Jeff Bourns

rdf:langString Jeff Bourns

rdf:langString Jeff Bourns

rdf:langString Jeff Bourns setting up to return a backhand at River Oaks Country Club

rdf:langString Jeffrey Richard Bourns

rdf:langString Jeff Bourns (born August 18, 1981) is an American amputee tennis player who helped pioneer the growth and development of Adaptive Standing Tennis. Bourns was born in Parkersburg, West Virginia in 1981 with a congenital birth defect to his right leg, known as Tibial Hemimelia. As a result, his leg was amputated below the knee when he was two years old. He spent early years of his life living in Belpre, Ohio. His leg was amputated once again, above the knee, after his family relocated to Houston, Texas when he was nine. A year later it was discovered he had Tethered spinal cord syndrome. He developed bacterial spinal meningitis while recovering from the operation. In 2015 Bourns started an Amputee Tennis Program at Houston's Metropolitan Multi-Service Center. One of the first of its kind in the United States he partnered with the United States Tennis Association of Texas (USTA). He was appointed to serve on a USTA committee and charged with helping pioneer and grow the sport of tennis for amputees. Bourns was the first person to represent the United States competing in International adaptive standing tennis tournaments. In 2016 he helped organize the First International Adaptive Standing Tennis Tournament to take place in the United States, the USA TAP Open, with Houston, Texas playing host. The USA TAP OPEN helped to popularize and pioneer a new category of tennis for individuals in the United States and abroad. Bourns retired ranked No. 4 in the world and top ranked American in his (TAP) classification in 2019.

rdf:langString No. 4

rdf:langString Right handed