Dylan Martin Alcott, (born 4 December 1990) is an Australian former

wheelchair tennis Wheelchair tennis is one of the forms of tennis adapted for wheelchair users. The size of the court, net height and rackets are the same, but there are two major differences from pedestrian tennis: athletes use specially designed wheelchairs, ...

player, former

wheelchair basketball Wheelchair basketball is basketball played by people with varying physical disabilities that disqualify them from playing a non-disabled sport. These include spina bifida, birth defects, cerebral palsy, paralysis due to accident, amputations (of ...

player, radio host and motivational speaker. Alcott was a member of the

Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team The Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team is the men's wheelchair basketball side that represents Australia in international competitions. The team is known as the Rollers. Australia took the gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Paralymp ...

, known colloquially as the Australian "Rollers". At the age of 17, he became the youngest Rollers gold medal winner at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, and was the youngest to compete in the wheelchair basketball competition. In 2014, he returned to wheelchair tennis with the aim of participating at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, at which he won gold medals in the Men's Quad Singles and Doubles. He was named the 2016 Australian Paralympian of the Year due to his outstanding achievements at Rio. Alcott is the only man to complete the

Golden Slam The Grand Slam in tennis is the achievement of winning all four major championships in one discipline in a calendar year, also referred to as the "Calendar-year Grand Slam" or "Calendar Slam". In doubles, a team may accomplish the Grand Slam p ...

in quad singles, winning all four majors and the Paralympics in 2021. In addition, he also won a separate non-calendar-year Grand Slam in quad singles between 2018 and 2019. He is also the only man to complete 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 quad doubles, winning all four major titles in 2019. Alongside his sporting career, Alcott hosted the weekend afternoon radio show on Australian radio station

Triple J Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian Radio in Australia, radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greate ...

, and the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

live music show ''The Set'', as well as being a commentator for the 2019 Australian Open. He also was a member of the panel on the ''AFL Footy Show'' in 2019 until its cancellation. In 2022, Alcott was named Australian of the Year and was made an

Officer of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

. A portrait by Felix von Dallwitz titled ''Dylan Alcott, AOTY'' was a finalist in the 2022 Archibald Prize.

Early life

Dylan Alcott was born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Victoria, on 4 December 1990 to parents Martin and Resie. He has an older brother named Zack. He was born with a tumour wrapped around his

spinal cord The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular structure made up of nervous tissue, which extends from the medulla oblongata in the brainstem to the lumbar region of the vertebral column (backbone). The backbone encloses the central canal of the spi ...

which was operated on during the first few weeks of his life. The tumour was successfully cut out; however, it left Alcott a paraplegic, requiring him to use a wheelchair. Alcott attended Brighton Grammar School from year 6, and he competed for Victoria in swimming, and Australia for wheelchair tennis and wheelchair basketball. Alcott graduated Brighton Grammar school in 2008. Alcott's first sport of choice was wheelchair tennis, where he represented Australia on numerous occasions, reaching a ranking of 100 in the world by age 16 (4th in the world for under-18s).

Basketball

Alcott played his first game of wheelchair basketball aged 14. Alcott made his debut for the

, the Rollers, at the 2006

Wheelchair Basketball World Championship The IWBF World Wheelchair Basketball Championship is an international wheelchair basketball competition contested by the men's and the women's national teams of the members of the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation ( IWBF), the sport' ...

, where the team won the bronze medal. Alcott continued to hold his spot and was a member of the Rollers when the team travelled to the Beijing Olympic warm-up tournament in January 2008. Alcott made his name in basketball through his performances in the national league competition, competing for the Dandenong Rangers (no affiliation with the female team of the same name) and being selected in the all-star team for 2008. He has achieved success through junior competition as well, being named the Most Valuable Player at the Junior National Basketball Championships. Alcott was part of the gold medal-winning Rollers team at the

2008 Summer Paralympics The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games (), the 13th Summer Paralympic Games, took place in Beijing, China from September 6 to 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao. It was ...

, for which he received a

Medal of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

. In his first Paralympics, Alcott was quoted: "To be 17 and win gold... well it just doesn't get any better than that." In 2009, Alcott accepted a scholarship at the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Universit ...

, where he went on to win the College Championship division with the University of Illinois wheelchair basketball team. After one year of study, he decided to move back to Melbourne to train for the 2012 London Paralympic Games. In 2010, Alcott was a part of the Rollers' success at the

2010 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship The 2010 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship was held in Birmingham, Great Britain from 7 to 17 July 2010. Both the men's and women's tournaments were held. The Championships was a qualifying event for the London 2012 Paralympic Games. ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, England. It was the first world championship the Australian wheelchair basketball team had ever won, and Alcott was named in the World All Star 5 for the tournament. At the 2012 Summer Paralympics, Alcott was part of the Australian men's wheelchair team that won silver.

