Scotland’s Gordon Reid will be hoping to make it fifth time lucky when he goes for glory in the wheelchair doubles final. The 23-year-old has lost in the Wimbledon final four times, including each of the past three years, but has the chance to go one better after a dramatic semi-final victory in which he and his partner saved match point before clinching a 7-6, 3-6, 7-6 win.
Reid and the Frenchman Michaël Jeremiasz looked on their way out when they trailed 5-2 in the final set against England’s junior world No1, Alfie Hewett, and Joachim Gérard of Belgium. But the No2 seeds dug deep and, having fought back to 5-4, they then saved a match point in the 10th game before going on to win the final-set tiebreak 7-4.
It was an enthralling match that had the crowd on Court 17 captivated throughout and Reid said he couldn’t wait to try to capitalise on their great escape by winning today’s final.
“I’m so pleased to get through that match and make the final because it was so tough,” Reid said. “Alfie and Joachim played really well and the quality of tennis was fantastic. We had a few dodgy moments but we pulled it out when it really mattered and on the big points we played well and didn’t give them any cheap points. When you’re down a break and facing match point you just have to try not to think about it and try to be aggressive as that’s when we play our best tennis.
“The crowd we had today was incredible. It’s great to see people enjoying the sport and everyone who comes to watch wheelchair tennis always loves it – people just sometimes don’t know it’s happening so it’s great that we put on a good show and hopefully we can again in the final.”
Reid won his first grand slam title last month when he partnered Shingo Kunieda to the French Open title and he probably would have expected to be facing the Japanese in the final. But Kunieda and Stéphane Houdet, the defending champions, were upset 6-3, 7-5 by Gustavo Fernández of Argentina and Nicolas Peifer of France.
Reid has been one of the leading voices in calling for Wimbledon to add singles events to their programme. It is the only one of the four grand slam tournaments not to have singles competitions – something organisers originally said was the case because of concerns over wheelchair players’ ability to move safely on grass. But the All England Club has hinted the omission may be rectified as early as next year.
Meanwhile Britain’s Jordanne Whiley and Japan’s Yui Kamiji, who won the grand slam last year, compete in the women’s final on Sunday.
