The victory alongside Alfie Hewett brings Reid’s Majors tally in doubles to a record 26 titles.
By Paul Morrison
Scotland’s Gordon Reid was victorious once again in Melbourne as the tennis legend clinched a sixth consecutive Australian Open title in the wheelchair doubles event.
Gordon sealed the championship on Friday (24th) morning with long-time doubles partner Alfie Hewett, defeating the pairing of Daniel Caverzaschi and Stephane Houdet in straight sets.
The championship saw Gordon earn his 26th Grand Slam title in men’s doubles – extending his lead in the all-time records – while it also serves as the 22nd major that the British duo have won together.
The Australian Open success extends the pair’s unbeaten start to the 2025 season in doubles, following last week’s Melbourne Wheelchair Open win.
Following the win, the 33-year-old Scot said that, “Never accepting and expecting to win and always trying to push ourselves” is the key to their success.
Gordon was also in action in the men’s singles tournament at the Australian Open as the 2016 champion defeated Belgium’s Joachim Gerard in the first round before falling to fourth seed Gustavo Fernandez in a tight quarter-final contest.
Coming into the doubles tournament as top seeds and five-time defending champions, Gordon and Alfie began their title defense in the quarter-final by quickly dispatching of Japanese duo Daisuke Arai and Takuya Miki 6-2, 6-0 in a one-sided contest that lasted just over an hour.
The semi-final saw the British duo face Martin de la Puente and Ruben Spaargaren from Spain and the Netherlands. While facing a tougher test against their opponents to reach the final, Gordon and Alfie battled through to win the match in straight sets, with a single break being enough to take both sets.
Fans in the UK would have to wake up in the early hours of Friday morning to watch the duo compete in the final of the year’s first Grand Slam as they played Spain’s Daniel Caverzaschi and France legend Stephane Houdet at the KIA Arena for the chance to win their sixth Australian Open championship in a row.
Caverzaschi and Houdet took an early 2-1 lead in the first set after breaking Gordon’s service game before a 30-minute burst of form saw the British pair win five straight games to take the first set 6-2.
The second set started in identical fashion when Gordon’s serve was broken again to trail 2-1 before an instant break back saw the set go back on serve at 2-2. Gordon and Alfie struggled to get in front through the second set, unable to hold a break on Caverzaschi’s serve as Gordon lost his service game once more to keep the set level at 4-4.
Leading 5-4, the British pair applied pressure in the crucial game of the set and after some unforced errors by their opponents, Gordon and Alfie sealed the title by breaking serve in a tense game to seal another trophy in their prestigious careers.
In the post-match press conference, Gordon gave his thoughts of what drives the pair to continue creating history within wheelchair tennis and winning more tournaments, saying: “I think the key thing is just never resting on where we are and never being happy with our level, our performance, and always trying to improve.
“No matter which title we’ve won or which number it is, we always go back and review it and see where we can improve and get better.”
Alfie completed an Australian Open double as he took the title in the men’s wheelchair singles final, beating world number one Tokito Oda on Saturday (25th) morning.
There was more British success as Andy Lapthorne became champion in the quad wheelchair doubles in Melbourne for an eighth time.
Gordon will look to continue the early success in 2025 when he competes in February’s ABN Amro Open in Rotterdam.
(Source for quotes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ba6eUKmmuUI&pp=ygUbZ29yZG9uIHJlaWQgYXVzdHJhbGlhbiBvcGVu)