UCL-Partnered Tennis Club Celebrates Blind Tennis Champion Competing at Grand Slam
As a UCL-partnered tennis club, Globe Lawn Tennis Club in Belsize Park plays an important role in supporting inclusive and community-focused sport for UCL students and the wider community. We are proud to share the inspiring story of one of their members, Naqi Rizvi, who is set to compete at the Australian Open in the first-ever visually impaired competition to be held at a Grand Slam tournament.
Naqi is currently the world’s top-ranked visually impaired tennis player and is a powerful example of resilience and determination. Diagnosed with congenital glaucoma as a child, he lost his sight by the age of seven. After moving to the UK in 2015 to study at University College London (UCL), he was introduced to visually impaired tennis in 2016 and began competing internationally just two years later.
Since 2018, Naqi has trained at Globe Lawn Tennis Club, a non-profit, member-led club in Camden that has spent more than 70 years building a reputation for being one of London’s most inclusive and community-focused sports clubs.
Club coaches and members regularly train with Naqi, and Globe has supported him through a concessionary membership and significant financial backing for his travel to Melbourne. The club also runs fortnightly social tennis sessions for the visually impaired community across London, helping to make the sport more accessible to all.
Alongside his career as a product manager in financial services, Naqi has held the world number one ranking in the B1 category of visually impaired tennis for the past two years. His achievements include titles at the IBSA World Games in Birmingham, the International Blind Tennis Association World Championships in Krakow, and national competitions at Wimbledon.
Beyond his success on court, Naqi continues to raise awareness of visually impaired tennis and has actively campaigned for greater inclusion of the sport in major tournaments. His journey reflects the values of both Globe Lawn Tennis Club and UCL — using sport to create opportunity, confidence, and community.
Tennis for the blind adheres to normal rules and scoring, but is played on a shortened court using an oversized ball containing a rattle that enables players to locate it using sound instead of vision. The sport requires tremendous reflexes, concentration and stamina. See https://www.ibtatennis.org/ for more details.
To request an interview with Naqi Rizvi or to find out more information, please email [email protected] or contact Greg Miller, match secretary, at [email protected] or +44 77 6543 2018. For background, please see Rizvi’s prior media appearances and TedX talk: