Grand Slam champions Andy Lapthorne and Jordanne Whiley were both multiple winners at the 2014 British Wheelchair Tennis Awards, which were presented at the Cheltenham Chase Hotel during the National Wheelchair Tennis Championships and National Development Series Finals.
US Open champion Lapthorne was named Male Player of the Year after winning the first Grand Slam quad singles title of his career in September in New York. His US Open title was one of two singles international titles Lapthorne won during 2014, which started by him winning third Australian Open quad doubles title.
Lapthorne received a second award when Great Britain’s quad team were named Team of the Year following their BNP Paribas World Team Cup victory in May. Lapthorne, Antony Cotterill and Jamie Burdekin were all members of the team, which clinched the title after beating the USA in a deciding championship tie-break in the doubles rubber in the final.
Whiley picked up three awards after her memorable season in which she became the first British tennis player in history to win a calendar year Grand Slam, having partnered Japan’s Yui Kamiji to win the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open. Whiley and Kamiji also retained their Doubles Masters title, with Whiley also winning two singles titles and reaching her first Grand Slam singles semi-final in Australia. Her achievements also resulted in Whiley being name Dan Maskell Players’ Player of the Year, winning an award voted for by her fellow wheelchair tennis players, as well as receiving the annual Jim Cochrane Award. Awarded annually in memory of the former President of the LTA and former Chairman of the Tennis Foundation, the Jim Cochrane award is presented in recognition of immense contribution to wheelchair tennis in Great Britain.
World No. 1 ranked junior Alfie Hewett was named Junior Player of the Year. Aged 16, Hewett started 2014 by winning his third successive Junior Masters singles and doubles titles and has also attained the British senior men’s No. 3 ranking during the year, having earned a career best men’s singles ranking of No. 17 in September. Hewett, who turned 17 during the National Championships, also won two ITF 3 men’s singles titles and eight senior men’s doubles title in 2014.
The Newcomer of the Year Award went to 14-year-old Luz Esperanza Merry. Merry only started playing wheelchair tennis competitively in May 2013 and in her first full season in the sport she has reached a career best of No. 5 on the junior singles rankings and has reached career best senior rankings of No. 47 in women’s singles and No. 44 in women’s doubles. Merry recently won her first international senior women’s singles title in Wrexham shortly before her 14th birthday and this season she has also won three senior women’s doubles titles as well as qualifying to make her debut in the Junior Masters in January 2015.
The USN Bolton Arena Indoor, an ITF 2 Series event that was held for the first time in 2014, was named Tournament of the Year after attracting an outstanding entry of more than 60 players from 13 countries and being organised to an extremely highest standard under the guidance of tournament director Tony Knappett.
Mike Phillipson, the current head of the volunteer team for the Tennis Foundation’s wheelchair tennis tournaments held in Nottingham – the British Open Super Series and Nottingham Indoor ITF 1 Series - was also presented with a merit award, at least one of which is presented annually to individuals or organisations who have made a valuable contribution to wheelchair tennis locally or nationally.
2014 British Wheelchair Tennis Awards Winners:
Male Player of the Year – Andy Lapthorne
Female Player of the Year – Jordanne Whiley
Junior Player of the Year – Alfie Hewett
Newcomer of the Year – Luz Esperanza Merry
Team of the Year – GB Quad Team, World Team Cup (Jamie Burdekin, Antony Cotterill, Andy Lapthorne)
Tournament of the Year - USN Bolton Arena Indoor
Dan Maskell Players’ Player of the Year – Jordanne Whiley
Jim Cochrane Award – Jordanne Whiley
Merit Award – Mike Phillipson
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