Alfie Hewett says winning his first Paralympic gold medal alongside Gordon Reid is “the stuff of dreams”.
The Britons defeated Japan’s Tokito Oda and Takuya Miki 6-2 6-1 in the wheelchair tennis men’s doubles decider at Roland Garros.
It completes a career ‘Golden Slam’ for Reid and Hewett in doubles, where they are the dominant force in the men’s game.
They had previously lost the Paralympic doubles finals at Rio 2016 and Tokyo in 2021.
“It’s something we have been desperate for for a long time now and we have come so close twice and felt that heartbreak, felt that pain,” said Reid.
“That’s been some of the toughest moments in my career. To sit here with the gold around our necks, it’s up there with one of the best.”
Despite the scoreline, the first set was extremely competitive, lasting an hour with both pairings having eight break-point opportunities.
However, 26-year-old Hewett and Reid, 32, raced through the second, with a brilliant Hewett cross-court drop-shot winner sealing victory.
Immediately afterwards, Hewett leaned back and threw his racquet in the air in celebration before he and Reid shared a long embrace on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Asked what they said to each other, Reid replied: “I think we said, ‘we did it, we finally did it – it’s ours’.”
It is a fifth Paralympics medal for Reid, who defeated Hewett to win singles gold at Rio 2016.
Hewett, who has four medals with a fifth guaranteed, will be across the net from Oda again on Saturday when they meet in the men’s singles final.
Emotions flood out for Hewett and Reid
This victory was possibly as much about relief as joy for Hewett and Reid, given what had gone before.
They went in as the clear favourites having won 21 Grand Slam titles together in doubles, including all three played this year. Each time in 2024 they defeated Oda and Miki in straight sets in the final. They had also won the past five French Opens on the clay of Roland Garros.
However, the Paralympic title had previously proved elusive, with the pair losing to France’s Stephane Houdet and Nicolas Peifer in the finals of both the Rio and Tokyo Games.
The defeat three years ago was particularly hard to take, coming in a match that lasted three hours and 25 minutes and was concluded by a final-set tie-break. Afterwards, Reid said he was “heartbroken”, while Hewett felt “devastated and emotional”.
The emotions were very different this time.
“We knew that we could come here and win it, but still there is always that doubt in the back of your mind that reminds you of those two losses in the Paralympics,” said Hewett.
“Can you break the cycle? We certainly squashed that this week and just went out there and tried to play the brand of tennis that we have done all year, tried to take it in our stride and enjoy the moment and thankfully this time we are not crying on each other’s shoulders.”
They were made to work for the win, having broken twice on their way to an early 3-0 lead. Oda and Miki fought back and had two chances to level at 3-3 but could not convert, the Britons eventually closing out the set with Reid’s prowess at the net and accuracy with drop shots proving key.
The second set went by quickly and although 18-year-old Oda and Miki, 35, did manage to break the Hewett serve, they only won a total of 10 points in it.
It was clear what this gold meant to Hewett and Reid in the final game, with both roaring “come on” in unison when they moved two points away before Hewett raised his arms in the air when they got to match point.
Can doubles champion Hewett double up?
The Paralympic gold for Hewett comes after he had already made a major breakthrough this summer, winning the Wimbledon singles title for the first time in July.
Victory against Oda on Saturday really would make his career complete and clinch a ‘Golden Slam’ in singles too. In contrast to the doubles, he is arguably the underdog. Oda has won the French Open title for the past two years and defeated Hewett in the 2023 final.
Asked what the doubles gold could do for him going into the singles final, Hewett added: “I’m not even thinking about it. We have been working hard for such a long time for this moment, I don’t want to just put it to one side for now.
“I’ll wake up tomorrow morning and I’ll do what I need to do out there on court. I’ll be going for another gold of course but tonight’s all about us.”
The Briton’s quest has echoes of Novak Djokovic in the Olympics last month, where the Serb – a 24-time Grand Slam singles champion – finally won a gold medal at Roland Garros.
Meanwhile, Japan’s Yui Kamiji, 30, took the women’s singles gold, upsetting Dutch world number one and Tokyo 2020 champion Diede de Groot 4-6 6-3 6-4.
Another Dutchwoman, Aniek van Koot, secured the bronze with a 7-6 (7-3) 6-1 win over China’s Wang Ziying.
