Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid on going for Paralympic gold and the rise of UK tennis

okay let's talk a little bit more tennis now we're joined live I'm delighted to say by the multiple grandslam wheelchair tennis champions Alfie huitt and golden Reed good to see you both lovely to see you Alfie I'm going to start with you you're at the national tennis center today launching the play your way to Wimbledon initi initiative tell us more about it yeah it's a it's a super cool initiative um we were both a part of it last year and basically it's a it's a nationwide uh competition um for all categories so you've got um wheelchair got Junior it's a new edition this year got visually impaired and people with learning disabilities um to be able to go to their local venues uh and qualify for um the potential chance to to play at wien um in August which is uh you know super corn we've obviously been a part of it now for for the last two years and um yeah it's it had such a great success last year and we got to witness a lot of uh a lot of brilliant tennis and you know it helps get everyone um into into tennis and and really focus on that is that what we need to do Alfie do we need to get more people playing tennis at the moment yeah I mean obviously I can only speak upon my experiences within wheelchair tennis and you know these last 5 to 10 years there's been such a great increase and and profile Riser or Razer um for our sport uh we look at some of the last couple of championships at wimon and they've provided us with amazing platforms and and bigger opportunities to just showcase and just play whe tennis and to be partnered with a with a brand as as big as vone and for them to to have the initiative and um the the um the creativity to come up with this campaign I think it just shows how amazing it is um that we are trying to promote tennis and get more people into play yeah it's a special place isn't it wimon as well and Gordon of course you won there the singles title back in 2016 and then the doubles last year so just how special is it to you and how much have you seen wheelchair tennis develop in the eight years since then yeah I think I made a joke on the the trophy ceremony after the doubles last year around the fact that the first Wim and I played back in 2012 there were about three people watching and one was my mom and one was my sister so it's come a long way since then I think you know we we as Alie said we had a amazing Final on on court one last year with about 10,000 people watching an amazing atmosphere so yeah the Sport's progressing every year at Wimbledon and um you know these kind of initiatives is is hopefully helping with that so yeah we're really excited to see what's going to happen this year yeah it should be good shouldn't it um Alfie you have had a glitter in career I've had the luck to sit alongside you back in the studio many moons ago but you've got 27 need I remind you ground slam titles so far in both singles and doubles Wimbledon the only one missing in terms of the singles is that your big Target this year I love it it gets to this time of year and everyone just reminds me generally of the one I haven't got but um maybe I need to ask some tips off of this guy but yeah of course it's um it's a it's an Accolade um very desperate and want to add to to the collection um I feel like I've been progressing a lot over the last few years on grass I don't think it was maybe my my natural surface that I that I played well played weld on when I was when I was younger but um I'm enjoying the experiences that we've been given recently and I'm and I'm learning a lot you know we haven't played a lot of grass tennis it's only really from 2016 that the singles event was obviously introduced there and um we're starting to have more tournaments on grass you know in the buildup like eastborn um there's going to be a open in rampton before uh Wimbledon this year and also an exhibition potentially at Queens so these are all great uh examples of um how the sport has come so far but also gives us more playing opportunity on the grass and hopefully we can use that to our advantage and um yeah do some do some good Alfie I don't want to start a fight but what about the par Olympics that's a a solo title that Gordon's obviously already got beating you back in the final in 2016 need I remind you um are you hoping for Revenge look at the look at the pair of them are are you hoping for revenge in Paris Revenge no absolutely not I mean we've had a we've had some big matches obviously at the par Olympics obviously the gold medal match in Rio and the and the bronze medal match in um in tokia so I'm just got my fingers crossed that I don't face this guy in another medal match CU things work in threes but um I'm obviously obviously buzzing about it it's going to be it's going to be great to to play at a venue that we're obviously familiar with with playing at rading garos um we have high aspirations and Ambitions to to go there and try and get the gold medal because we've we failed to do that in the last two previous times so we're very determined for that and obviously I'm motivated in the singles to to try and get my hands on a goal I'm sure you are Gordon you are a formidable parent in doubles though aren't you 21 Grand Slam titles as a duet uh what makes the pairing so special why are you so good together you get on well clearly yeah we have a good relationship on the court and also off the court you know we we get on well together and uh I think that shows in our tennis and and also we put in a lot of hard work we put in a lot of time behind the scenes you know tactically but also know as a partnership to try and you know find out what makes each other tick and and then you know when we find ourselves in those big situation those pressure situations we we know the right things to say and and how to you know sort of compliment each other so yeah I think um it's been a pretty successful partnership so far and hopefully uh yeah we've got a few more few more years left in us yet is that that's what you know makes it so difficult I guess to play against each other then as well because you just know how each other's tick basically sorry I didn't catch that so it's uh it's something that we we obviously had to get used to and um it's it's not easy you know we obviously have a good relationship so when you have that match maybe before a big doubles match we we we have a lot of respect between each other we know that we're we're singles players as well and we both have strong Ambitions to take home singles titles and that we're able to put that to one side you know we prepare as a singles player but then once that that match is done it's all eyes on the doubles and um you know we get together beforehand and and there's no bad animosity or anything like that it's um it's all good you know we're all good friends regardless of of the outcome yeah how much time maybe you'll say otherwise sorry how much time Gordon has spent practicing solo and how much with Alfie there yeah well I've just started basing myself down here in in London a little bit more so you know we've had the opportunity to get on court a little bit more with each other which is is great because there's not a lot of wheelchair players in the country and playing against somebody in a chair and somebody on their feet is quite a different thing you know the trajectory of the ball and the way that they move so um it's nice to have a mixture but uh especially for our double side of things as well it's it's nice to be able to get on court a little bit more and hopefully that will help us in the performances and the results going forward I say you get on socially do you go out a lot together what do you do what do you get up to in your spare time if you have any a lot of the time I'm I'm obviously based in in Norwich and he's been in Scotland but now he's come down to London uh and I'm sort of uh traveling down here a lot more now there there may be more opportunities but we we do play we do play chess but the recent thing is Monopoly go um we're pretty addicted to that at the moment so he's been help me with with certain things with that uh but now we just play yeah go it's the one at the moment in it's uh it's in it's in fashion or at least we're bringing it back yeah absolutely I love it from chess to Monopoly right um look just finally I just wanted to ask you both of and probably after you've sort of already answered this but G not I'll throw it to you then you know what do you make of the state of tennis in the UK more widely right now both at Grassroots and Elite level what do we need to do to sort of get people more involved I know initiatives like the one you're at today helps absolutely I mean that's just you know one of the main purposes of um play way to wimon powered by vone it's you know trying to get everybody of all abilities ages backgrounds into into the sport and you know I think the most important thing is is like you say at the grass level having the opportunities and the facilities for everybody to play and that means you know for example in the wheelchair side of things it's more and more clubs and and centers around the country we'll have maybe some tennis wheelchairs that people can come in and you know the first time they're trying it they can get in in those chairs and and enjoy the sport and um you know it's the equipment side of things and the accessibility side of things is a big part of it but yeah like you say also the awareness and that's hopefully where we can help with you know days like this but also so when we're at wimon and and at the bigger events is we can hopefully use that to showcase the sport and hopefully Inspire some some of the the Next Generation to come through you know the same way as we were inspired a few years ago brilliant stuff brilliant to see you both again and good luck both at Paris and of course at Wimbledon as well [Music]