Laura Robson, Alfie Hewett and Jack Draper return for the third part of their pre-Wimbledon series, celebrating 100 years of Centre Court. This one's all about Alfie; fresh from winning his 15th Grand Slam doubles title with Gordon Reid at the French Open, remarkably their 10th major in succession. Alfie's the only member of the team who hasn't yet played on Centre; remember he told us in Episode One his one experience was a Royal Box invite in 2018. Not bad, but not enough! So this isn't about memories of Centre, it's about aspirations of one day playing there. Wheelchair events at Wimbledon have been gradually upgraded through the courts, including the women's singles final being played on Court One for the first time in 2021. So is it possible? Wheelchairs on Centre? Logistics and tradition suggest it's a hard sell but, as Alfie says, they other Slams have managed it, so why not?
Time Codes:
00:55. Time to update someone's bio! Congrats Gordon and Alfie, who's straight off the plane to tell us about it!
02:05. We start by hearing about the time Alfie and Jack hit the court together; both in wheelchairs. I think we know how this ends...
02:50. Lucy Shuker's also on the court but has to take cover when Jack flies a serve down; Jack goes a shade of strawberry...
03:35. At the age of 7, Alfie received the diagnosis which would change his life. He takes us back to the beginning for the full story...
04:00. He wanted to play in goal for Norwich City before "this random thing came out of nowhere".
04:35. A visit to Stoke Mandeville Hospital helped Alfie find a new direction...
05:10. Alfie kept himself active by playing three very different sports; tennis was just a hobby by this point, basketball was the priority...
06:50. Jack's interested to know about the visibility of wheelchair tennis at that point. The search engine Alfie mentions is at https://parasport.org.uk. See also https://join.accessercise.com/.
08:10. Time to big up "The Quadfather"! Peter Norfolk inspired many athletes, including Alfie, around the time of London 2012.
08:55. Jack and Laura are keen to find out about the kit; it's expensive stuff! Alfie explains the difference between regular chairs and sports chairs.
10:30. Another dig at Jack's wheelchair skills prompts Alfie to ask our novice; "what's the hardest thing about operating a sports chair?"
11:50. We fast-forward to Alfie and Gordon winning Wimbledon for the first time in 2016; the year his career took off. Alfie watched it back the other day!
14:20. Tim Henman time!
15:30. Laura's interested in finding out which is the best Grand Slam tournament, in terms of accessibility and visibility for wheelchair tennis.
16:45. Alfie says the time's right to start expanding the wheelchair draws and growing the game further...
17:35. The logical extension to this is Court scheduling; Jack's keen to dig a bit deeper here... Alfie's setting the bar high!
18:20. Laura's asks whether it would be possible to put a wheelchair match on Centre. Alfie says, behind the scenes, we need to talk about it. It's happened elsewhere, so why not Wimbledon?
19:50. Alfie says it's his dream to play on Centre Court and brings it back to the "deeper meaning"; he feels it would show the inclusivity that Britiain is famed for.
20:50. A huge question from Jack; how's the tech going to evolve? Stephane Houdet's chair gets big-money promo...
22:20. Ambitions; Wimbledon? Paralympic Gold? Big prizes remain "on the bucket list"!
23:25. A questions from Laura: Who's the player in the podcast artwork? Someone knows way too much....
Feel the Connection this summer with Vodafone, official partner of Wimbledon.