Great Britain’s wheelchair tennis players have ended a phenomenally successful 2014 on a high, having won more titles than any other nation in 2014.
Players from Great Britain won a total of 80 titles across the seven tiers of tournaments and World Team Cup competition on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) calendar, highlighting the strength and depth of wheelchair tennis in Great Britain.
From ITF Futures events right up to Grand Slams, Britain’s players have demonstrated they are a force to be reckoned with as they work towards the 2016 Paralympics in Rio. They not only finished top for total number of events won, but also won more doubles, ITF 1 and junior titles than any other country.
Among the Brits to have a fantastic year was Jordanne Whiley, who is one of 18 players on the Tennis Foundation’s Wheelchair Tennis Performance Programme. The 22-year-old became the first British tennis player in history to complete a calendar year Grand Slam after partnering Japan’s Yui Kamiji to win the women’s doubles at all four majors, leaving her second only to Kamiji in terms of overall number of women’s singles and doubles title won during 2014 with an impressive 13. Just behind Whiley were fellow Brits Louise Hunt and Lucy Shuker who rounded off excellent seasons with recent trophies to make it nine tournaments apiece.
Hunt, who recently won her first National singles title, ended her international season by winning the women’s doubles at the Prague Cup Czech Indoor as Shuker also collected the women’s singles at the last world ranking event of the year to feature British players.
Numerically, world junior No.1 Alfie Hewett was the most successful British men’s player, picking up 12 singles and doubles titles in 2014, leaving him third behind 16-time Grand Slam Champion Stephane Houdet from France and recent NEC Masters champion Shingo Kunieda. Britain’s world No.3 Gordon Reid, Tennis Scotland’s International Player of the Year, won ten titles during the year and cemented his career high ranking. His triumphs included a first Super Series singles title at the Sydney International Open, where his semi-final win over Japan’s Shingo Kunieda saw him become the only player to beat the world no.1 during 2014.
At the highest level of competition Brits won six Grand Slam titles in 2014. Alongside Whiley’s calendar Grand Slam success, Andy Lapthorne partnered American David Wagner to the Australian Open quad doubles title and in September he won his first quad singles title at the US Open.
“It’s been an incredible year for me personally and the whole of British wheelchair tennis,” said British No.1 Whiley. “I’ve had an amazing year winning the doubles calendar Grand Slam and huge thanks have to go to all my coaches and support staff, as well as the Tennis Foundation and UK Sport. I’m looking forward to 2015 and am aiming for even more success with a particular focus on my singles game as I build on a successful end to 2014 after finishing third at the NEC Masters.”
“It’s been an exceptional year for British wheelchair tennis, with many highlights,” said Geraint Richards, the Tennis Foundation’s Head of Disability Player Performance. “Behind each player’s success there is a large team of individual coaches, Tennis Foundation colleagues and much wider support staff, as well as the invaluable support our whole programme has from UK Sport through National Lottery funding. As we go into 2015 I hope that our players continue to inspire with their performances and we can get more and more players playing wheelchair tennis and realising their potential.”
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