The Cool Crocs held the Greg Crump Cup aloft as the fifth edition of the wheelchair tournament was contested at the National Tennis Centre this week.
Melbourne, VIC, 11 April 2025 | Jackson Mansell
The Cool Crocs reigned supreme in the fifth edition of this week’s Greg Crump Cup at the National Tennis Centre. A team initiative developed by the tournament’s namesake, four teams competed over two days in a round-robin competition to determine the winners.
“When I was growing up, the team’s competition or the club competition was just a part of the tennis life, but in the wheelchair space, it’s not that big a thing,” Crump said. “My idea to introduce it was to get the team mentality going and some of my fondest memories of playing tennis were in the team environment.
“It pretty much introduces new players in the sport in a friendly safe environment, everyone has a good time, it’s played in good spirits and really good fun for everybody.”
‘Crumpy’ as he is colloquially known, began his involvement in wheelchair tennis in 1986, volunteering at a hospital, in what became a “lightbulb moment”.
“A lot of people who get involved [in wheelchair tennis] have either a family member or a friend that’s had trauma or something like that, and there wasn’t any of that in my family or friends,” he said. “I had a lightbulb moment that I’m gonna try this and volunteer at a spinal hospital and fast forward 40 years later, here we are with colourful t-shirts with your name on the front (referring to the Greg Crump Cup).”
READ: Crump wins top international honour
It was through his volunteering at local rehabilitation units that Crumpy met one of his good friends, Anthony Bonaccurso, who this week helped lead the Cool Crocs to victory. The Athens 2004 Paralympics bronze medallist was introduced to the wheelchair tennis coach following the accident that saw him become wheelchair-bound at age 17.
“He would come out [to the Austin Hospital] every Wednesday and from there, I did two-and-a-half months in hospital, so we’d have a hit on this court [near the hospital]. But he’s like, ‘Right, we train at such and such club out in wherever it was, out over the other side of the city’. I was in the west and it was in the east,” Bonaccurso recalled of his early meetings with Crump.
“I started just going there, played in my day chair and I probably played in my day chair for a good six to eight months and I was like, ‘Oh, maybe I should play wheelchair tennis’.
“There was a Tuesday night program with all the wheelies, so I would have my tennis chair, and I would catch the train to and from [Sunshine] at like six o’clock at night. We’d finish at nine and then catch the train back home. Then I basically got better and better and Crumpy would be coaching me for free back then because there was no money in the sport.”
Along with winning bronze in Athens, Bonaccurso was a member of Australia’s winning 2002 World Team Cup contingent and reached a career-high ranking of world No.16.
Over 30 years since his accident, the 49-year-old is helping to continue Crumpy’s legacy through his mentorship at events such as the Greg Crump Cup.
“I love the game of tennis, and I love what Crumpy has done for me, and I love what Crumpy’s done for pretty much everyone,” he said. “I guess I appreciate it more. If I can be around, I’ll always try and be here, especially for Crumpy Cup.
“He’s been in the wheelchair stuff for a zillion years, but you just know that he has your back. He’s one of the greatest guys, and without Crumpy, I think wheelchair tennis in Australia wouldn’t actually be as good as it is. It started with Crumpy and then it’ll probably end with Crumpy (laughing).”
Find your way to play: Visit play.tennis.com.au to hit the court and have some fun!
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