Grand Slam champions Jordanne Whiley and Gordon Reid are among a record five Brits on the Tennis Foundation’s Performance Programme set to contest the men’s and women’s wheelchair tennis doubles events at The Championships, Wimbledon this year after wild cards were announced today for debutants Louise Hunt and Alfie Hewett.
Whiley and Japan’s Yui Kamiji, the defending women’s doubles champions and 2013 runners-up at Wimbledon, will bid to retain the title they won in the final last year against Dutch partnership Jiske Griffioen and Aniek van Koot.
Whiley became the first British tennis player in history to complete a calendar year Grand Slam in 2014 after she and Kamiji won the women’s doubles at all four majors, beating Griffioen and van Koot in the finals of three of them. In recognition of her achievements Whiley was this week awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for services to wheelchair tennis.
The unbeaten sequence of five Grand Slam titles for Whiley and Kamiji came to an end at Roland Garros recently after Griffioen and van Koot edged a deciding match tie-break in the final, but Whiley is looking forward to more success at Wimbledon.
“Wimbledon is my favourite tournament and to win there last year as part of the calendar Grand Slam was the realisation of a dream since I was a young child,” said Whiley. “Yui and I really wanted to repeat the calendar Grand Slam again this year and had a tough final at Roland Garros, but we’ll learn from that experience and will thrive off the home support at Wimbledon and aim to keep that title where it belongs.”
Shuker, bronze medallist with Whiley in the women’s doubles at the London 2012 Paralympics and also a former runner-up at Wimbledon partnering Whiley, joins forces with Germany’s Sabine Ellerbrock at Wimbledon for the second successive year.
“It’s always a privilege to play at Wimbledon and I’ve got some great memoires of getting to the final in past years. I’ve been in really good form recently and enjoy playing doubles with Sabine, so we will be looking to translate that into some good performances on the grass,” said Shuker, who has just returned from Korea Republic, where she won a singles title and two doubles titles at successive tournaments. Previous to that she joined Whiley and Hunt to clinch the bronze medal for Great Britain in the women’s World Group at the World Team Cup.
Hunt will make her Grand Slam debut at Wimbledon this year partnering Germany’s Katharina Kruger. Hunt and Kruger were runners-up to Whiley and Kamiji at the 2014 UNIQLO Wheelchair Doubles Masters and have just completed back-to-back tournaments in Europe, winning the women’s doubles together at last week’s Czech Open.
“I’m really excited to get the chance to play at Wimbledon for the first time, especially with Katharina as my partner. We play really well together and complement each other. After winning the Czech Open together and the singles form I’m in at the moment I’m sure we can put in a big performance at Wimbledon,” said Hunt, who has also had two of the best singles wins of her career over the last two weeks, twice beating world No. 8 Kruger and subsequently reaching a career best singles ranking of No. 14.
With 2015 marking the 10th anniversary of wheelchair tennis first being a part of the competition schedule at Wimbledon, Reid will team up with Frenchman Michael Jeremiasz as he bids to build on his first Grand Slam doubles title with Kunieda at Roland Garros. Jeremiasz partnered Brit Jayant Mistry to win the first men’s wheelchair tennis doubles event at Wimbledon in 2005.
“To finally win my first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros was an unbelievable experience and after having also reached doubles finals at the other Grand Slams I’m really looking forward to trying for a Wimbledon final in front of a British crowd,” said Reid. “I’ve got a pretty good doubles record with Michael and we will be giving it our best to keep that going at Wimbledon.”
Reid and Hewett won both singles rubbers against France in the final of the men’s World Group at the World Team Cup last month as Great Britain claimed a historic gold medal in the men’s event.
While Reid will be looking to continue a memorable few weeks, so will world No. 1 junior Hewett, who also has a new career best senior men’s singles world ranking of No. 16 to celebrate this week as well as the chance to compete at a Grand Slam for the first time with his doubles partner Joachim Gerard from Belgium.
“To get the chance to play my first Grand Slam at home at Wimbledon is a dream come true,” said Hewett. “It’s been an incredible few weeks after winning the World Team Cup and I’m really excited to play on the famous grass courts and to experience the atmosphere and all the support from a home crowd.”
A total of £64,000 in prize money is on offer for the wheelchair tennis doubles competition and the event will be played from Friday 10th July to Sunday 12th July.
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