Hewett hits out at SW19 chiefs over court choice
ALFIe heWeTT has hit out at Wimbledon organisers after his men’s wheelchair singles win against fellow Briton Gordon Reid was not on a court with a bigger capacity.
hewett reached the semi-finals with seats full and fans crowding round to watch on court 14, which has a capacity of around 300.
At the same time, women’s invitational doubles matches were being played on the larger courts two (4,000 capacity) and three (2,000).
‘We’ve done a lot over the last couple of years to showcase how great wheelchair tennis can be,’ said hewett.
The five-time Grand Slam singles champion told BBC Sport he was ‘disappointed that it wasn’t on a bigger court’, adding: ‘That was a chance to stick it on a bigger court and show the talent this nation has in wheelchair tennis.’
The All england Club said in a statement that courts 14 to 17 ‘have traditionally been the home of the opening round of the wheelchair tennis events’, with court three used for later rounds.
‘We can confirm that we will be featuring wheelchair tennis matches on show courts from tomorrow and for the remainder of the event,’ it added.
The world No2’s singles semifinal against Gustavo Fernandez is on court three today.
hewett will team up with Scotland’s Reid — whom he beat 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 — for the men’s doubles event as they seek a record-extending 11th consecutive major title together.
hewett added: ‘It was a great atmosphere. This is why we love coming to Wimbledon.
‘We don’t get that sort of treatment in any other Slam because we’re not home favourites. To see the court fully packed by point one shocked me a bit. I saw every seat was taken and thought: “They want to come and see us today”.’
While hewett and Reid have claimed four of the past five doubles titles at SW19, hewett is hoping to achieve a personal best singles performance at Wimbledon this year by reaching the final for the first time.
After Reid levelled the match to force a final set, hewett seized his fourth break point in the fifth game of the decider to take a 3-2 lead.
The 24-year-old then consolidated his advantage from 0-30 down and he was able to serve out the contest, clinching his third match point to reach the semi-finals of the singles event for the third time.
Reid won the inaugural Wimbledon men’s wheelchair singles title in 2016 and finished runner-up to Belgian Joachim Gerard last year.
In the women’s event, Lucy Shuker lost to Momoko Ohtani.