Australia’s Dylan Alcott revelled in his victorious return to Wimbledon before warning this could be his last visit to the All England Club with outside commitments potentially prompting a permanent career change.

World No. 1 Alcott, who has 13 Grand Slam singles titles to his name, ruthlessly dispatched David Wagner of the United States 6-2 6-2 to reach the final of the wheelchair quad singles, where he will face Sam Schroder of the Netherlands on Saturday. Schroder defeated No. 2 seed Andy Lapthorne of Great Britain 7-5 6-7(5) 6-3 to set-up a repeat of the 2020 US Open final from which the Dutchman prevailed.

The 30-year-old has enjoyed a stellar para-sport career which has spanned both tennis and basketball and he is still very much in the hunt for an unprecedented Golden Slam – not that he has any interest in entertaining such a thought.

But Alcott is more than just a tennis player. He is a television and radio host, motivational speaker, business owner and youth mentor, all of which has given rise to speculation that the Victorian might be tempted to hang up his racket.

Asked if this might be the last time he competes at Wimbledon, Alcott said: “Potentially, for sure. I don’t know how many years I have got left. I’m treating every opportunity like it is the last one.

“I do a lot of other stuff – helping my community, television, radio and I would like to do some acting and it’s hard to spin all the plates at once.

“I’m treating this like a potential last opportunity, but who knows? I might just keep coming back every year. We’ll see how it goes.”

Talk of a Golden Slam has gathered momentum since Alcott claimed his third successive Roland Garros title last month, which took his haul of majors for the year to two following his triumph at February’s Australian Open.

Alcott himself has no interest in discussing the matter and sees little point in contemplating what may or may not happen. He prefers instead to focus upon the lessons learned from 2019 when defeat to Lapthorne at the US Open left his hopes of a calendar Grand Slam in tatters.

“Everyone loves talking about the Golden Slam more than I do,” added Alcott. “I didn’t know what it was until everyone started saying it to me the other day.

“I had an opportunity to win the Grand Slam in 2019 and I thought about it and talked about it but choked it up hard. I started with a new mindset coach, a guy called Ben Crowe who is a legend, and he taught me something very valuable.

“I used to put expectation on myself to win. It is fine to have goals to win but the only expectation I should have is to be the best version of Dylan every time I am on court.

“All you can ask of yourself is to do your best because you could play your best and still lose because the other guy played better, so now all I worry about is what I can control, which is my performance.

“If I win the Golden Slam, how good? If I don’t, the sun still comes up. I have a great family and I’m still out here at Wimbledon breathing in the grass and looking at everyone smashing Pimm’s. I’m a happy guy.”

Due to travel restrictions and the imposition of lockdown laws in his native Australia, Alcott’s build up to this year’s Championships at Wimbledon, following his exploits in Paris, has been different to what it ordinarily might have been.

In some senses, he believes the difficulties he has faced will stand him in good stead, while he fully acknowledges he is privileged to be able to be here, competing at such a storied venue. His aim over the coming days is to put some smiles on Australian faces.

“The build-up has been really hard,” he said. “I would usually go home [after Roland Garros] to be in my surroundings and come back but I couldn’t go home because of lockdown laws and flight prices.

“I had two tournaments in the south of France and did a five-day lockdown coming into London because the bubble hadn’t opened for the wheelchair players and I have been to six different tennis clubs trying to find courts. It’s been a bit of a nightmare.

“But I am still lucky to here and excited. It wasn’t the perfect preparation, but sometimes perfect preparation is dangerous because things go too well. It has actually been a bit of a fight and I’ve had to work for it. Because of that, I feel ready to go.

“I love pulling on the whites and hopefully my win has put a few smiles on faces back home. Maybe people don’t like me and just turn off the television, but I am so grateful for the support I get back in Australia and there were some Wallaby jerseys today.

“The wheelchair tennis players before me probably didn’t get the support they deserved because of a lack of publicity, and I fully appreciate I’m the lucky one. I don’t take it for granted and, like I say, I hope there are a couple of smiles on faces back home.”

In the men’s wheelchair singles, meanwhile, 2021 Australian Open winner Joachim Gerard defeated No. 2 seed Alfie Hewett of Great Britain, outmanoeuvring his rival and winning 7-5 3-6 6-3.

The pair are well accustomed to each other having now met at four successive Grand Slams, with Gerard going some way to avenging his opening-round defeat to Hewett at Roland Garros.

Gerard now faces a showdown with Stephane Houdet for a place in the final after the Frenchman overpowered wild card Tom Egberink of the Netherlands 5-7 6-2 6-1.

World No. 3 Gustavo Fernandez is one of two former champions among the men’s field, having won here in 2019, and a 6-2 6-4 success over France's Nicolas Peifer moved him to within striking distance of another title shot. 

The other previous winner here in the men's draw is Gordon Reid of Great Britain, who defeated world No. 1 Shingo Kunieda 1-6 6-2 6-3 as the Japanese remains without an SW19 singles on his career CV. 

There was a major shock in the women’s wheelchair singles as second seed Yui Kamiji succumbed to compatriot Momoko Ohtani. Ohtani, 25, prevailed 6-3 6-4 to leave Kamiji’s hopes of completing a career Grand Slam in ruins.

World No. 6 Ohtani, who is making her Wimbledon debut, will now face Kgothatso Montjane in the semi-finals following the South African’s 6-1 2-6 6-4 defeat of Angelica Bernal of Colombia. By taking to the court today, Bernal made history by becoming the first female wheelchair player from South America to compete at Wimbledon.

In the top half of the draw, Great Britain’s Jordanne Whiley continued her quest to add to her haul of Grand Slam titles by defeating Aniek van Koot of the Netherlands. Eleven-time Grand Slam doubles champion Whiley’s only singles crown to date came at the 2015 US Open.