Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid made tennis history by winning a ninth consecutive grand slam title at the Australian Open.
The British pair defeated Argentina’s Gustavo Fernández and Shingo Kunieda of Japan 6-2, 4-6, 10-7 in the final of the wheelchair men’s doubles at Melbourne Park.
They have now won three successive Australian Open titles and their latest success meant they broke the tie they held with Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver, who won eight consecutive women’s doubles titles between Wimbledon in 1983 and the French Open in 1985.
Hewett and Reid have not been beaten in doubles at a slam since Wimbledon in 2019, winning back-to-back calendar grand slams. Hewett has the chance to make it a double trophy celebration on Thursday when he takes on Kunieda in the men’s singles final – the players are seeded second and first respectively.
“These kind of records, I think we always take them with a pinch of salt because it’s a little bit different for us to win a grand slam title than it may be for people in the other draw,” said Reid. “It’s always nice to hear them but, at the same time, I think we just focus on what we’re doing and we’re just enjoying each one as it comes. Just trying to improve and try and push our partnership forward and try and come back better in the next one.”
Britain’s Lucy Shuker and Japanese partner Yui Kamiji, the second seeds, put up a good fight against top-ranked Dutch pair Diede De Groot and Aniek Van Koot before going down just short of two hours 7-5, 3-6, 10-2 in the women’s doubles final.