Gerard, De Groot and Lapthorne earn grass court boost before Wimbledon
With the 2023 Wimbledon wheelchair draw taking place this coming Tuesday, six players in the draw have already earned singles or doubles titles on grass this season, including Joachim Gerard, Diede de Groot and Andy Lapthorne, who each retained their men’s, women’s and quad singles ITF 2 titles during the British Grass Court Wheelchair Tennis Tournaments at the LTA’s premier summer series events in London and Eastbourne.
Gerard will arrive at the third Grand Slam of the year having won 10 of his last 11 singles matches on grass. The 2021 Wimbledon champion’s only loss on the surface since his victory at the All England Club two years ago came in last year’s semi-finals against eventual champion Shingo Kunieda.
His warm-up event this year saw Gerard record 6-1 6-1 wins over Dermot Bailey and Stephane Houdet at the cinch Championships at The Queen’s Club before attempting to extend his unbeaten record on grass against Alfie Hewett.
Gerard and Hewett met in the semi-finals at the Queen’s Club 12 month ago, the 34-year-old Belgian coming from a set down on that occasion to beat the British No. 1. It was a scenario that would be repeated in this year’s final as Gerard came back from a set and 3-1 down and saw Hewett serve for the match at 5-4 in the deciding set before prevailing 4-6 6-3 7-5.
Gerard, who now holds a 4-0 record over Hewett on grass, described his victory as a ‘beautiful match’, while acknowledging how important it is for Hewett to play in front a British crowd and said that he ‘hoped to meet Hewett in the Wimbledon final’.
Later in the day Hewett’s 2023 campaign at The Queen’s Club ended on a victorious, if again dramatic final note as the world No.2 men’s singles player and fellow Brit Gordon Reid geared up for their attempt at winning a fifth Wimbledon men’s doubles title since 2016 by claiming their first title together at The Queen’s Club.
The top seeds wrapped up their 41st career title as a partnership after recovering from a set and 3-1 down to beat Gerard and Houdet 1-6 7-5 (10-3).
De Groot takes winning streak to 108 matches in Eastbourne
Diede de Groot’s return to the Rothesay Classic Eastbourne was somewhat less dramatic. But while Gerard extended his winning sequence on grass against Hewett and enhanced his own win-loss record on the surface, the numbers cannot compare with De Groot’s ongoing winning streak that dates back to the start of the 2021 Australian Open.
Straight sets wins over Lucy Shuker and Zhenzhen Zhu, respectively, meant that Eastbourne would become the latest venue to witness an all-Dutch women’s wheelchair singles final, an event that saw De Groot come from 2-0 down in the second set against 2016 Wimbledon champion Jiske Griffioen to retain her Eastbourne title 6-3 6-3.
De Groot and Griffioen later added their first women’s doubles title together after beating Shuker and Zhu by the same 6-3 6-3 scoreline. De Groot, who now heads to Wimbledon unbeaten in 108 singles matches, said:
“I'm super happy with the week. I played some very good tennis and I think for anyone who doesn't live very close to grass courts it can be a little bit of a struggle to have a good preparation for Wimbledon. So for us to have the opportunity in Eastbourne it helps us with the preparation so I'm so happy with just having the opportunity to play on good quality grass.
“I think I played a pretty solid final and maybe there are even still some improvements to work on for next week. In the doubles me and Jiske know how we can play together on a hard court. we've played one tournament on clay and now playing two matches on grass will give us a little bit more of an idea on how to play together. So we are very happy to get that experience in the doubles, as well, and now it’s one more week of preparation before Wimbledon starts and I'm excited to get it started.”
For the second successive year the quad singles title went to Andy Lapthorne as the 2019 Wimbledon singles runner-up marked his debut in Eastbourne by beating fellow Brits Gary Cox and Greg Slade in his two round-robin matches.
Lapthorne, who will now join Wimbledon wild card Slade at the All England Club after beating his countryman 6-2 6-0, was victorious 12 months on from winning the corresponding ITF 2 title at Eastbourne’s sister tournament in Birmingham. The world No.8, said:
“I served well, not so much on first serve, but on second serve and that gave me a lot of confidence. It’s great to win another title - my third of the year in singles and my fourth overall, so that’s one of my most successful starts to a season in my whole career. I have to take confidence from that and can look forward to Wimbledon now, knowing that I know how to play on the grass again and I need to use that confidence to drive me forward.”