Wheelchair tennis players aiming to serve up Paralympic success
Ten wheelchair tennis players, including 2015 US Open champion Jordanne Whiley and 2016 Australian Open champion Gordon Reid, will play for ParalympicsGB at the Rio Games later this year.
London 2012 silver medallist Andy Lapthorne is the most successful player on the team in terms of Paralympic medals. He partnered Peter Norfolk OBE to win silver four years ago in the quad category, and will be back competing in Rio in both the singles and doubles events.
Lapthorne said:
“It's great to be on the plane to Rio. Obviously winning silver in my first Paralympics in London was very nice, but I've put four years of hard work in to make sure I'm best prepared to go one better in doubles in Rio and hopefully all the way in singles, too.”
Lapthorne is joined by two other Paralympic medallists, Lucy Shuker and Jordanne Whiley, who together won Paralympic bronze in the women’s doubles event at London 2012.
Whiley has since gone on to notch up seven Grand Slam doubles titles including the 2015 Australian Open and Wimbledon doubles crowns, as well as being the 2015 US Open Singles Champion.
More recently she won the 2016 Roland Garros Doubles tournament for the second time and was a semi-finalist in the singles.
Whiley said:
“I'm delighted to be selected for Rio. This will be my third Paralympic Games and this is the one where I will be looking to bring home two gold medals. I've been working so hard for the last four years for this moment, so I fully intend to grab it with two hands."
In the men’s equivalent category, the selected players include Gordon Reid, currently ranked world number three and recent winner of the 2016 Australian Open men’s singles event. A huge Rangers fan, Reid has a tremendous following from his home city Glasgow.
Reid said:
“I'm very proud to have been named in the ParalympicsGB team for my third games. Along with my team up in Scotland I have been putting in a lot of hard work since London 2012 and this selection gives me the perfect opportunity to show the fruits of that hard work on the world stage.
"It's a special feeling to represent Great Britain and I'll continue to do everything I can to get myself in the best shape possible to succeed in Rio.”
Reid is joined by former world junior number 1 Alfie Hewett, a Norfolk-based teenager who has won the Junior Masters singles and doubles titles every year from 2012-2014. He is a regular in the World Team Cup team for Great Britain.
The selected athletes are:
Jamie Burdekin - quad
Home town: Liverpool
Main training base: South Ribble Tennis Centre, Preston
Antony Cotterill - quad
Home town: Macclesfield
Lives: Wortley, South Yorkshire
Main training base: Loughborough and Leeds
Alfie Hewett – men’s
Home town: Cantley, Norfolk
Main training base: Norwich
Louise Hunt – women’s
Home town: Wanborough, Swindon
Main training base: Wootton Bassett and Swindon
Andy Lapthorne – quad
Home town: Hammersmith, London
Lives: Eastcote
Main training base: Bisham Abbey
Marc McCarroll – men’s
Home town: Harrow
Lives: Ickenham
Main training base: Bisham Abbey
David Phillipson – men’s
Home town: Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire
Lives: Bingham, Nottinghamshire
Main training base: Derby
Gordon Reid – men’s
Home town: Alexandria
Lives: Glasgow
Main training base: Stirling
Lucy Shuker – women’s
Home town: Fleet, Hampshire
Main training base: Taunton
Jordanne Whiley – women’s
Home town: Halesowen
Lives: Ickenham
Main training base: Bisham Abbey
