming to players with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

That flexibility is important, because it enables people with different abilities to enjoy the same game, together. Someone in a wheelchair, for example, can play with able-bodied friends on the same court.

For over two decades, the US Open has offered some of these athletes the opportunity to compete under the national spotlight. The tournament first added a wheelchair tennis competition in 2005. In 2022, it doubled the men's and women's singles fields from eight players to 16 and became the first Grand Slam tournament to stage a junior wheelchair event. And this year, the tournament is drawing athletes, advocates, and supporters from across the disability community.

Sometimes a small adaptation -- another bounce, slightly different equipment, better-trained coaches -- can open an entire sport to people who previously felt confined to the grandstands or sidelines.

It's critically important for sports leagues and organizations to pioneer these sorts of adaptations, and raise the public's awareness of them, so that millions of Americans with disabilities can step, or roll, onto the field or court and know the game belongs to them, too.

Evan Enquist is the director of adapted tennis at the United States Tennis Association (USTA). Prior to joining the USTA, he coached the University of Alabama's wheelchair tennis team, leading them to seven consecutive national championships.