Alcott and Hewett seal third Roland Garros singles titles
Dylan Alcott remains the man to beat in Paris, after extending his unbroken run of quad singles titles with a third triumph since the event made its Roland Garros debut in 2019.
The world No. 1 claimed his 13th career Grand Slam singles title with a 6-4 6-2 victory over Dutchman Sam Schroder, who provided stern early resistance and opened up a 4-2 lead before the Australian came roaring back to win 10 of the last 12 games.
“I really love clay,” said Alcott, who now has 21 singles and doubles majors to his name. “I love Roland Garros. I feel very lucky to be here at the moment with everything going on in the world.”
Having beaten Schroder for the Australian Open title in February, Alcott is once more halfway to a calendar Grand Slam – or a Golden Slam, given this is a Paralympic year. But the 30-year-old dismissed suggestions the opportunity would be keeping him up at night.
“I was hoping to win the Grand Slam in 2019 and won every match up until the final of the US Open, and I played the worst match I've ever played in my life, so I do not think about that ever again,” he said.
“I used to have expectations of myself to win. You can have a goal to win, but the only expectation you can have is to be the best version of you. That's all you can worry about.
“People think that my purpose in life is winning Grand Slams and tennis tournaments and gold medals and stuff like that,” he added. “But my real purpose in life is trying to change perceptions so people with disability can do whatever they want to do.”
Hewett secures second Roland Garros sweep
It was a day of title defences in Paris, as Great Britain’s Alfie Hewett secured back-to-back men’s wheelchair singles crowns with a 6-3 6-4 victory over world No. 1 Shingo Kunieda.
Victory in Monday’s final completes a second sweep of the Roland Garros titles for the 23-year-old, who defended his doubles crown with compatriot Gordon Reid the previous day.
And while the drama of the contest couldn’t hope to match his semi-final comeback against Gustavo Fernandez – a contest he rates as the match of his life – his fifth Grand Slam singles victory still ranks among his finest performances at the majors.
“After playing that sort of match against Gustavo, it would be a shame to not go into today and try and play better tennis,” Hewett said. “I think the quality dipped in and out of that last one but today the quality was one of the best finals I have played, just dealing with the conditions, dealing with the fact that it was a final.
“I have played four or five recently and felt very nervous and tense at the beginning. I felt like I came out of the blocks really well, and that was a big thing I was looking at.”
De Groot and Van Koot make it four in a row
After claiming her second Roland Garros women’s singles title on Sunday, Diede de Groot ended the second major of the year with her fourth successive women’s doubles crown in Paris partnering fellow Dutchwoman Aniek van Koot.
Returning to the scene of their first ever Grand Slam doubles titles in 2018, the top seeds beat two-time Roland Garros champions Yui Kamiji and Jordanne Whiley 6-3 6-4 to claim their eighth career major doubles title together.
Having sealed the calendar Grand Slam of women’s doubles titles in 2019, De Groot and Van Koot have now won the first two majors of 2021.
“I think most of all the teamwork was really good today,” said De Groot, who hit a forehand winner down the middle of the court on match point. “Whenever I played a good shot then Aniek was ready to take on the next one, and when Aniek did something well I was ready for whatever shot came next.
“At the beginning of the Grand Slam you hope to win both titles and when you succeed at that it can’t get any better.”
Van Koot added: “We had our game plan and stuck to that and it worked today. I’m not going to say what that is and give the game away, but we always look to stick to the game plan.”