'It never gets dull winning these trophies' - Alfie Hewett after Paris prize

Yahoo

7 hours ago

Norfolk star Alfie Hewett's and playing partner Gordon Reid's record-breaking haul of men's wheelchair doubles titles at the four majors reached another landmark.
The top seeds beat Stephane Houdet of France and Tokito Oda of Japan 6-4, 1-6, (10-7) on Saturday in remarkable circumstance at Roland Garros for their 23rd Grand Slam title together.
Advertisement
Hewett's and Reid's latest victory means they now own an unprecedented streak of six successive titles at both the French Open and the Australian Open, the first two Grand Slam tournaments of the year.
Back-to-back service holds for the two Brits gave them a 4-1 cushion on their way to taking the first set, but as Hewett's and Reid's perfect record of winning five from five games on deciding deuce points started to falter so the second set started to get away from the top seeds.
However, the reigning Paralympic gold medallists at Roland Garros last September launched a tremendous fightback from 5-1 down in the deciding match tie-break and Hewett fired a cross-court forehand at Oda's chair that the Japanese player was unable to evade, handing the British duo a memorable victory.
As Hewett's day ended with him claiming the 33rd Grand Slam title of his career, he said: 'I don't really know if there's much else to say, apart from a big thanks to Gio (Reid's nickname). That's number six for us - it never gets dull winning these trophies. Thank you to the team and you guys for the support. We'll be back next year.'
Advertisement
Reid, who now has a personal tally of 29 Grand Slam titles and eight French Open doubles titles, said: 'Thank you to Alfie, you've done an amazing job to come back from the (singles final) earlier and put in a performance like that.
"It's always a pleasure to have him on my side of the net. I want to say a big thanks to everyone who came in to watch, you guys created such an amazing atmosphere that we love to play in front of. Thank you, too, to our team; all of you have worked so hard this week, and obviously back home, for moments like this.'
Earlier in the day, Hewett's bid for a fourth men's singles titles in Paris since 2017 ended in a 6-4, 7-6 (6) loss to Oda after the world number two fought back from 5-3 down to force the second-set tie-break.