By James Reid at Queen’s
Gordon Reid and Alfie Hewett geared up for Wimbledon in perfect style as they claimed the wheelchair doubles title at the 2023 cinch Championships.
The pair head to SW19 in search of their fifth title fresh from victory over Joachim Gerard and Stephane Houdet at The Queen’s Club, recovering from a set down to take the title 1-6 7-5 10-3.
It was timely tonic for Hewett, who earlier lost the singles final to Gerard 4-6 6-3 7-5 as the Belgian sealed a second-successive cinch Championships title.
Elsewhere in the men’s singles, new world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz insisted Novak Djokovic is still the red-hot Wimbledon favourite in the wake of his own maiden grass court title at the cinch Championships.
Alcaraz beat Alex de Minaur 6-4 6-4 to cap a remarkable week for the Spaniard that has seen his game on this surface take visible leaps forward.
The Spaniard revealed at the start of the week that he had low expectations for his time in West London but he now feels at the level required to challenge for the title in SW19.
Against De Minaur, who lists grass as his favourite surface, Alcaraz showed glimpses of his powerful and ruthless best, saving two crucial break points midway through the first set before immediately taking the sole opportunity offered up to him the very next game.
It was enough for the 20-year-old to take control of the contest, with victory elevating him back to the top of the rankings pile ahead of the season’s third Grand Slam, though he was under no illusions as to scale of the challenge posed by seven-time champion Djokovic.
He said: “It is an amazing run for me this week, I played an amazing level at the end of the week. Seeing my name in a trophy means a lot so I am going to keep that memory for the rest of my life.
“I have quite a lot of confidence heading into Wimbledon. I ended the week playing at a high level so right now I feel one of the favourites to win Wimbledon, but I have to get more experience on grass.
“I have played just 11 matches on grass, so I need to get more experience. But after beating amazing guys and the level that I played, I consider myself one of the players able to win Wimbledon.
“Novak is the main favourite to win Wimbledon, but I will try to play at this level to have chances to beat him or make the final.
“I saw a statistic that Novak has won more matches at Wimbledon than the other top 20 players [combined]. What can you say about that?
“A lot of players are coming with confidence, there are a lot of great players playing on grass so I need to go to Wimbledon playing my best, but I see Novak as the main favourite.”
And the men’s doubles title was claimed by second seeds Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek, as they overcame Taylor Fritz and Jiri Lehecka 6-4 7-6(5) 10-3, reclaiming the world No.1 doubles ranking spot in the process.
For the latest action on the British summer grass court season, check out the LTA website
