Top wheelchair tennis player Peter Norfolk has been presented with the Carl Aarvold Award for International Achievement at the LTA Wimbledon Ball in London during The Championships.
On receiving the award Peter said: 'I am flattered and honoured to win this prestigious award. I was quite surprised to be chosen but am delighted to receive it!'
The Carl Aarvold Award was introduced in 1982 in honour of Sir Carl Aarvold, President of the LTA between 1963 and 1981. The award rewards a person who has made a significant contribution to tennis at an international level.
LTA President Peter Bretherton, presented Peter with the award and commented: “We are privileged to have this most prodigious and successful athlete playing tennis, and inspiring all who see him play with his determination and talent."
Peter Norfolk, who only took up tennis regularly when he was 30, is a double Paralympic champion in the quad division of wheelchair tennis and has won six Grand Slam singles titles and has also won three Singles Masters and three Doubles Masters in an illustrious career.
Peter was the winner of the inaugural Quad Singles Paralympic Tennis Title in Athens in 2004, where he was also a silver medallist in the quad doubles. He retained his Paralympic title in Beijing in 2008, as well as a bronze in the doubles. And of course he is now preparing to scale the heights again in his third Paralympic games.
Peter helped Great Britain win the Quad title at the ITF World Team Cup in 2001, 2002 and 2009, with silver in 2003 and 2012, and bronze in 2011.
He has won 6 quad singles wheelchair events at Grand Slams, including the US Open in 2007 and 2009, the Australian Open in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012.
Peter has been world No 1 quad singles player for nearly every year of the last decade. He ended 2010 by winning both the Singles Masters and Doubles Masters titles in the same season for the first time.
Peter is an inspiration for athletes everywhere. In January 2011 he partnered fellow Brit Andy Lapthorne to win the quad doubles at the Australian Open. They retained their title in Melbourne in 2012, the first all-British doubles partnership to win a Grand Slam wheelchair tennis title.
Most recently he won the quad singles and doubles at the Paralympic test event at Eton Manor on the Olympic Site in Stratford, London. Peter has been a wonderful ambassador for British tennis for many years and the best of luck goes out to him ahead of the London 2012 Paralympic Games.
Previous winners of the Carl Aarvold Award for International Achievement
Read the presentation speech given by Peter Bretherton, President, Lawn Tennis Association