While British interest in the Gentlemen’s and Ladies’ Draws at Wimbledon has ended, West Ham United supporter Andy Lapthorne could still ensure the country ends with a Singles champion at the All-England Club in 2024.
Hammer Lapthorne begins his quest to win a first Wimbledon Quad Wheelchair Singles title on Wednesday, when he faces his former Doubles partner, the American David Wagner, in the quarter-finals.
The Quad Wheelchair Singles will see eight athletes with permanent impairment of one or both legs and additional restrictions in the playing arm, show their incredible talent on the world’s most-famous grass courts.
Lapthorne, who is 33 and has been a professional since 2005, is one of the outstanding stars of the circuit, a former World No1. He won the US Open Singles title in 2014 and 2019, reached the final of Wimbledon in 2019, was runner-up at both the Australian Open and French Open in 2020, and has won 58 career Singles crowns.
While he is now ranked No7 and is not the favourite to win in SW19 this week, Lapthorne is fit, in form, and knows he can still defeat anyone on his day, having beaten current No1 Sam Schroder of the Netherlands in Eastbourne last month.
Wednesday will see him face friend and longtime rival Wagner who may be aged 50, but is still regularly lifting trophies and has 168 career titles to his name, including six Grand Slam Singles victories. He and Lapthorne have also won all four Grand Slam Doubles titles as a pair, but they will be rivals again at Wimbledon, where they also face each other in the Quad Wheelchair Doubles with their respective partners!
As he prepares for his fifth Singles appearance at the tournament, Lapthorne spoke to whufc.com about his hopes of emulating the likes of Andy Murray, Virginia Wade, Ann Jones and Fred Perry by being crowned Wimbledon champion…
Andy, the grass court season is well under way and you’ve already reached a final at Eastbourne and semi-final at the British Open at Roehampton…
“This is probably my favorite time of the year. Obviously, I spend the majority of my time travelling around the world to tournaments and am away from home and away from the family, so to have the opportunity to come back and actually spend some time at home with the family and get to do what I love to do is always great.”
Now, it’s time for Wimbledon and you have the chance to play on some of the most iconic courts in tennis…
“Last year, to get to play the final on Court One, having grown up going to Wimbledon as a kid and watching Tim Henman playing on Centre Court and stuff like that, I never imagined that I was going to be in a situation where I’d be there myself. So, to get there and to be able to play there and having won at Wimbledon, all these things are ‘pinch yourself’ moments. All of a sudden, I’m in a position where I’m doing what I dreamed of doing as a kid. Wimbledon is the biggest one for us and everyone in Britain loves tennis for two weeks, so it’s the time when I and my fellow British players want to play well and I’ll be going out on court hoping to do some damage again!”
After Wimbledon, at the end of August you have the Paralympic Games in Paris, and a chance to go one better than you did when you won Silver medals in Doubles in 2012 and Singles in 2016?
“Yeah, I mean, that’s the goal. All the achievements and stats people bring out when I do interviews, I find I have to pinch myself at times because I was signed up for one medal or one Grand Slam when I first started out so, to be where I am now, I feel very lucky and see anything now as a bonus, so that takes a little bit of pressure off. But, obviously going to Paris, again it’s near to home so I will have lots of support over there and it’ll be nice to try and win a medal in front of friends and family.”
It’s an exciting time for British tennis at the moment, so do you feel pride in helping inspire the next generation of players by winning titles?
“We’re flying at the moment, especially on the grass as our players love it. You’ve got Jack Draper in the Men’s who will be a danger at Wimbledon over the coming years, and Emma Raducanu in the Women’s who has already proved she can win a Slam and is on the way up, and Katie Boulter, so there are lots of players doing great things. We’re all based at the NTC (National Tennis Centre in Roehampton) and trying to push each other along, which I think helps, and the culture is really good.”
Is there much football discussion among you all?
“Yeah, we’ve got a big group chat of us where we do FPL. Andy Murray managed to win that which is a nightmare because we never hear the end of it when he wins! We all chat football but I’m the only one who supports West Ham, so I like giving them a bit of stick if we beat their teams and it’s always a good laugh!”
You had a hit with tennis fans Tomáš Souček and Vladimír Coufal for International Day of Persons with Disabilities, when they tried Wheelchair tennis out, too?
“Vlad is coming down to Wimbledon this week and is going to try and come and see me play, which is great. Those guys are amazing. At the event we did, they got in the chair and tried it out and threw themselves about. As I’ve said before, they are two great guys who are a pleasure to work with and great ambassadors for our Football Club and are always involved in the community work. They are two guys who love a bit of tennis and I’m sure they’ll be watching Wimbledon!”
You love football, too, so are you looking forward to the Julen Lopetegui era at West Ham United?
“I’m really looking forward to it, yeah. David Moyes did a great job and gave me some of the best days of my life being a West Ham fan, travelling all over Europe. Some of the away days he gave us were amazing and we’ll always be thankful for that. Looking forward now to the new era, hopefully we’ll see a slightly different style of play, and some younger players getting a chance. I played at the West Ham United Foundation Golf Day a couple of months ago and was with some of the guys from the Academy and they were looking forward to some of the boys being given a chance. As West Ham fans, we’re all looking forward to players like George Earthy getting more chances.”
You have travelled home and away to games and been looked after by the Accessibility team, so how do West Ham United do when it comes to providing for supporters with access requirements?
“My experiences when it comes to being looked after by the Club have been brilliant. I’ve been going down to West Ham since I was six years old and now I’m 33 and even at Upton Park I was always very well looked after. When we’ve been to the European away days, there is always someone there to help. Accessibility at the stadium is great and improving. The car park got sorted, which was a massive thing as it allows more people who were struggling to get on the train to come by car and park, and they’re nice wide parking spaces for people in wheelchairs to get in and out of their cars. That’s again something that West Ham is leading the way in and it’s only going to keep going forward.”
*Have you heard about West Ham United's Disabled Supporters Association? Find out more by clicking HERE.
