Several wheelchair tennis stars cemented their greatness on Friday at Melbourne Park with doubles titles at Australian Open 2024.
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British superstars Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid claimed their fifth consecutive AO men’s wheelchair doubles trophy, after Diede de Groot won her fourth women’s doubles title on the trot – this time with fellow Dutchwoman Jiske Griffioen.
As those victories unfolded at Kia Arena, long-time combination Andy Lapthorne and David Wagner claimed their fifth AO quad doubles title with a thrilling triumph in a match tiebreak at MCA.
Following persistent rain in Melbourne on Thursday, the champions were required to play their semifinal and final matches on Friday.
Men’s doubles final
After Hewett and Reid dismissed Japanese duo Daisuke Arai and Takashi Sanada in the semis, they faced another Japanese team – this one comprising Takuya Miki and Tokito Oda – and won similarly convincingly.
Their 6-3 6-2 triumph earned the Brits their 19th Grand Slam wheelchair doubles title, nearly eight years after they captured their first at Wimbledon in 2016.
“Obviously it makes us pretty happy, to be honest,” Reid reflected.
“Really proud as well, because it's not been easy, it never is easy to win any of them, because there are always strong teams that we're coming up against. Obviously we've got a big target on our back as the guys who've been dominating recently. We've always got teams gunning for us.
“I think the numbers are sort of secondary to us. We enjoy them when we hear them afterwards, but for us really I think the key the last few years has been trying to push ourselves as a team, trying to progress the style of play that we bring to the court, and the way that we approach matches.
“I think that's the main thing that's kept us motivated and kept us working hard to try and improve the team, and then if we've managed to produce those performances, then usually the results follow.”
Hewett will return to Kia Arena on Saturday for the men’s wheelchair singles final against Oda.
Women’s doubles final
For De Groot, she was the three-time defending champion at Melbourne Park, but had won that hattrick of titles with Aniek Van Koot.
This time, it was Griffioen by her side, a player who had previously won five AO women’s wheelchair doubles titles – her first coming all the way back in 2006 with Dutch legend Esther Vergeer.
De Groot and Griffioen outplayed South African-Japanese duo Kgothatso Montjane and Yui Kamiji at Kia Arena, winning 6-3 7-6(2).
Earlier on Friday, they overwhelmed Dana Mathewson and Manami Tanaka 6-2 6-0 to reach the final.
“I retired in 2017 and decided to come back in 2020, but my main focus was the Grand Slams,” said Griffioen, aged 38.
“I think all the titles we are winning, for me, are all a bonus, on an already beautiful career … being able to come back even at this age and still play at the top of the game and even winning titles is a real treat, is a bonus, is a great feeling.”
For De Groot, it’s an incredible 18th Grand Slam doubles title, and she’ll shoot for her 14th consecutive major singles title in Saturday’s final against Kamiji.
Quad doubles final
For Lapthorne and Wagner, Friday’s quad doubles victory – achieved via a 6-4 3-6 [10-2] win against Donald Ramphadi and Guy Sasson – was achieved exactly 10 years after their maiden victory as a duo at Melbourne Park.
Their triumphs in 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2022 helped them when Friday’s decider entered its thrilling final stage.
“We're playing a guy out there today that was in his first Grand Slam final. I was well aware of that, and knew that if I could just use all my experience, use all my championships, go back on that and lean on that experience, that would probably be enough and would pay off,” Lapthorne explained.
“I played probably one of the best 10, 15 minutes of tennis that I've ever played at a Grand Slam in terms of just not missing a ball and feeling really confident on every ball under the amount of pressure.”
For Wagner, Friday’s final at MCA brought not only joy, but pride at being involved with the wheelchair game’s exponential growth at the Australian Open.
“I can speak to being here from day one in 2008 for the quads … and it's cool to just see the progression and the way the sport has evolved,” he said.
“The way it's been embraced here in Australia … not just the typical Aussie way of ‘let's just support our own people’, but they get behind it and support the whole movement as a whole of wheelchair tennis.
“It's awesome and it's really cool to be part of that, just a small part of that. Keep pushing the boundaries and keep pushing the increases in exposure and draw size and all of that.”