Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid complete golden slam with Paralympic victory
Wheelchair tennis stars Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid completed a career golden slam by ending their wait for Paralympic doubles glory with a dominant straight-sets win at Roland Garros.
The two-time silver medallists celebrated gold on Court Philippe-Chatrier after dispatching Japanese second seeds Takuya Miki and Tokito Oda 6-2 6-1.
Success for the Britons, who are reigning Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon champions, adds to the 21 grand slam doubles titles they have won together.
The pair tossed their rackets in the air and embraced after a superb winner from Hewett clinched victory in an hour and 35 minutes.
Top seeds Hewett and Reid were playing in their third-successive men’s doubles final at the Games following painful defeats to French pair Stephane Houdet and Nicolas Peifer at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.
Reid said: “It feels amazing. It’s something we’ve been desperate for for a long time now and we’ve come so close twice and felt that heartbreak, felt that pain.
“That’s been some of the toughest moments of my career so to sit here with the golds around our necks, it’s up there with one of the best.
“Sometimes you have to feel that pain to really enjoy the highs when they come. It’s important for us not to let this moment pass us by, to really savour it. It’s safe to say we did that out on the court and at the ceremony.”
Top seeds Hewett and Reid were playing in their third successive men’s doubles final at the Games following painful defeats to French pair Stephane Houdet and Nicolas Peifer at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.
Hewett, in particular, was disconsolate following the second of those losses as he faced the possibility of his career ending due to his disability not being deemed severe enough following a classification change.
The 26-year-old, who has Perthes disease, which affects the hips, subsequently received the green light to continue and he and Reid have largely dominated doubles competitions since.
They progressed to a rematch of June’s French Open final, which ended in a 6-1 6-4 success, without dropping a set, including burying lingering “trauma” by defeating Houdet and his current partner Frederic Cattaneo in the last four.
“Three years, a lot’s happened since then,” said Hewett. “We definitely grew a lot in those years. We’re able to manage the moments a lot better.
“We felt confident going into this week. We knew that we could come here and win it.
“But still, there’s always that little doubt in the back of your mind that reminds you of those two losses in Paralympics and is this going to be a thing that sticks with you for another Games, or can you break the cycle?
“We certainly squashed that this week. Thankfully, this time we’re not crying on each other’s shoulders. It’s the stuff of dreams.”
Hewett and Reid raced into a 3-0 lead in front a healthy crowd in the Paris sunshine on Friday but were then forced to save two break points on the former’s serve to prevent Miki and Oda levelling.
That proved to be a pivotal moment in an absorbing opening set which was eventually wrapped up in just under an hour.
A couple of fine forehand winners from Hewett, adding to some deft shots from Reid, helped maintain the momentum early in the second, paving the way for an emotional triumph.
Asked what was said during the triumphant hug, Reid said: “A few expletives that probably can’t be printed. I think we just said, ‘we finally did it, it’s finally ours’.”
Having finally secured Paralympic gold, Hewett will be back on the same court on Saturday afternoon to face Oda in the men’s singles final.
Scotsman Reid, 32, is already a gold medallist in that competition after beating Hewett in the Rio 2016 final.
The team-mates met in the bronze medal match five years later in Japan, with left-hander Reid claiming the podium place in the aftermath of their agonising doubles defeat.
Speaking of the singles final, Hewett said: “I’m not really even thinking about it at the moment.
“We’ve been working hard for such a long time for this moment. I don’t want to just put it to one side for now.
“I’ll wake up tomorrow morning and I’ll do what I need to do out there on court and I’ll be going for another gold, of course. But tonight’s all about us.”
Published: by Radio NewsHub