Alfie_Hewett

Alfie Hewett

Alfie Hewett

British wheelchair tennis player

Alfie Hewett[1] OBE (born 6 December 1997) is a British professional wheelchair tennis player. He is the former world No. 1 in singles and current world No. 1 in doubles.

Quick Facts Country (sports), Residence ...

Hewett is a 27-time major champion, having won eight titles in singles and 19 in doubles, the latter all partnering Gordon Reid. The pair completed the Grand Slam in 2021, becoming the first to do so in wheelchair men's doubles since Stéphane Houdet in 2014. Hewett is also a three-time Paralympic silver medalist, and won the Wheelchair Tennis Masters in both singles and doubles in 2017, 2021 and 2023.

Hewett was born with a congenital heart defect that required surgery at six months, and also suffered from Legg–Calvé–Perthes disease, a condition that inhibits blood flow from the pelvis to the hip joint. His ability to walk has been severely impaired and he has been using a wheelchair since being six years old. Though able to walk, Hewett is not fully mobile in the conventional sense and cannot do able-bodied sports.[2]

Tennis career

Alfie Hewett at the 2017 US Open

Hewett attended Acle High School[3] and went on to study Sport and Exercise Science at City College Norwich.[4]

In July 2016 Hewett won the 2016 Wimbledon Championships – Wheelchair men's doubles, alongside Gordon Reid, coming back from a set down to win against the French pair Stéphane Houdet and Nicolas Peifer.[5]

He won a silver medal in the men's singles event at Rio 2016 and silver in the doubles event with Reid, who beat him in the singles final.

In May 2017 Hewett won his first Grand Slam in singles at the French Open, beating Gustavo Fernández of Argentina in three sets, despite losing the first to love.

In July 2017, in a repeat of the final a year earlier, Hewett won the 2017 Wimbledon Championships – Wheelchair men's doubles, alongside Reid, winning in three sets against Houdet and Peifer.

Hewett won the 2017 NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters in Loughborough, UK. He ended 2017 ranked No 2 in the world, then a career-high.

On 29 January 2018 Hewett became the world number 1.[6]

In March 2018 Hewett won his first Super Series singles title at the Cajun Classic in Baton Rouge, USA.

On 2 September 2018 he claimed his second Super Series title at the US Open USTA Wheelchair Championships in St. Louis. Later that month Hewett won the singles title at the US Open as well as the doubles title with Reid.

In September 2019 he successfully defended both his singles and, with Reid, doubles titles at the US Open.[7]

In 2020 Hewett won the French Open singles title in three sets against Joachim Gérard and partnered Reid to win all three available Grand Slam doubles titles at the Australian Open, US Open and French Open, with the Wimbledon Championships cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[8][9]

After winning a silver medal in the men's doubles with Reid at the 2020 Summer Paralympics[10] and losing the bronze medal singles match to Reid, world number 2[10] Hewett spoke about his Paralympic future being "out of his hands",[10] due to a review into whether his disability is severe enough to qualify him to play in a wheelchair under the 2019 revision of International Tennis Federation rules.[10] Hewett was allowed to continue his tennis career after an alteration to the new ITF rules in November 2021.[11]

Hewett was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2023 Birthday Honours for services to tennis.[12]

Career statistics

Grand Slam performance timelines

Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.

Wheelchair singles

More information Tournament, SR ...

Wheelchair doubles

More information Tournament, SR ...
  1. Hewett received a walkover in the quarterfinals of the 2022 US Open, which does not count as a win.

Grand Slam tournament finals

Wheelchair singles: 17 (8 titles, 9 runner-ups)
More information Result, Year ...
Wheelchair doubles: 25 (19 titles, 6 runner-ups)
More information Result, Year ...

References

  1. [1]
    "King's Birthday Honours: Sarah Hunter and Ian Wright among those included". BBC Sport. 17 June 2023. Retrieved 20 June 2023.
  2. [2]
    "Alfie Hewett: 'My sport is being snatched from me. It's not fair'". iNews. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
  3. [3]
    Armstrong, Mark. "Norfolk tennis ace Alfie Hewett is making a career of fighting against the odds after Roland Garros victory". Great Yarmouth Mercury. Archived from the original on 11 April 2019. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  4. [4]
    George, Martin. "Paralympic star Alfie Hewett among students honoured at City College Norwich further education awards". Eastern Daily Press. Archived from the original on 11 April 2019. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  5. [5]
    Freezer, David. "Family's joy as Norwich tennis ace Alfie Hewett is crowned Wimbledon champion". Eastern Daily Press. Archived from the original on 11 August 2017. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
  6. [6]
    "Amazing news that @alfiehewett6 has become the World No.1!". LTA via Twitter. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
  7. [7]
    "US Open 2019: Alfie Hewett and Andy Lapthorne win singles & doubles titles". BBC. 9 September 2019. Archived from the original on 10 September 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  8. [8]
    "French Open 2020: Britain's Alfie Hewett completes double by winning singles title". BBC. 10 October 2020. Archived from the original on 10 October 2020. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  9. [9]
    "Cancellation of The Championships 2020". Wimbledon. 1 April 2020. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  10. [10]
    McElwee, Molly; Gareth A Davies; Sarah Rendell (3 September 2021). "Day 10: Alfie Hewett facing end of Paralympic career — due to being deemed not disabled enough". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  11. [11]
    "Britain's Alfie Hewett cleared to continue in wheelchair tennis". ESPN. 23 November 2021. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  12. [12]
    "No. 64082". The London Gazette (Supplement). 17 June 2023. p. B13.
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