UWSer Mark McIntyre Helps Bring Local Wheelchair Athletes to the US Open

By Tracy Zwick

Mark McIntyre has been a fixture of Upper West Side tennis for decades. Now, as executive director of the Junior Tennis Foundation – a charitable wing of the US Tennis Association’s Eastern Section – he’s bringing local wheelchair athletes to one of the sport’s biggest stages: the US Open.

One of the world’s elite wheelchair tennis competitions takes place this week at Flushing Meadows, just a subway ride (with one transfer) away from the UWS. With $1.6 million in prize money at stake, it’s among the richest and most competitive events in the sport. Global stars of the wheelchair game will compete on the same courts as main-draw champions Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka – and McIntyre and his foundation are making sure local wheelchair athletes can watch them in person at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

McIntyre, who’s lived on the Upper West Side since 1994, says the foundation does more than distribute tickets to the wheelchair event. It organizes transportation, handles lunch, and arranges ways for these local athletes to meet and interact with some of their heroes in the wheelchair game. 

“We provide resources for programs in our area that serve underprivileged, economically disadvantaged youth, and people of all ages with disabilities,” McIntyre said in a recent phone interview. Wheelchair tennis has been a growing part of that work. “We’re working with a number of wheelchair programs, brainstorming about how we can get more people to watch wheelchair tennis and become aware that if you’re in a wheelchair you can still play. There are programs for you,” he said. 

The 2025 US Open wheelchair championships feature 48 athletes from 17 countries. Last year, because the Summer Paralympics were being held at the same time in Paris, the US Open hosted only junior wheelchair tennis. “One junior player we saw, Chuck Cooper, got a wild card – he’s from New York – and he won the whole thing!” McIntyre said. 

This year, adult competitors are back, including Paralympic medalists, and Cooper.

The singles competition features the largest number of athletes in the US Open’s 20-year history with wheelchair tennis. And thanks to McIntyre’s project, the audience for the wheelchair competition will include some 35 to 50 local wheelchair athletes and volunteers.

This year’s US Open outing is scheduled for the second Wednesday (September 3) of the tournament. “A couple days before the main draw’s semifinals,” McIntyre said, “that’s when the heart of the wheelchair championships take place.” McIntyre’s organization will transport local wheelchair athletes to the US venue, where they can watch competitions in person and meet with some of the professional athletes. During the inaugural outing, one of the athletes in competition came to talk to the group and answer questions, McIntyre recalled. “Life-affirming and wonderful stuff.”

McIntyre’s ties to UWS tennis go back decades. “I ran RCTA — a community tennis organization in Riverside Park – for nearly 30 years,” he said. “Through that and networks, I got involved locally at the USTA level, then at the regional New York City level, and sectional level. Eventually I joined the Eastern Section board of directors and became president.” McIntyre is especially proud of the RCTA’s adaptive program. 

For McIntyre, the work always comes back to expanding participation. “Mostly my job is to look for programs that exist that need funding, and to find out where there are no programs and get them started,” he said.

And while his work is about giving others access to the game, McIntyre doesn’t mind offering a general US Open tip or two, given his decades of attendance. “Take advantage of Fan Week,” the week before the US Open’s formal start, he advised. “It’s free, you see great matches from top players, and crowds aren’t so bad.” He threw in one final suggestion: “Go to law school or Wall Street if you want to be able to afford main draw tickets.”

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