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WIMBLEDON

July 10, 2016

Gordon Reid

London, England

G. REID/S. Olsson
6‑1, 6‑4

THE MODERATOR: Gordon Reid, our new Wimbledon wheelchair champion. Questions, please.

Q. Obviously the first name on a new trophy.
GORDON REID: It's incredible. Still feels like a bit of a dream. Doesn't feel real, to be honest, right now.
Yeah, a Wimbledon title is always going to be unbelievable, but to be the first ever in the singles event, yeah, I'm never going to forget that.

Q. Two slam titles this year. You must be feeling pretty good. Why do you think it's happening for you now?
GORDON REID: Yeah, I won my first doubles slam last year, Roland Garros. That kind of felt like a bit of a weight off my shoulders. Felt like I could relax a little bit more. Never felt like I really played my best tennis at Grand Slam events.
Then in Melbourne, obviously I went all the way and played really well. That just gave me the belief and the confidence that I can do that at a Grand Slam tournament. I made the final of the French, and obviously won here.
Yeah, obviously it's going pretty well.

Q. What was it like for you last night and this morning, thinking about what might be?
GORDON REID: It was tough. I was trying not to think too much about that. Just trying to focus on my tactics for today, try and recover well after the doubles yesterday.
I was staying at the National Tennis Centre the last two weeks. There was a party on last night that went on till 1:00 in the morning. I ended up moving hotels at 10:00 last night and escaped the noise.
It wasn't ideal. Yeah, didn't have a great sleep. A bit of a restless sleep. Obviously excited and a few nerves for today. I can forget about all that now.

Q. You had to pack up and find a hotel?
GORDON REID: Yeah, I mean, luckily I had Geraint Richards from the Tennis Foundation help me out. He sorted it all out for me. I didn't really have to worry about it too much. Just meant I had to drive across last night and back across this morning. Wasn't too bad. 10 minutes down the road. A big comfy double bed. So can't complain.

Q. Can you talk about the two championship points.
GORDON REID: I'll talk about the last one (laughter).
Yeah, I mean, it's just the moment got to me a little bit. Yeah, I let a little bit of doubt creep into my mind. Arm got a little bit tense. Didn't go very fast through either of those serves.
But, yeah, just cleared my head, you know, pushed back up for the second one. Just picked my spot and hit it well. The rest is history.

Q. How much of an inspiration can that be to other kids who have got disabilities? You spoke very well to Clare Balding on TV after you finished.
GORDON REID: I hope it can. Yeah, I mean, for me this sport helped me so much in my recovery from my condition, my life in general. It's helped me a lot. Because we're busy as professional full‑time athletes, we don't always get the opportunity to give back to the sport that I'd probably like to do.
If this can help in some way, inspire more people, get more people playing, if it helps some other kids the same way it helped me, then that's just as special to me as winning the title.

Q. At the majors, places like Rotterdam, the wheelchair tournament is sort of integrated into the entire tournament, whereas Olympics and Paralympics, you follow on. Do you have a preference for one organization over the other? Would you rather the tennis at the Paralympics was integrated into the full Olympics?
GORDON REID: Yeah, well, I think we're really lucky in our sport, not a lot of disability sports get to compete alongside the able‑bodied counterparts. For us to play here, in the four Grand Slams as well, that's like the home of tennis, basically the biggest events in the calendar, to be a part of that is massive for our sport. Gives us a lot of opportunities that a lot of the sports don't have.
When it comes to the Paralympics, I think it's a bit of a different situation. You know, it's unique in its own right, the Paralympics. You get to compete alongside all the other sports.
The Olympics is the Olympics and the Paralympics is the Paralympics. They're different competitions. I think it's done the right way.

Q. Do you think a younger generation is coming up and taking over in wheelchair tennis? What is your expectations in Rio?
GORDON REID: If you look at the three finals this year, I've had a different opponent in each one. Shingo and Stefan haven't been in either one of them. Maybe a bit of changing of the guards. I know Shingo has problems with injuries. Stefan is getting a little bit older. Hope he doesn't mind me saying that. Maybe that's been the difference.
At the same time Stefan is still ranked No.1 in the world. Still got to prove ourselves, the younger guys, knock them off that top spot.

Q. What are your plans to celebrate? Party in your hotel tonight or not?
GORDON REID: I might not be staying at the National Tennis Centre. Don't know if they let you in there with champagne.
I've got a lot of friends and family here. Unbelievable support today. A lot of them, a few of them, there were cars full driving down last night.
Incredible to have them all here. Definitely I just can't wait to go and see them all and enjoy this with them.

Q. Like Serena Williams, you leave here with singles and doubles victories. Talk about that.
GORDON REID: Yeah, to do the same thing as Serena Williams at a slam is a pretty big achievement. Yeah, I mean, like I said at the start, feels like a bit of a dream right now.
I've only been to a doubles final once in five or six attempts at Wimbledon. So to win that yesterday with Alfie, my partner for Rio, is a big moment for us. Amazing for him, 18 years old. Then the singles today just topped it off, topped it off pretty nicely.

Q. You talked, coming into Wimbledon, about the challenges of playing on grass. Was it as you expected from a singles point of view? How tough has it been for you to compete in both the doubles and the singles?
GORDON REID: In some ways it was what I expected. The points were a little bit shorter. The things that I thought were going to be important‑ serve return, net play‑ weren't as important as I thought.
At the same time I thought physically it was going to be a lot tougher. Obviously I didn't lose a set in singles, so that helped. But the doubles match was quite intense. My semifinal in singles was intense.
But I actually felt like I got stronger throughout the week. Felt like I moved my best yesterday in the doubles final and today. I don't know whether that's because we flattened the grass so much with all the matches on that Court 17, or whether just the adrenaline was helping me through it.
I think it looked good. Everybody enjoyed it. We've kind of proven that it was the right decision to play singles here.

Q. Talk about your chances in Rio, playing on that surface there.
GORDON REID: Yeah, well, it's hard court, same as Melbourne. It's a surface I enjoy playing on. It's not going to be easy. It's a big draw. All the top players are there. People have been working years to try to win a medal at the Paralympics. It's going to be very difficult.
For me, just try to have the same mindset as this week: just go out there, trust myself, trust my game, just focus on the performance, let the results take care of themselves.

Q. Judy Murray has been a big supporter of yours over the years, Andy and Jamie more recently. Much interaction with them this week?
GORDON REID: No actually, I've not. I've seen Andy a couple of times just to say hello to. But, yeah, obviously he's pretty busy himself with a few other matches.
I've not seen them much, but hopefully I can go out and catch a bit of Andy's match later. Yeah, it would be pretty nice to share a moment with him later as two Wimbledon champions.

Q. What is your prediction in today's men's final? If Andy wins, it will be a great day for Scottish tennis, right?
GORDON REID: Yeah, yeah, massive. We're quite a small nation. So to be winning these amount of Grand Slams is a credit to the work of some of the people back home.
It's going to be a difficult match for Andy, obviously. It's a Wimbledon final. Raonic is playing well. He deserves to be there.
I said at the start of the week, start of the two weeks, I thought Milos was going to do well. He seems confident. Obviously had a good run in Queen's. Obviously Andy is playing great.
Just like me earlier, with the home crowd behind him, they'll back him on to win. It could be tight. Could be four or five sets.

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