Alcott, De Groot and Kunieda named ITF World Champions
Alcott set to sign off as World Champion
As he prepares to call time on his career at next year’s Australian Open, Dylan Alcott has collected a third successive ITF World Champion quad title after clinching a calendar Golden Slam in 2021 – winning singles titles at all four majors and the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.
The 31-year-old, who came within one match of achieving a sweep of the majors in 2019, lost just one match in singles all season as he adds the 2021 World Champion title to his 2018 and 2019 crowns.
“It’s an absolute honour to be named World Champion for the last time,” Alcott said. “To be honest, I just felt extremely grateful that I could travel round the world and do my job this year, especially with everything that’s going on in the world and in Australia. It was a team effort and there were lots of ups and downs, but we managed to get it done.
“This year I’ve had the proudest moments probably in my whole career, which is pretty awesome. I’m really stoked that I could finish it off with the Golden Slam and I’m really looking forward to my last tournament coming up at the Australian Open.”
Alcott will sign off in style at Melbourne Park, where earlier this year he collected his seventh consecutive Australian Open singles crown and a fourth straight doubles title with Heath Davidson, setting the tone for a spectacular season. Only world No. 2 Sam Schroder could stop Alcott in singles, winning a semi-final clash at the French Riviera Open.
By the end of the season, Alcott had extended his Grand Slam count to 15 in singles and eight in doubles, and finished the year with a 21-1 singles record, as well as claiming Paralympic silver with Davidson in Tokyo.
Dominant De Groot seals third World Champion title
Like Alcott, Diede De Groot made history with a calendar Golden Slam in the women’s wheelchair division, where she is crowned ITF World Champion for a third successive time.
The 24-year-old produced one of the most dominant seasons in tennis history, not only securing all four major titles and Paralympic gold in singles but also claiming doubles gold with Aniek van Koot, the Dutch duo winning three of the four Grand Slam doubles titles in 2021.
The duo also combined to help Netherlands win the BNP Paribas World Team Cup before De Groot swept the titles at the year-end NEC Wheelchair Singles Masters and UNIQLO Wheelchair Doubles Masters in Orlando, bringing her title tally to 19 in singles and doubles combined in 2021.
“It’s been a very special year for me, winning all of the Grand Slams and then on top of that also the two gold medals in Tokyo,” de Groot said. “I hadn’t expected so much luck for this year, but looking back at it, I worked really hard for it and I’m happy that I achieved so much.”
By the end of her 2021 campaign, De Groot had expanded her Grand Slam collection to 24 – 12 each in singles and doubles – and finished the year with a 41-1 record in singles, where she was bested just once by world No. 2 Yui Kamiji at the Melbourne Wheelchair Open, and 24-2 in doubles.
Kunieda claims ninth World Champion crown
Having fulfilled his long-held ambition of winning singles gold at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics in September, Shingo Kunieda has been named ITF World Champion in the men’s wheelchair category for a ninth time, an accolade he first received more than a decade ago in 2007.
The 37-year-old surged to a fourth Paralympic title in his home town without dropping a set, and ended his season with a flourish by claiming his 25th Grand Slam singles title at the US Open, defeating world No. 2 Alfie Hewett in the final.
“I am happy to be back to being the World Champion again in 2021,” Kunieda said. “This year was very special to me, not only because I could win the Tokyo Paralympics at my home country but also because lots of people in Japan, and hopefully all over the world, had an opportunity to watch the wheelchair tennis at the Paralympics.
“I continue to improve my level of tennis so that wheelchair tennis can be more accessible to many people.”
Kunieda now holds 46 Grand Slam singles and doubles titles and ended the season at the top of the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour men’s rankings. Alongside his triumphs in Tokyo and New York, he also collected the Victorian Wheelchair Open at the start of the season, where he also won the doubles title alongside Gustavo Fernandez, ending the year with a 20-5 win-loss record in singles and 6-7 in doubles.