Venue: All England Club Dates: 27 June-10 July |
Coverage: Live across BBC TV, radio and online with extensive coverage on BBC iPlayer, Red Button, Connected TVs and mobile app. |
Britain’s Alfie Hewett captured the hearts of Court One with a remarkable comeback to reach his first Wimbledon men’s wheelchair singles final.
Hewett came from a set and two breaks of serve down to beat Gustavo Fernandez of Argentina 2-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-4.
The world number two meets Japanese top seed Shingo Kunieda in Sunday’s final.
“That was incredible – I’ve never experienced anything like this before,” said the 24-year-old in an emotional on-court interview.
Hewett and Fernandez received a standing ovation after a three-hour tussle in which the Briton rallied from behind to cancel out a superb start from his South American opponent.
The players traded 14 breaks of serve and an array of eye-catching winners in a seesaw encounter that thrilled the showpiece court’s large crowd.
“We try to improve the exposure of our sport and I think we showcased a pretty good level today,” five-time Grand Slam singles champion Hewett added.
Hewett, who had lost two previous singles semi-finals at Wimbledon, had little time to reflect on his achievement, though, as he was due back on Court One later on Friday for a doubles semi-final alongside fellow Briton Gordon Reid.
The defending champions will face Dutchman Tom Egberink and Belgium’s Joachim Gerard – the pair the Britons beat in last year’s final.
‘Pushed to be in front of a bigger crowd’
After his quarter-final win over close friend Reid on Thursday, Hewett told BBC Sport he was “disappointed” the all-British encounter had been played on court 14, rather than promoted to a show court.
All England Club schedulers appeared to have taken his comments on board, moving Hewett’s semi-final against Fernandez, also a five-time Grand Slam winner, from court three to the 12,345-capacity Court One.
“I was actually asleep at 9.30 last night and I kept getting phone calls from the [tournament] referee,” Hewett said.
“I thought it’s probably nothing important, just leave it – and it was actually a court change to Court One so once I found that out I didn’t get much sleep after that.
“I’ve been buzzing for this sort of occasion.
“We’ve been lucky enough to be on court three and…
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