With his bullying reverse backhand - a shot which nine times out of ten leaves his opponents unable to respond when he rips it down the line - it’s fair to say Alfie Hewett has found the recipe for success at the Slams when it comes to game style.

But not content with resting on his laurels and after the “heartbreak of the Paralympics in Tokyo” over the past year we’ve also seen him change his game up a bit so that he keeps his opponents guessing on court.

And the fruits of that hard work in training really came to the fore in his singles quarter-final against Tom Egberink at this year's US Open.

Hewett is the first to admit that the world No. 8 from the Netherlands has always been an opponent that he has “struggled against” and indeed it was the Dutchman who knocked him out at the semi-final stage of the Tokyo Paralympics only a year ago.

However, his recent 6-1 6-3 victory over Egberink at Flushing Meadows not only levelled up the head to head - each having now won six matches a-piece - but it also showed how Hewett’s game has matured since the disappointment of missing out on the gold medal match in Tokyo.

“How a year can change things, right?” Hewett said. “If you look at my past history against him I’ve always sort of lost in three sets and I’ve not been able to get the wins or even produce a good performance in my eyes.

“The heartbreak of the Paralympics was a massive motivation to try and change my game, so much so it was one of the first things I did when I came back - I started to analyse other players a bit more specifically - and recently I’ve won three or four on the bounce against him.

“And today it wasn’t just me beating him at his game I think I managed to turn the tables around too and just play the tennis I wanted to play - my game.”

“It’s about having those options”

One of the ways we’ve seen Hewett mix it up a bit is with his signature shot.

No longer is he just relying on the power and spin he can generate on his reverse backhand, he is also becoming proficient with a slice and it’s improving every time you see him on court.

“Tom is somebody that likes to get into a rhythm to be able to play his game, he wants to get into that slice rally and a year ago I didn’t have an aggressive slice and my ability to then defend his slice was not as consistent as it is now," Hewett said.

“It’s about having those options and I’m pretty sure on another day that some of those options won’t be there but that’s just tennis isn’t it, that’s the sport.

“But today I managed to have everything at my disposal and that’s what took my performance to the next level against him.”

“It’s really important to have role models and people to learn from”

It’s not just seeing the gains from the practice court make it into match play though that has helped Hewett continue to evolve so he can maintain his position among the world’s best.

For the two-time US Open singles champion it’s also been about learning from other players and what they do. Shingo Kunieda, he says, is one of his main role models.

“It’s good to have role models.” Hewett said. “And just as Shingo was my role model, I’m sure Shingo had his own role models when he was first getting into the sport, and you know you can really learn from them.”

And if you took a side step away from the senior wheelchair tennis draw and focused on the first ever Grand Slam junior wheelchair tennis draw which began today, you could already see that Hewett is also becoming a role model to many other players himself.

Britain’s Ben Bartram, who became the first player to ever win a junior wheelchair tennis match at a Grand Slam at more or less the same time as Hewett booked his spot in the men’s open division semi-finals, is one of the young juniors who looked up to Hewett as a player when they first started out in the sport and still cite him as one of their influences now.

"He [Ben] has the potential to be a really good player and do well at Grand Slams too," Hewett said. "I’ve watched him now for the last couple of years; I’ve seen him grow up: I’ve seen how he’s really come on and we’ve started to train together now too.

“And there’s Ruby Bishop here as well so that’s three people from Norfolk in the same place playing tennis. Who’d have thought that?

“Three tennis players from Norfolk, a little county in the UK, all at a Grand Slam trying to win titles in wheelchair tennis and being in the mix with the world’s best.”