Cantley’s Alfie Hewett has enjoyed a memorable few days after picking up a prestigious British Tennis Award and winning both the men’s singles and the men’s doubles at the Sion Indoor in Switzerland, his last international tournament of the year on the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour.
Hewett was named Aegon GB Tennis Junior Player of the Year on Monday at a presentation at the Barclays World Tour Finals at the end of the year in which he has won three Aegon Junior Player of the Month awards.
The 15-year-old collected the monthly award for January after starting 2013 as world No. 1 in the junior boys’ singles rankings and retaining his boy’s singles and doubles titles at the Cruyff Foundation Junior Masters in Tarbes, France.
The Norfolk player then won the award again in April after winning the men’s singles and doubles at the Open International Fundacion Emilio Sanchez Vicario in Madrid, where victory also earned him the senior British men’s No. 4
Hewett then remained unbeaten in his singles matches when he was a member of GB’s three-strong World Team Cup-winning junior team in Turkey in May, a performance that saw the trio share Junior Player of the Month award.
“I’m delighted to accept this award and it’s a very nice way to end a very successful year for me, both as a junior and in senior competition,” said Hewett, who was one of two players on the Tennis Foundation's Disability Tennis Performance Programme to collect British Tennis Awards on the first day of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. “I’d like to thank the Tennis Foundation for their support again this year and my coach, family and everyone behind me for all their support in helping me achieve my goals.”
He has continued to go from strength-to-strength and collected his award at the O2 Arena just 24 hours after justifying top seeding to seal victory in the men’s singles and doubles in Sion to claim another brace of titles.
After dropping just one game in each of his first two singles matches Hewett battled through both his semi-final and final in three sets, defeating French second seed David Dalmasso 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 in the final.
Hewett also partnered Dalmasso to win the men’s doubles, the duo again dropping just one game apiece in their first two matches before defeating Morocco’s Lhaj Boukartacha and Sebastien Husser of France 6-3, 6-3 in the final.
“I’m very happy to come away from another overseas tournament with two tiitles. I’ve played three tough matches against David this season and this is the second time I’ve been beaten him in three sets, so I’m very pleased,” said 15-year-old Hewett, the world No. 1 ranked junior and current senior British men’s No. 4, who ends 2013 having won five ITF 3 Series singles titles and a total of eight doubles titles. “I’ve had some very good results against some higher ranked players and look forward to further success in 2014.”
Hewett’s success in Sion came just days after he won the men’s consolation singles at the Nottingham Indoor, Britain’s last world ranking tournament of the year. After missing out against two-time Paralympian and British No. 3 David Phillipson, the player world ranked just one place above world No. 22 Hewett, the Acle High School pupil reeled off a series of straight sets wins to win the consolation event.