Gerard and Lapthorne win first of three British Grass Court events
Joachim Gerard and Andy Lapthorne claimed the titles during the first two of three British Grass Court UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour events organised by the LTA in the lead up to Wimbledon.
Gerard extended his sequence of men’s singles grass court wins to six at the cinch Championships in London and Lapthorne secured an historic quad singles victory at the Rothesay Classic Birmingham.
Reigning Wimbledon champion Gerard made the perfect grass court debut for 2022 as he ramped up his preparations for the third Grand Slam tournament of the year.
Gerard needed over two and a half hours to fend off world No. 2 Hewett 6-7(6) 6-2 6-2 in their semi-final at The Queen's Club, but with the top seed beaten the Belgian world No. 7 made much lighter work of second seed Stephane Houdet in the final.
Gerard never allowed the Frenchman to settle, wrapping up a 6-1 6-2 victory to become the first non-British player on the wheelchair roll of honour at the West London venue after Hewett won the inaugural ITF 2 title in 2019 and Gordon Reid prevailed against Gustavo Fernandez in 2021.
“I’m happy to be back on grass after a long year to wait for it," Gerard said. "I showed yesterday (against Hewett) that I wanted to do something well. The last few matches were not good, especially against Stephane. I lost at Roland Garros and the French Riviera Open in the last two weeks against him. Grass is a good surface for me, but when I have the mindset like today, I can beat anyone.”
With wheelchair tennis making its fourth appearance since 2018 at The Queen’s Club and having world ranking status on the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour for the third time, Gerard was understandably enthusiastic about another opportunity for wheelchair tennis to be integrated into an ATP World Tour event.
“I think it’s really important. If you asked every wheelchair player they would say let’s have more. Let’s have Indian Wells, let’s have Miami, let’s have Monte Carlo,” he said. "Here, there are many people who know Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid, but some others do not know wheelchair tennis, so it’s really important for us.”
With both Reid and Fernandez absent this year – Reid withdrawing after rupturing a tendon in his wrist at the recent French Riviera Open - Britain’s three Cruyff Foundation Junior Masters finalists, Ben Bartram, Dahnon Ward and Andrew Penney took their opportunity to shine.
Bartram impressed in his semi-final against Houdet, the 16-year-old taking a 3-0 second set lead before ultimately bowing out 6-2 6-4, while Penney demonstrated great skill in singles and doubles, given that he only took up wheelchair tennis three years ago. The 17-year-old fell to Gerard in singles but partnered the Belgian to the doubles final before they lost out to Hewett and Houdet. So often doubles opponents in major finals, including at two successive Paralympic Games, Hewett and Houdet’s competitive debut together saw them beat Gerard and Penney 6-2 6-2.
While top seed Hewett exited in the last four in London, a home winner was assured on the outskirts of Birmingham, where Lapthorne was one of three Brits contesting the first UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour quad singles grass court event outside of Wimbledon.
The 2019 Wimbledon singles finalist and two-time doubles champion dropped just five games across his two matches against Antony Cotterill and James Shaw to kick start his Wimbledon preparations, despite having to play his first contest against Cotterill indoors, due to rain.
"To be invited to such a great event that the LTA have put on is amazing and to win the first one is always nice. The plan was to come and get a couple of matches on grass. I only managed to get one, but it’s good preparation and now we roll on towards Wimbledon,” said Lapthorne.
“I’m hoping that next year we’re going to have more of the top players come over and play now that this event has taken place. It is obviously vital preparations for Wimbledon to be able to come here and play on great courts.”
Wimbledon will feature an expanded quad draw of eight players this year, alongside the traditional eight-player draws for the men's and women's events.
The trio of LTA grass court tournaments conclude this week with five of the world top 10 women, including world No. 1 Diede de Groot and world No. 2 Yui Kamiji, contesting the first wheelchair tennis ranking event to be held at the Eastbourne International. Kamiji won last year's women's singles ITF 2 title on the courts at the Birmingham Classic.