Jean-Pierre Limborg, le pionnier du tennis-fauteuil
Installed for six years in Bordeaux, Jean-Pierre Limborg was born in Nancy. He was a brilliant student, passionate about Formula 1. In 1976, he was at the Nürburgring when the racing car of Niki Lauda, one of his idols, caught fire. He was also there when the Austrian driver, “six weeks after receiving extreme unction”, represented the wheel at Monza.
adventure in india
We move away from tennis. But that’s normal. Before chance decided otherwise, Jean-Pierre Limborg had never touched a racket. “Four or five hours, during my studies. “He is from Central. His sports teacher at the Ecole Centrale Paris will become famous. This is Jean-Claude Perrin, future boss of French pole vaulting, physical trainer for PSG then for the French Davis Cup team, winner of the 1991 edition with Henri Leconte, Guy Forget and Yannick Noah on the bench.
“There is no question of having a life that is too cushy. I had to look for emotions that compensate for the enormous effort it takes, at 21, to accept living in a wheelchair.
Jean-Pierre Limborg has something in common with the interpreter of “Saga Africa”. Alongside his career as an engineer, which took him to Hong Kong, he began to compose. Seventeen albums have been produced, including one of Khmer songs, recorded in Cambodia. The last three are “experimental electro”. Originally he was beaten. Sporting activity was not his thing.
Jean-Pierre Limborg speaks quickly. He has so many things to tell. In 1980, he left for India, “on an adventure”. Quite the opposite of tourism. He lived with the street people. His first chair weighing 25 kg, moves on the dirt roads included in the feat. “With the accident, the world completely collapsed. So there was no question of having a too cushy life. I had to look for emotions that compensate for the enormous effort it takes, at 21, to accept living in a wheelchair. »
Los Angeles at the forefront
On his return from India, he came across an article from “L’Est Républicain”. It talks about an American, Jeff Minnenbreaker, who manufactures modern and lighter wheelchairs. His company, Quadra, is based in Los Angeles. “Immediately, I’m going over there. He meets him and orders an armchair “in aluminium, all black with neon pink tires”.
“The incredible idea that you had to have, simple but brilliant, was to be entitled to two rebounds. Otherwise, it was unplayable”
The Californian entrepreneur intervened at the rehabilitation center for veterans. He remains in history as the inventor of wheelchair tennis. “The incredible idea that you had to have, simple but brilliant, was to be entitled to two rebounds. Otherwise, it was unplayable. The two men sympathize. Jeff Minnenbreaker invites him to a wheelchair tennis tournament in Las Vegas and puts a racket in his hands. Jean-Pierre Limborg is beaten 6-0, 6-0 by a young woman.
There, everything is accelerating. Quickly adopted, he took lessons, “for free”, with the best player of the time, Brad Parks, three times winner of the US Open and gold medalist in doubles at the Paralympic Games in Barcelona. For three months, he stayed with Jim Knaub, holder in the 1990s of all wheelchair world records, from the 5,000 meters to the marathon. These encounters changed his life. “Remarkable beings,” he says.
Upon his return to France, Jean-Pierre Limborg moved heaven and earth to promote wheelchair tennis. In the program “Automoto”, he sees Pierre Fusade, “former tennis teacher” who has become a paraplegic, riding a sidecar. He phones her. “I tried, it’s not possible,” replied the latter, before changing his mind “instantly” seeing his equipment made in the USA. Pierre Fusade, who would become world team champion in 1990, developed wheelchair tennis within the French Handisport Federation. Jean-Pierre Limborg will bring this discipline into the fold of the French Tennis Federation in 2017. A revolution.