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

wheelchair tennis Wheelchair tennis is one of the forms of tennis Adaptive sport, 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 designe ...

player, former

wheelchair basketball Wheelchair basketball is a style of basketball played using a sports wheelchair. The International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF) is the governing body for this sport. It is recognized by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) as ...

player, radio host, actor, foundation founder, business owner and motivational speaker. Alcott was a member of the Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team, 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 in quad singles, winning all four majors and the

Paralympics The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Kore ...

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 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 is an Australian government-funded national radio station founded in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays far more Australian conten ...

, and the ABC live music show ''The Set'', as well as being a commentator for the

2019 Australian Open The 2019 Australian Open was a Grand Slam tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park from 14 to 27 January 2019. It was the 107th edition of the Australian Open, the 51st in the Open Era, and the first Grand Slam of the year. The tourn ...

. 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 The Australian of the Year is a national award conferred on an Australian citizen by the National Australia Day Council, a not-for-profit Australian Government-owned social enterprise. Similar awards are also conferred at the state and territor ...

and was made an

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

. 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 language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, 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 that extends from the medulla oblongata in the lower brainstem to the lumbar region of the vertebral column (backbone) of vertebrate animals. The center of the spinal c ...

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 Brighton Grammar School is a private school, private Anglican Church of Australia, Anglican day school for boys, located in Brighton, Victoria, Brighton, a south-eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Founded in ...

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 Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team, the Rollers, at the 2006 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship, 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 Australian 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 then ...

. 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 (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...

, 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 in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, 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 17 grand slam titles ...

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 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 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 (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...

French Open The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...

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 * W ...

, US Open and the singles gold medal at the

2020 Summer Paralympics The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport event, 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 Inte ...

. He joined fellow professional wheelchair tennis player

Diede de Groot Diede de Groot (; born 19 December 1996) is a Dutch professional wheelchair tennis player who was world No. 1 in both singles and doubles. De Groot is a 42-time Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, major champion, having won a record 23 titles in ...

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. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for a r ...

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 currently hosts Drive on ABC Radio Sydney and '' 10 News First Weekend'' on Network 10. She has previously been host of Eve ...

and Anthony "Lehmo" Lehmann, and ABC's live music show '' The Set'' with

Linda Marigliano Linda Marigliano (born Carmelinda Marigliano; 27 September 1984) is an Australians, Australian television and radio presenter, podcaster, musician and disc jockey, DJ, best known for her work on FBi Radio and Triple J. She also played bass guit ...

. He is a TV Week

Logie award The TV Week Logie Awards (known colloquially as The Logies) is an annual ceremony celebrating and honouring the best shows and stars in Television in Australia, Australian television, sponsored and organised by the magazine ''TV Week''. The eve ...

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 (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

. 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 (; an abbreviation of Australian Sign Language) is the sign language used by the majority of the Australian Deaf community. Auslan is related to British Sign Language (BSL) and New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL); the three have descended f ...

(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 Chantelle Otten. On 10 October 2023, Alcott was one of 25 Australians of the Year who signed an

open letter An open letter is a Letter (message), letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally. Open letters usually take the form of a letter (mess ...

supporting the Yes vote in the Indigenous Voice referendum, initiated by psychiatrist Patrick McGorry.

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 organizes national and international tennis tournaments including the Australian Open, Australian Open Se ...

Newcombe Medal 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 succ ...

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 Don Bradman, Sir Don Bradman as the first inductee and ...

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

Awards – Newcombe Medal and shared the Most Outstanding Athlete with a Disability with doubles partner Heath Davidson * 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. there are 211 nat ...

Quad Wheelchair World Champion * 2019 –

Logie Awards The TV Week Logie Awards (known colloquially as The Logies) is an annual ceremony celebrating and honouring the best shows and stars in Australian television, sponsored and organised by the magazine ''TV Week''. The event is telecast live and ...

– 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 –

* 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 for Australia Paralympic wheelchair tennis players for 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 players from Victoria (state) Guards (basketball) ITF number 1 ranked wheelchair tennis players ITF wheelchair tennis world champions People from Hampton, Victoria Sportspeople from Melbourne Sportsmen from Victoria (state) Australian activists with disabilities 21st-century Australian sportsmen