Entertainment

Comedian Adam Hills does not rule out participation in future Paralympic Games

Hills used to work as a professional tennis coach.

Comedian Adam Hills does not rule out participation in future Paralympic Games
Comedian Adam Hills does not rule out participation in future Paralympic Games (Lucy North/PA)
By Ellie Iorizzo, PA Los Angeles Correspondent

Adam Hills said he would not rule out competing in a future Paralympic Games if para-standing tennis is introduced as a sport – although he might only get the opportunity in his 60s.

The comedian, who was born without a right foot and uses a prosthetic, appeared on BBC’s The One Show to discuss his new Sky documentary Foot Fault, about working as a professional tennis coach when he was 18.

In a teaser for the show, Hills says: “I always wanted to play tennis, the trickiest part of that is there was no way for people with a disability like mine to play tennis at a high level, but then I found something called para-standing tennis.

“My mission: have para-standing tennis played at the Grand Slam tournaments, have it a part of the Paralympics and the ongoing quest for world domination.”

Australian-born Hills, who will be hosting comedy talk show The Last Leg live every night at the Paris Paralympics from August 28 on Channel 4, said only wheelchair tennis is currently included in the Games.

“The mad thing is, there are a whole bunch of people with disabilities out there that can’t use wheelchairs – if you’ve got one arm you can’t use a wheelchair, you just end up going in circles.

“If you’ve got cerebral palsy, if you’re short statured, or if you’re like me, you don’t use a wheelchair.

“There’s all these people out there with disabilities that play able-bodied tennis because there’s just nowhere for them.

“And so I’ve been searching for years to find a way of playing tennis against people like me, and then I found this thing called para-standing tennis.”

Hills joked that he had “done some calculations” regarding his ability to enter a future Paralympics if the sport was chosen.

“It takes seven years to get a sport into the Paralympics, so it means the next one would have to be Brisbane 2032, at which point I’d be 62, so I’ll be relying a lot on my doubles partner to try and pull me through – it’s not a no,” the 54-year-old said.

The stand-up comedian was also shown a headline which suggested a quarter of the British public feel they could qualify for the 2028 Olympics.

Hills said: “There’s a part of me that looks at that and goes ‘that is absolutely outrageous’, and there’s another part of me going ‘but I reckon I’ve got a chance at the Paralympics’.”