Emotional Alfie Hewett finally lands the big one at Wimbledon to complete career grand slam

Britain’s Alfie Hewett was overcome with emotion after becoming a Wimbledon singles champion at the third time of asking as he triumphed in the men’s wheelchair final.

Hewett, who has finished as a runner-up in the event over the past two years, produced an emphatic performance to beat Spain’s Martín de la Puente 6-2, 6-3 and end his wait for a home singles crown and complete a career grand slam. Later in the day he would also go on to win the wheelchair doubles, alongside Gordon Reid.

The Norwich native has won every other major across singles and doubles but his past two appearances in the men’s wheelchair final at the All England Club have ended in heartbreak.

The stars finally aligned for the second seed, who dominated his Spanish opponent on No 1 Court to seal his ninth singles grand-slam event.

After returning a ferocious backhand, the 26-year-old threw his racket into the air and buried his head in his hands in front of a delighted home crowd. He later revealed he had been a “ball of nerves” at the thought of letting another Wimbledon title slip by.

“Today proved that no matter how many times you get knocked down, you can still get back up,” said a tearful Hewett in his on-court interview, also paying tribute to his family and friends – and singled out his grandad who was present at his first Wimbledon campaign eight years ago – for helping him win the title that had eluded him.

Hewett becomes the second male player after Japanese legend Shingo Kunieda to win both the singles and doubles of every major. His victory was all the more sweeter after struggling with a shoulder injury at the start of the tournament, but he played with a freedom as he set about dismantling De la Puente.

He twice broke the Spaniard to clinch a one-sided first set in 40 minutes, before taking an early break at the start of a competitive second set, when the pair exchanged four breaks of serve. But it was Hewett who kept his steely focus to edge in front and break his opponent in the final game to complete the ultimate redemption story.

Two years ago, he served for the championship four times before falling short to Kunieda, while in last year’s final he led the first set against Tokito Oda 4-1, only to lose 11 of the next 13 games.

“These past few years have been difficult leaving the Championships, winning the doubles with Gordon five times were good memories, but to leave on a singles final loss has been not far off heartbreaking these last couple of years,” said Hewett.

“When you’ve been watching this ever since you were a young kid and it’s been a dream for so long, narrowly missing out was a real tough one. I’ll be honest, last night I was a ball of nerves because I didn’t want to walk away with another loss today.”

By the end of Sunday, Hewett had become the first man since Britain’s Reid in 2016 to win the Wimbledon singles and doubles title in the same year. The pair defeated Japan’s Takuya Miki and Tokito Oda 6-4, 7-6.

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