'It’s surreal, I am little Lucy that plays tennis'

No more than 10 minutes after Lucy Shuker – the only British woman in the wheelchair singles draw at her home tournament – had lost her three-set quarter-final match to Aniek van Koot of the Netherlands, she was in a media interview room and keen to chat.

A further 10 fast-paced minutes later and the interview done, she smiled and thanked the press for coming, a genuine and wholesome sentiment. 

Earlier the game’s superstar Diede de Groot spent much of her last-eight win over Kgothatso Montjane routinely acknowledging the tennis balls fed to her by the attendant ball boys and girls. Pressed on it later, her answer was to the point. 

“I always say thank you, it’s a thing I do,” she said. 

That wheelchair tennis has burgeoned to the extent where it is now featured by the BBC and live streamed widely is down in no small part to women like De Groot - one of sport's outstanding athletes anywhere - and Shuker, paralysed from her chest down but almost religiously upbeat and forward-looking. And polite. No wonder her sport is growing.

“The more people that see wheelchair tennis, (the more) can enjoy watching it for a start," said Shuker. "I love the sport, it’s done so much for me since my accident (a motorbike catastrophe when she was 21-years-old).

“The Grand Slams are really getting behind us, we’re getting good courts for visibility and it’s on TV. You have to see it to know that it’s out there.

“The Slams are starting to increase draw sizes which means more prize money, which you don't really get at other events, so these events help us for the rest of the years. It’s absolutely paramount, this is where every tennis player wants to be and we are inspiring a whole new generation.”

Despite yet to reach a singles final in any of her 15 Grand Slam appearances, Shuker’s ongoing promotion of wheelchair tennis has been recognised further afield this year by none other than King Charles who awarded her a British Empire Medal (BEM) in his 2023 birthday honours list.

Not that Shuker realised it when the “serious looking letter” arrived in the post. 

“It kind of implied that I had been nominated for it so I wasn’t 100 per cent sure that I had actually received it," she said. "But then I got calls from organisors to ask for more information and then you start to realise, 'yes, I have actually been awarded this'.

“It’s surreal, I am little Lucy that plays tennis. Yes, my career has been far more than I ever imagined but to be recognised in the King's honours is amazing.

“I didn’t tell my mum until the morning it was announced. I sent them a WhatsApp link and five minutes later I get a FaceTime call and she was just crying. They are super chuffed, my friends, family and my partner.”

The person with the genius idea to nominate Shuker – who as a T4 para athlete has limited reach given how she needs to be strapped to her chair – for an honour, however, is yet to step forward. 

“I have no idea who it is, but thank you,” she said.

Making the athletes well known, from whatever perspective, is the way to go says De Groot, who believes that behind-the-scenes TV can be instrumental to a popularity boom and points to the Netflix ‘Drive to Survive’ series for inspiration.

“What helps us is that when we are more known, people recognise us and like to follow us," she said. "I always like to use the example in Holland with Formula One where before (world champion Max Verstaffen, who came to prominence in the series) we didn’t have a Dutch driver.

“Everyone knows the driver now and everyone watches Formula One and I think that’s how sport generally goes, so hopefully when people get to know us, they will like us and come out to see what we do. (British players) Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid do a very good job here in promoting wheelchair tennis, they have a very good shot in filling the big courts.”

But would the personable De Groot fancy a slot in the tennis TV equivalent to motor racing, ‘Break Point’?

“You have to get used to the fact Break Point is a season behind whereas in Formula One I don’t know anything. In tennis, I know everything so you are not as surprised as in other sports. But still, l am very open to it.”

She would be a first-rate addition.

That wheelchair athletes are a hardy lot was revealed midway through De Groot’s win against 2021 runner-up Montjane as the clouds darkened and a few drops of rain fell, a particular peril to wheelchair athletes said De Groot.

“When the rims get wet your hands don’t get any grip," she said. "We can’t push so with a few drops we have to stop usually.”

Despite umbrellas in the crowd, no on-court interruptions were called with dry conditions essential given how important mobility is to the wheelchair game.

“It’s maybe more than 50 per cent of the game because when you can’t get to the ball you can’t get a forehand or backhand back,” she said. “On grass, it’s so much more difficult to hit your strokes because often you just can’t get to the ball. You are pushing, you are just too slow which makes the game a lot different."

Elsewhere, in the bottom half of the draw Jiske Griffioen and second seed Yui Kamji both won in straight sets and will meet in Friday’s semi-final with De Groot facing Van Koot.

A full list of results from across the Men's, Women's and Quad division can be found here.