Wichitan Casey Ratzlaff on U.S. team that won world wheelchair tennis championship

Wichitan Casey Ratzlaff was part of the three-person junior team that won the BNP Paribas World Team Cup last week in Tokyo. The tournament is the top world event for wheelchair junior tennis players.

The U.S. team defeated Chile 2-1 in the final.

“It truly solidifies, for me, the fact that we are truly the best team of juniors in the world,” Ratzlaff said in a statement from the U.S. Tennis Association. “It also proves all three of us are on the right track to becoming great in the sport we participate in. We work hard and it shows, and I'm proud of it.”

Ratzlaff, 16, was born with spina bifida, a birth defect that has forced him to use crutches or a wheelchair his entire life. He hopes to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic games, when he would compete as an adult.

Wichitan Nick Taylor was part of a four-man American team that finished fifth in the men’s division of the Paribas World Team Cup.

This story was originally published June 1, 2016 at 12:25 PM with the headline "Wichitan Casey Ratzlaff on U.S. team that won world wheelchair tennis championship."