- Born: 11.10.1990
- Plays: Left-handed, quad division
- Lives: Eastcote, Middlesex
- Career Titles (singles): 13
- Career Titles (doubles): 19
- Coach: Stuart Wilkinson
- Highest Ranking: 2 (April 2013)
- Website: http://www.andylapthorne.net (link opens in new window)
- Current rankings and activity (link opens in new window)
Born with cerebral palsy, Andy took up wheelchair tennis after first trying the sport at a Tennis Foundation wheelchair tennis camp in 2005. After a successful career as a junior and gaining his senior men’s singles world ranking, Andy was classified into the sport’s quad division at the end of 2008. In 2009 he made a sensational quad doubles debut partnership with fellow Briton and Paralympic champion Peter Norfolk. Andy and Peter beat reigning Paralympic champions Nick Taylor and David Wagner of the USA en route to winning the Florida Open title.
Andy won his first two international quad singles titles in 2009 and was part of the Great Britain team that won the quad title at the World Team Cup in Nottingham. He ended 2010 by partnering Peter Norfolk to victory in the quad event at the Doubles Masters. Andy was awarded a wild card for the 2011 Australian Open, where he and Norfolk became the first all-British partnership to win a wheelchair tennis Grand Slam doubles title. After reaching world No.4 in the world rankings in summer 2011, Andrew made his NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters debut in November 2011, finishing runner-up in the prestigious event to Israel’s Noam Gershony.
Andy started 2012 by partnering Norfolk to retain their Australian Open quad doubles title, which was the first of four titles they won together last season. They also won the quad doubles gold medal at the Eton Manor International, the Test Event for the London 2012 Paralympics, before going on to win the quad doubles silver medal at the Paralympic Games in September. Andy also won the ITF 1 Series Cajun Classic and South African Open titles before ending the year by winning the Nottingham Indoors to again secure his qualification for the NEC Masters, where he was once more runner-up.
He started 2013 by reaching his first Australian Open quad singles final and earning a return to his career best quad singles world ranking of No. 3. He then went on to claim his first career Super Series singles title when he won the South Africa Open in April and climb to No.2 in the world.
Andy was runner-up at the USTA Championships, the final Super Series of the year, in September, before making his debut at the US Open, the last Grand Slam of the year, in New York. He retained his quad singles title at the Nottingham Indoor at the end of October, where he was a finalist in the quad doubles and ended his international season with third place in the quad singles at the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters in the USA. In December Andy became British quad singles champion for the second time.
He started 2014 by finishing runner-up in the quad singles at the Melbourne Open and then won his third Australian Open quad doubles title. After beating world No. 1 David Wagner in the round-robn phase of the quad singles at the Australian Open, Andy beat Wagner again to win the Atlanta Open at the beginning of May. He ended May in glorious fashion, helping Great Britain to win the quad title at the BNP Paribas World Team Cup in the Netherlands.
Andy won the quad doubles at the French Open Super Series in June with fellow Brit Antony Cotterill before also reaching his first British Open quad singles final in July. Andy reached his second successive Super Series singles final at the USTA Championships, where he also finished runner-up in the quad doubles before winning his first Grand Slam singles title at the US Open in New York. His last finterntional inals of 2014 came in November, finishing runner-up with fellow Brit Jamie Burdekin at the UNIQLO Wheelchair Doubles Masters and then being runners-up in the quad singles and winning the quad doubles with Burdekin at the Nottingham Indoor. He ended the year by winning his third National quad singles title and second National quad doubles title.
Andy started 2015 by winning his fourth Austalian Open quad doubles title and his second in successive years with the USA's David Wagner. He was also runner-up in singles and doubles at the USN Bolton Arena Indoor. Andy won the quad doubles at the Cajun Classic, partbering fellow Brit Jamie Burdekin, in March and he was also runner-up in the quad singles after beating Australian world No. 2 Dlyan Alcott in the semis. Most recently, Andy partnered Antony Cotterill to win their second quud doubles Super Series title together, at the South Africa Open.
Biography up-to-date as of April 2015
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