Australian Dylan Alcott has added further gloss to a season crowned by Rio 2016 Paralympic gold by being confirmed as the year-end quad singles world number one for the second successive time.
It comes after a 12-month period in which the 26-year old also claimed a second Australian Open title and also won five of the six Super Series titles on the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour, including the Apia International Sydney Wheelchair Tennis Open, the SA Open, the Japan Open, the BNP Paribas Open de France and the British Open.
Singles gold in Rio was also accompanied by a doubles victory with Heath Davidson.
Alcott has already been named Australian Paralympian of the Year and also became the first wheelchair player to receive the Newcombe Medal, the highest honour in Australian Tennis.
Another Rio 2016 winner in Britain’s Gordon Reid is the year-end world number one in the men’s singles.
Female Paralympic champion counterpart Jiske Griffioen of The Netherlands receives the same honor in the corresponding women’s singles event.
Britain’s Andy Lapthorne, rather than Alcott, is the world number one in the quad doubles.
Lapthorne and Jamie Burdekin only claimed bronze in Rio, but the former was rewarded for consistent performances throughout the year.
The duo won Super Series titles in Sydney and at the Japan Open along with four runners-up finishes.
Their Rio bronze medal win over Itaj Erinlib and Shraga Weinberg of Israel was the longest match in Paralympic wheelchair tennis history, lasting a staggering 4 hours 25min.
Stephane Houdet of France is the year-end world number one in men’s doubles while Yui Kamiji of Japan heads the women’s doubles list.
Sam Schroder of The Netherlands and Nalani Buob of Switzerland complete 2016 as the year-end number one players in the respective junior boys’ and girls’ singles rankings.
By Nick Butler
Republished with permission from insidethegames.biz.