Tennis

Swiss Open Geneva - 20140712 - Semi final Quad - D

In 2014, Alcott returned to wheelchair tennis. At the age of 16, he was ranked inside the top five juniors in the world. In July 2014, he defeated world number three

Andy Lapthorne Andrew David Lapthorne (born 11 October 1990) is a British wheelchair tennis player. He took up wheelchair tennis in 2005, and entered the quad division in 2008. He is active in both singles and doubles tournaments, and has 13 multiple grand sl ...

7–5, 6–1 in the British Open Wheelchair Tennis Championship final in Nottingham to win his first Super Series crown. Early in the year, he won the New Zealand Open in just his second tournament appearance. In January 2015, he won the quad wheelchair Australian Open title by defeating David Wagner in straight sets. It was his maiden grand slam title. At the conclusion on 2015, he was ranked number 1 after winning eight titles including two grand slam singles titles. Alcott teamed up with

Heath Davidson Heath Arthur Davidson, (born 9 May 1987) is an Australian wheelchair tennis player. Davidson is a four-time Australian Open doubles champion, all partnering Dylan Alcott. He has also won two Paralympic medals, a gold and silver in doubles at t ...

to win the Men's Quad Doubles gold medal at the 2016 Rio Paralympics. They defeated the reigning champions David Wagner and Nick Taylor in the gold medal match 4–6, 6–4, 7–5. The day after winning gold in the Men's Doubles, he defeated

6–3, 6–4 to win the gold medal in the Men's Quad Singles. In 2018, Alcott won his first

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 ...

title in the Quads singles event.

Golden Slam: 2021

In 2021, Alcott became the third professional tennis player and only male player to win the calendar-year Golden Slam, winning singles titles in the

Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

, US Open and the singles gold medal at the

2020 Summer Paralympics The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, was an international multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the International Paralym ...

. He joined fellow professional wheelchair tennis player

Diede de Groot Diede de Groot (born 19 December 1996) is a Dutch wheelchair tennis player who is the current world No. 1 in both singles and doubles. De Groot is a 31-time major champion, having won 16 titles in singles, and 15 titles in doubles. In 2021, she ...

in achieving the feat in 2021. They were the first two professional tennis players since

Steffi Graf Stefanie Maria Graf ( , ; born 14 June 1969) is a German former professional tennis player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 for a record 377 weeks and won 22 major singles titles, ...

in 1988 to accomplish the feat. After winning the Paralympics gold medal, Alcott announced he would not be featuring in the 2024 Paris Paralympics, retiring from the competition. In November 2021, Alcott announced his intention to retire from professional tennis entirely following the January 2022 Australian Open.

Television presenting

Alcott has hosted ''Invictus Games Today'', alongside

Chris Bath Christine Bath (born 13 May 1967) is an Australian journalist, radio and television presenter and news anchor. Bath was host of Evenings on ABC Radio Sydney from 2017 to 2019, and has previously been a weekend presenter of ''Seven News'' in Sy ...

and Anthony "Lehmo" Lehmann, and ABC's live music show '' The Set''. He is a TV Week

Logie award The Logie Awards (officially the TV Week Logie Awards; colloquially known as The Logies) is an annual gathering to celebrate Australian television, sponsored and organised by the magazine ''TV Week''. The first ceremony was held in 1959 as the ...

winner.

Personal life

Alcott's return to wheelchair tennis after playing basketball resulted from an injury sustained in the lead-up to the 2012 Summer Paralympics. At an event, an inebriated person attempted to lift Alcott out of his wheelchair, leading to a fall in which Alcott sustained cuts from broken glass on the floor. He required a full hand reconstruction; once rehabilitated, he became eligible for a quad classification in tennis. Alcott has a Commerce degree from the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

. He currently works as a motivational speaker and as a radio host on

. In his spare time, Alcott attends music festivals, and he has become known for his "wheelchair crowdsurfing". In 2018, he launched Ability Fest, a universally accessible music festival, featuring pathways for wheelchairs, quiet areas for people with sensory disabilities, and

Auslan Auslan () is the majority sign language of the Australian Deaf community. The term ''Auslan'' is a portmanteau of "Australian Sign Language", coined by Trevor Johnston in the 1980s, although the language itself is much older. Auslan is relate ...

