Wimbledon 2016: Britain's Gordon Reid and Alfie Hewett win wheelchair men's doubles
Saturday 9 July 2016 14:58, UK
Great Britain's Gordon Reid and Alfie Hewett won the Wimbledon wheelchair men's doubles title in dramatic fashion.
The home favourites and second seeds got the better of French duo Stephane Houdet and Nicolas Peifer, winning 4-6 6-1 7-6 (8-6) on Court 17.
Reid, who also plays in the inaugural men's singles final on Sunday, and Hewett had put themselves in a strong position at 5-2 in front in the deciding set, but almost let the match slip away.
Both British players dropped serve, and the momentum looked to be all with top seeds Houdet and Peifer heading into the tie-break.
But 24-year-old Reid and Hewett, 18, just about kept their nerve to get over the winning line.
Serving at match point, leading 6-4 in the tie-break, Hewett initially made a mess of his ball toss and then horribly miscued with his first serve, which bounced on his side of the net and hopped over.
He gathered sufficient composure to land the second ball in court, but then flung a forehand into the net.
When Hewett netted again it was 6-6. But he redeemed himself by firing a big forehand winner for a mini-break of the Peifer serve, and when Houdet sliced Reid's serve into the net the British pair embraced in celebration.
Reid, winner of the Australian Open singles at the start of the year, also won the French Open doubles with Japan's Shingo Kunieda last month.
"We didn't like to do it the easy way there," he said. "Massive congratulations to Alfie, his first Grand Slam title, and my first Wimbledon title here with him. It's a really special moment.
"The crowd really helped us come through that match in such a tight situation in that third set, and it was so amazing to see so many people here enjoying wheelchair tennis."
Hewett said: "I think I got carried away in the moment in a few of the points near the end there.
"So this fella here [Reid] was very calm and cool with me and he kept me level-headed and that got me through that."
