Gordon Reid won his third men’s singles title, while Louise Hunt claimed her first women’s title when the 2014 National Wheelchair Tennis Championships drew to a close on Sunday at Oxstalls Sports Park, Gloucester, with Andy Lapthorne winning his third quad singles National title on Saturday’s penultimate day of competition.
British No. 1 Reid, whose first National title came in Gloucester in 2007 when he became the youngest men’s National champion at the age of 15, regained the title in 2013 and secured a successful defence with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over British No. 3 and 2008 champion David Phillipson.
“This is a great way to end a very good season. After winning here in Gloucester aged 15 and then missing a few subsequent National Championships in between due to playing international tournaments, it’s really nice to come back and defend the title I won in London last year,” said world No. 3 Reid.
Phillipson upset the seeding in the men’s singles semi-finals, beating British No. 2 Marc McCarroll to reach his second successive final and went on to leave Gloucester this year with his fourth National doubles title after partnering Alfie Hewett to a 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 win over top seeds McCarroll and Reid in the final of that event. It was a first senior National title for world No. 1 ranked junior Hewett, who turned 17 on Saturday.
Hunt secured her first singles and doubles clean sweep as she finished the women’s singles without dropping a game, wrapping up her first National women’s title with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Val Fisher. Hunt and Laura Coteman then beat Debbie Brazier and Fisher 6-0, 6-1 in the women’s doubles final as Hunt earned her sixth National doubles crowned and Coteman won her first.
“After winning a string of National doubles titles I’m really happy to finally get my name on the women’s singles roll of honour and to finally be able to call myself National Champion,” said Hunt. “It’s a nice way to be able to go into 2015 and after winning my last international doubles title of the year last weekend in Prague it’s a pretty successful end to 2014.”
US Open champion Lapthorne also earned a brace of National titles, beating fellow world top 10 ranked countryman Antony Cotterill 6-1, 7-5 in the quad singles final. The world No. 3 then partnered James Shaw, the most recent addition to the Tennis Foundation’s Wheelchair Tennis Performance Programme, to win the quad doubles as they overcame Richard Green and Ian Payne 3-6, 6-0, 6-3.
“It’s always nice to end the year as National champion and I’ve won the last three quad singles events at the Nationals, so it’s a great way to go into Christmas,” said Lapthorne. “It was also really nice to partner James to the doubles win and his first National title. It’s great to see new players coming through, especially new quad players. Hopefully our event will continue to get stronger and stronger and a lot more players will be in the draw as we build beyond Rio towards Tokyo.”
Alongside the National Championships, Oxstalls Sports Park also hosted the Tennis Foundation’s National Development Series Finals, with Pim Palmen dropping just eight games in four matches to win the men’s singles for the first time, while 2013 runners-up Sarah Gaisford won a decisive championship tie-break in her fourth and final round-robin match to clinch the women’s singles.
Lapthorne and Hewett were among the players recognised when the British Wheelchair Tennis Awards were presented during the National Championships, with Lapthorne’s first Grand Slam singles title in New York among one of the performances that saw him being named Male Player of the Year.
Hewett was also named Junior Player of the Year after starting 2014 by winning his third Junior Masters singles and doubles titles and retaining the world No. 1 junior ranking throughout the year, as well as winning two ITF 3 men’s singles titles and eight senior men’s doubles title in 2014.
While sitting out this year’s National Championships after a busy and highly successful year, Jordanne Whiley gained a hat-trick of awards as she was named Female Player of the Year and Dan Maskell Players’ Player of the Year, an award voted for by her peers.
The first British tennis player in history to complete a calendar year Grand Slam, after winning all four women’s doubles majors with Japan’s Yui Kamiji, Whiley also received the 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.
Hewett was also named Junior Player of the Year after starting 2014 by winning his third Junior Masters singles and doubles titles and retaining the world No. 1 junior ranking throughout the year, as well as winning two ITF 3 men’s singles titles and eight senior men’s doubles title in 2014.
While sitting out this year’s National Championships after a busy and highly successful year, Jordanne Whiley gained a hat-trick of awards as she was named Female Player of the Year and Dan Maskell Players’ Player of the Year, an award voted for by her peers.
The first British tennis player in history to complete a calendar year Grand Slam, after winning all four women’s doubles majors with Japan’s Yui Kamiji, Whiley also received the 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.