While plenty of attention was on the likes of Jack Draper for glory at Wimbledon this year, Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid are undoubtedly Britain’s best hopes of grand slam success. Between them, the pair hold 12 major wheelchair singles titles, and their doubles partnership is even more impressive: Reid holds the outright record for wheelchair doubles slams at 27 – and 23 of those have come with Hewett.
The tour’s highest-ranked doubles team kicked off the year with the Australian Open title and backed that up last month by lifting the trophy at Roland Garros, their sixth straight French Open crown and eighth consecutive grand slam victory. The pair first competed together in 2016 and are among the longest-serving teams on the tour, but are still finding ways to innovate and keep their opponents guessing, Hewett tells The Independent ahead of Wimbledon.
“Starting the year in Australia and picking up another slam there, maintaining that form and confidence throughout the year so far, it’s been a lot of fun,” the singles world No 2 says. “There’s a lot of positivity on the court right now. We’re working on quite a few things in our game, developing what we want to do in wheelchair doubles, and it’s definitely helping us keep motivated and focused.”
While those things are “top secret”, the pair are confident the tweaks, and their brilliant first half of the season, will serve them well when the wheelchair events get underway this week.
“Physically it’s quite a tough transition [from playing on clay to grass] but it’s the best time of the year, for sure,” Reid adds.
The return to grass has an added dimension for Hewett this year. Last year he finally sealed a maiden Wimbledon singles title after heartbreaking defeats in his two previous finals there, and completed the career grand slam in the process.
“It was a relief,” he says of the emotional victory, one of many finals he has contested with the world No 1, Japan’s teenage prodigy Tokito Oda. Between them Hewett and Oda have won the last 10 majors and contested seven of the finals, splitting the titles in Melbourne and Paris between them.
“It’s been quite a few years that I’d been wanting to get my hands on that trophy – this man [Reid] did it back in 2016 so he set the trend, nearly 10 years ago now!” Hewett adds. “I’d been on that journey for quite a few years and it had been building year on year so to finally get that achievement was a nice one.”
There was little time to process the win, however, with the doubles final scheduled immediately afterwards.
“Playing at Wimbledon and being in the finals at Wimbledon is the pinnacle of the year,” the 27-year-old continues. “I didn’t want the day almost to be ruined by not winning the doubles as well. So it was like, pause the celebrations and let’s get another reason to celebrate.”
In fact there were few celebrations at all, he admits: “We watched the England game [at the Euros] and they lost, so it was pretty tame!
“It feels a lot different this year. I’m excited to go back, have a bit more freedom playing singles and doubles, and enjoy myself a lot more.”
One of the big stories of this year’s French Open was about scheduling, with the organisers coming under fire for consistently putting women’s matches on the poorly-attended opening slot on Court Philippe-Chatrier, as well as prioritising men’s matches in the evening session. Hewett also criticised the tournament for its last-minute decision to move his singles final, against Oda, from its planned slot on Court 14 to Suzanne-Lenglen. The change occurred without consulting the players and gave them a little over half an hour to prepare for the different conditions on the show court. Hewett lost 6-4, 7-6(8-6).
Now he is keen to stress the unusual nature of the incident. “I’ve played [the slams] for quite a few years and I think what happened at the French was unique,” the Norfolk-based player says. “When I've been there in previous years I haven't felt that there’s been that lack of consideration. The reason why I came out and spoke about it was sort of, the magnitude of when it happens and how it all came about. Scheduling changes, rain delays, these things happen all the time, but it was more about the lack of communication and consideration just in that very moment.
“But other than that I think all the slams [feel] the wheelchair categories add a huge amount of value to the event, and we feel that way. It’s growing year on year, we’ve been given incredible experiences playing on show courts, so we do very much feel included and that they want to give it more exposure and more of a platform.
“The significance that it holds on our tour is huge. Those are four massive events for the players, whether that be financially or in their playing careers in terms of what they achieve. It’s all been going on a great trajectory over the last five years.”
Reid adds that they feel Wimbledon leads the way in terms of how it shows off its wheelchair events - although they have yet to play on Centre Court. “Off the back of a successful trial of having some wheelchair matches on No 1 Court and seeing how the crowd responded to that and enjoyed those matches, I think the last couple of years they’ve proactively scheduled the wheelchair finals into the scheduling for those show courts, so people know they’re buying tickets partly to watch those matches,” the Scot says.
“That’s maybe where the other slams can catch up a little bit, market those matches and profile those matches a little bit more like Wimbledon does. That’s how we’re going to get more people watching the sport and filling seats for those finals.”
Both players have ambitions in both singles and doubles, which makes things slightly complicated when they find themselves on opposite sides of the net. Hewett has enjoyed the more individual success in recent years and his biggest rival at Wimbledon is again likely to be 19-year-old Oda, who has taken over from the retired Shingo Kunieda as Japan’s next brilliant wheelchair player.
As for Reid, Hewett says when there’s a net between them, “We’re enemies! No, to be honest, over the years, we’ve learned to deal with it. We also know that we’re singles players and there’s that respect.
“What’s important is that regardless of whatever happens [in the match] we come together and we be a great partnership and be open and honest about, maybe if someone is more fatigued, [feels lower] energy levels or mood, that we share that with the other person. At the end of the day we want to get the best out of each other on the doubles court and that information is quite valuable if you need to change the way we need to play, or pick up your partner. It’s more about the aftermath. We’ve built an environment where we can have that honesty, because we share a common goal, which is to win.”
It comes as no surprise then that, asked what their plans are for the remainder of the season, Reid immediately says, “Keep winning! We’re trying to make some changes to the way we play, to move the sport forward, and it’s just to continue that work and uncover new ways of winning those matches and those titles.”
Vodafone, Official Connectivity Partner of Wimbledon, is working with long term ambassadors Alfie Hewett OBE and Gordon Reid OBE as part of its latest brand campaign, which celebrates connecting friends this summer on The Nation's Network.
