Alfie Hewett successfully defends his French Open wheelchair singles title
Hewett completed the double after winning the doubles title with Gordon Reid.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Alfie Hewett successfully defended his French Open wheelchair singles title with victory over top seed Shingo Kunieda.
The 6-3 6-4 win earned Hewett a fifth grand slam singles title and third in Paris and means he has done the double of singles and doubles crowns at Roland Garros in successive years after collecting the doubles trophy with Gordon Reid on Sunday.
Hewett fully deserved his victory over 24-time slam singles champion Kunieda, the 23-year-old from Norfolk clinching his first match point after an hour and 46 minutes.
Hewett rated his comeback victory over Gustavo Fernandez in the semi-finals as the match of his life, and he said: “After playing that sort of match against Gustavo, it would be a shame to not go into today and try and play better tennis.
“I think the quality dipped in and out of that last one but today the quality was one of the best finals I have played, just dealing with the conditions, dealing with the fact that it was a final.
“I have played four or five recently and felt very nervous and tense at the beginning. I felt like I came out of the blocks really well, and that was a big thing I was looking at.”
Hewett has spent the last 18 months wondering whether each visit to a grand slam will be the last following proposed changes to the classification system that threaten to halt his professional career.
He revealed after his semi-final victory that he has been given new hope by a possible rethink, and he said: “I felt like I wasn’t too pumped, which even afterwards, normally I’m probably in tears and whatever. I’m quite calm about it. It’s a job well done, and I know I’ll probably have a good reflection later on.
“This is a major, and any title means a lot. To compete at Roland Garros, and with my circumstance as well, whether there is a future or not, every tournament means a lot to me and my family and also to my team, as well.”