(Australian Sign Language) interpreters. Alcott's advice to young people with a disability is: "The biggest thing is that for every one thing you can’t do, there are 10,000 others you can. For every one idiot to give you a hard time, there are 10,000 others worth your time." In 2017, Alcott established the Dylan Alcott Foundation "with the core purpose of helping young Australians with disabilities gain self-esteem and respect through sport and study". In September 2017, Alcott was appointed Australian Patron for International Day of People with Disability. Alcott's autobiography, ''Able: Gold Medals, Grand Slams and Smashing Glass Ceilings'', written with help by Grantlee Kieza, was published by ABC Books in 2018. Alcott has also released the book in audiobook form, reading the book himself. Alcott's partner is

sex therapist Sex therapy is a strategy for the improvement of sexual function and treatment of sexual dysfunction. This includes sexual dysfunctions such as premature ejaculation or delayed ejaculation, erectile dysfunction, lack of sexual interest or arousa ...

Chantelle Otten.

Tennis career statistics

Performance timelines

''Current through 2021 US Open.''

Quad singles

Quad doubles

Grand Slam finals

Quad singles: 18 (15 titles, 3 runner-ups)

Quad doubles: 19 (8 titles, 11 runner-ups)

Paralympic gold medal matches

Quad singles: 2 (2 Gold medals)

Quad doubles: 2 (1 Gold medal, 1 Silver medal)

Recognition

* 2009 –

* 2015 –

Tennis Australia Tennis Australia Limited is the governing body for Tennis in Australia. It is owned by Australian states and territories. The association organises national and international Tennis tournaments including the Australian Open, the Australian Open S ...

Newcombe Medal The Newcombe Medal celebrates and recognizes the performances, achievements, and contributions made by members of the Australian tennis family each year. The awards are named after Australian tennis legend John Newcombe. The awards are present ...

nominee * 2015 –

Most Outstanding Athlete with a Disability * 2015 –

Victorian Institute of Sport The Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS) is the government-funded sporting institute of the Australian state of Victoria. It provides high performance sports programs for talented athletes, enabling them to achieve national and international succe ...

Award of Excellence * 2016 – Governor's Award for Victorian Sportsperson of the Year * 2016 – Finalist for 'The Don Award'

Sport Australia Hall of Fame The Sport Australia Hall of Fame was established on 10 December 1985 to recognise the achievements of Australian sportsmen and sportswomen. The inaugural induction included 120 members with Sir Don Bradman as the first inductee and Dawn Fraser th ...

awards * 2016 – Australian Paralympian of the Year and Australian Male Paralympian of the Year * 2016 –

Awards –

and shared the Most Outstanding Athlete with a Disability with doubles partner

* 2016 –

Elite Athlete with a Disability Award *2018 –

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 a ...

Quad Wheelchair World Champion * 2019 –

Logie Awards The Logie Awards (officially the TV Week Logie Awards; colloquially known as The Logies) is an annual gathering to celebrate Australian television, sponsored and organised by the magazine ''TV Week''. The first ceremony was held in 1959 as the ...

– Graham Kennedy Award for Most Popular New Talent *2019 –

Elite Athlete with a Disability Award *2019 –

Most Outstanding Athlete with a Disability *2022 – Victorian State Representative Australian of the Year *2021 - Governor’s Award Victorian Male Athlete of the Year – Frank Wilkes Award *2022 – Australian of the Year * 2022 –

for "distinguished service to paralympic sport, particularly to tennis, and as a role model for people with disability, and to the community through a range of organisations."

References

External links

* * * * *
Dylan Alcott Full Biography
at ICMI.com.au {{DEFAULTSORT:Alcott, Dylan 1990 births Living people People educated at Brighton Grammar School Australian men's wheelchair basketball players Australian male tennis players Australian wheelchair tennis players Australian of the Year Award winners Paralympic wheelchair basketball players of Australia Paralympic wheelchair tennis players of Australia Paralympic gold medalists for Australia Paralympic silver medalists for Australia Paralympic medalists in wheelchair basketball Paralympic medalists in wheelchair tennis Medalists at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair basketball players at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair basketball players at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair tennis players at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair tennis players at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Officers of the Order of Australia Television presenters with disabilities People with paraplegia Australian disability rights activists Illinois Fighting Illini Paralympic athletes Tennis people from Victoria (Australia) Guards (basketball) Australian republicans ITF number 1 ranked wheelchair tennis players ITF World Champions People from Hampton, Victoria Sportspeople from Melbourne