Alfie’s long run is over
ALFIE HEWETT has missed out on a rare Wimbledon double after he and fellow Brit Gordon Reid failed to make it an astonishing 11 Grand Slam wheelchair titles on the bounce.
The holders and No.1 seeds had not lost together at any Major since the Championships here in 2019.
But the home favourites were soundly beaten by Argentina’s Gustavo Fernandez and Japan legend Shingo Kunieda – in the process ending Hewett’s bid to win both the singles and doubles at the All England Club.
Hewett, who faces top seed Kunieda in the singles showpiece today, spent 11 minutes shy of six hours on court on Friday with two marathon semi-finals.
Those exploits, which had captured the hearts of the Court One crowd, clearly caught up with the pair yesterday as they missed out on their fifth Wimbledon crown in five years.
After a one-sided 6-3 6-2 reverse, Hewett conceded: “Obviously, we’re disappointed not to continue our run in the Grand Slams and get the win today.
“Yes, it was a difficult match. They played pretty well, while I think we were a little bit tired from yesterday. It’s a difficult one to take.
“They’ve been desperate to beat us for some time now.”
As for the incredible experience of playing on the 12,300-capacity Court One 24 hours earlier, Hewett, who has five Grand Slam singles titles to go with his 15 in doubles, added: “It was an incredible day I will always remember – but it was challenging to get up and go again today.”
Meanwhile, new girls’ singles champion Liv Hovde celebrated her triumph by grabbing a selfie with Novak Djokovic.
The American, 16, beat Hungarian teenager Luca Udvardy 6-3 6-4 then revealed she had just bumped into Djokovic in the All England corridors.
Hovde said: “He asked me how I felt and gave me his congratulations.
“Then we took a photo together – so it was really cool.”
In the boys’ doubles final, Paul Inchauspe and Gabriel Debru lost to Sebastian Gorzny and Alex Michelsen.