- Wheelchair tennis draw to take place at Roland Garros on Thursday afternoon, 3 June
- Brits Alfie Hewett, Gordon Reid, Jordanne Whiley and Andy Lapthorne in action 4-7 June
Britain’s Alfie Hewett, Gordon Reid, Jordanne Whiley and Andy Lapthorne begin their French Open wheelchair tennis challenges at Roland Garros on Friday, with the quartet of players on the LTA’s Wheelchair Performance Pathway bidding to build on the 44 Grand Slam titles they have so far amassed between them.
World No.4 Whiley arrives in Paris in fine form, having beaten Dutch world No.3 Aniek van Koot to reach the final of her first clay court tournament of the season last week in Le Touquet, Whiley went on to take a set from world No.2 Yui Kamiji for the first time since the 2015 US Open final when they met in the final in Le Touquet. Having led the final set 5-3 before finishing runner-up to Kamiji, Whiley said:
“I’m disappointed to have lost to Yui last week, but I can see so many positives going into Roland Garros. I had a disaster at the Loughborough Indoor at the end of March, where I lost to Aniek in the semis and I really knuckled down after that. Now I feel like I’m in a really good place and I have high hopes for Roland Garros.”
Among Whiley’s hopes for Roland Garros are to add to the 11 Grand Slam doubles titles she has won partnering best friend Kamiji after they won their 21st career doubles title together in Le Touquet last week.
“Obviously it was great to be back playing with Yui for the first time since Roland Garros last October, where we just missed out in a match tie-break in the final. We had some competitive matches in Le Touquet and it’s left us feeling strong for our return to Paris,” added Whiley.
Friday afternoon’s wheelchair draw at Roland Garros could see Whiley drawn against either Kamiji or van Koot as one of seven possible first round opponents for her opening match on Friday.
Equally, defending Roland Garros men’s singles champion world No.3 Alfie Hewett and fellow Brit and world No.4 Gordon Reid could find themselves drawn against either of the world’s top two ranked players, Shingo Kunieda and Gustavo Fernandez. Hewett bowed out to world No.2 Fernandez in the semi-finals in Le Toquet but beat the Argentinian in the semi-finals at Roland Garros last October, having also beaten Fernandez to win his first career Grand Slam title in Paris in 2017.
A quarter-finalist in Le Touquet before his singles challenge ended against world No.1 Kunieda, Reid has faced Fernandez in his two Roland Garros men’s singles finals to date, in 2016 and 2019.
Aside from their singles title bids, Hewett and Reid will also hope to become the outright holders of the record for most Grand Slam doubles titles won by any all-British partnership. After winning their first Roland Garros doubles title together in October last year they added their second Australian Open title in January and currently share the British record of 10 Grand Slam titles with brothers Laurie and Reginald, won their 10 Grand Slam titles between 1897 and 1905.
Quad singles world No.2 and 12-time Grand Slam doubles champion Lapthorne heads into his second appearance at Roland Garros on the back of finishing runner-up to Dutchman Niels Vink in Le Touquet last week and seeking a career Grand Slam of doubles titles. He said:
“It’s great to be back in Paris after a decent performance at my first clay court event of the season last week. Roland Garros is this only Grand Slam at which I’ve not won a singles or doubles title so far and I’ll be doing all I possibly can to change that this year and add to my 12 trophies from the Slams.”
With Vink not among Lapthorne’s potential semi-final singles opponents in Paris, the Rio Paralympic silver medallist will face a singles semi-final against either Australia’s Dylan Alcott, Dutchman Sam Schroder or the USA’s David Wagner.
Lapthorne will also partner Wagner for the quad doubles, the Anglo-American duo having previously won three Australian Open and two US Open quad doubles titles together.
For news and updates from the wheelchair tennis draws and the fortunes of the Brits at the French Open at Roland Garros, follow on Twitter @the_LTA and @WChairTennisGB.
Photo courtesy of LTA