Alfie Hewett (born 6 December 1997) is a British wheelchair tennis player. He is the current world No. 1 in doubles, and a former world No. 1 in singles. Hewett is a 21-time

major Major ( commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicato ...

champion, having won six titles in singles and 15 in doubles, the latter all partnering Gordon Reid. The pair completed the

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

in 2021, becoming the first to do so in wheelchair men's doubles since

Stéphane Houdet Stéphane Houdet (born 20 November 1970) is a French wheelchair tennis player. Houdet is a former singles world number one, and the current doubles world number one. In 2014, he became the first man in history to complete the calendar-year Gran ...

in 2014. Hewett is also a three-time

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...

silver medalist, and won the

Wheelchair Tennis Masters The Wheelchair Tennis Masters refers to a pair of end of year tennis events for wheelchair athletes held on an annual basis under the jurisdiction of the International Tennis Federation. The Wheelchair Tennis Masters for singles is an end-of-yea ...

in both singles and doubles in 2017. Hewett was born with a congenital heart defect that required surgery at six months, and also suffered from

Legg–Calvé–Perthes disease Legg–Calvé–Perthes disease (LCPD) is a childhood hip disorder initiated by a disruption of blood flow to the head of the femur. Due to the lack of blood flow, the bone dies (osteonecrosis or avascular necrosis) and stops growing. Over time, ...

, a condition that inhibits blood flow from the pelvis to the hip joint. His ability to walk has been severely impaired and he has been using a wheelchair since being six years old. Though able to walk, Hewett is not fully mobile in the conventional sense and cannot do able-bodied sports.

Tennis career

Hewett attended Acle High School and went on to study Sport and Exercise Science at

City College Norwich City College Norwich is a college of further and higher education in Norfolk, England. It is one of the largest colleges in the country. The College has expanded in recent years following mergers with Easton College in 2020 and Paston College ...

. In July 2016 Hewett won the 2016 Wimbledon Championships – Wheelchair men's doubles, alongside Gordon Reid, coming back from a set down to win against the French pair

and

Nicolas Peifer Nicolas Peifer (born 13 October 1990, in Strasbourg) is a French wheelchair tennis player. In doubles, Peifer has completed the career Super Slam, having won all four majors, a Paralympic gold medal in 2016, and the Wheelchair Tennis Masters o ...

. He won a silver medal in the men's singles event at

Rio 2016 ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...

and silver in the doubles event with partner Gordon Reid, who beat him in the singles final. In May 2017 Hewett won his first

in singles at the French Open, beating Gustavo Fernández of

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

in three sets, despite losing the first to love. In July 2017, in a repeat of the final a year earlier, Hewett won the 2017 Wimbledon Championships – Wheelchair men's doubles, alongside Reid, winning in three sets against Houdet and Peifer. Hewett won the 2017 NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters in Loughborough, UK. He ended 2017 ranked No 2 in the world, then a career-high. On 29 January 2018 Hewett became the world number 1. In March 2018 Hewett won his first Super Series singles title at the Cajun Classic in Baton Rouge, USA. On 2 September 2018 he claimed his second Super Series title at the US Open USTA Wheelchair Championships in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

. Later that month Hewett won the singles title at the US Open as well as the doubles title with Gordon Reid. In September 2019 he successfully defended both his singles and, with Gordon Reid, doubles titles at the US Open. In 2020 Hewett won the French Open singles title in three sets against

Joachim Gérard Joachim Gérard (born 15 October 1988) is a Belgian wheelchair tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 1 in singles. Gérard has won two Grand Slam singles titles (2021 Australian Open, 2021 Wimbledon Championships) and four doubles titles ...

and partnered Reid to win all three available Grand Slam doubles titles at the Australian Open, US Open and French Open, with the Wimbledon Championships cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. After winning a silver medal in the men's doubles with Gordon Reid at the 2020 Summer Paralympics and losing the bronze medal singles match to Reid, world number 2 Hewett spoke about his Paralympic future being "out of his hands", due to a review into whether his disability is severe enough to qualify him to play in a wheelchair under the 2019 revision of

International Tennis Federation The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is the governing body of world tennis, wheelchair tennis, and beach tennis. It was founded in 1913 as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by twelve national tennis associations. As of 2016, there ...

rules. Hewett was allowed to continue his tennis career after an alteration to the new ITF rules in November 2021.

Career Statistics

Grand Slam performance timelines

Wheelchair singles

Wheelchair doubles

Grand Slam tournament finals

=Wheelchair singles: 12 (6 titles, 6 runner-ups)

=Wheelchair doubles: 21 (15 titles, 6 runner-ups)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hewett, Alfie 1997 births Living people British male tennis players British wheelchair tennis players French Open champions Wimbledon champions US Open (tennis) champions British disabled sportspeople Paralympic wheelchair tennis players of Great Britain Paralympic silver medalists for Great Britain Paralympic medalists in wheelchair tennis Wheelchair tennis players at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair tennis players at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Tennis people from Norfolk People educated at City College Norwich People from Cantley, Norfolk ITF number 1 ranked wheelchair tennis players