US OPEN

September 11, 2021

Gordon Reid

Alfie Hewett

Press Conference

HEWETT-REID/Fernandez-Kunieda

6-2, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: If each of you could give us your thoughts on the match.

GORDON REID: Yeah, I don't think it was a classic by any means. I don't think any of us played our best tennis today. The conditions were quite tough. A bit of wind swirling around making it difficult to find any rhythm.

I think we played a couple of important moments really smart, really well. Made smart decisions. I think ultimately we just gelled a little bit more as a team today and that was the difference.

ALFIE HEWETT: Yeah, it was a strange match. I think we didn't play maybe the most prettiest of tennis that we're capable of. But when it counted in the bigger games, in the bigger moments, I think we played with the conditions and the opponents really well.

Not the first time we've played those guys. We're pretty experienced. I thought we stuck to our tactics and played very smart.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What does it mean to you to complete the Grand Slam and have this achievement?

GORDON REID: Yeah, it's an amazing feeling. Something that has almost never been done in wheelchair tennis before. To do it together as a team is something we take a lot of pride in.

Little bit of regret we couldn't make it the Golden Slam. We were three points away from doing that. To come here and finish the year strongly together, go home with all four at the same time, it's a good feeling.

ALFIE HEWETT: Yeah, I don't know what more I can add to that really. For myself, I'm extremely, extremely happy and proud as a team to walk away with a Grand Slam. It's not an easy task to be able to go out there and do.

We've taken each one as it's come. It's got closer and closer. As G said, we're still hurting from last week. What's so impressive is how quickly we bounced back, the level we did it in as well. It was 2-1 in a final. We kind of put those memories behind us and just focused on what was important today, and that was obviously to get the title. Yeah, really pleased to do that.

Q. The two of you have been on such an incredible run. How did your partnership come to be? Do you feel you've improved over time?

GORDON REID: He was a lot better back in the day. All downhill from here (laughter).

We started playing together back in 2013, something like that. Alfie was still young. He was sort of up-and-coming, just finishing school. He wasn't full-time playing tennis, wasn't sure what he was doing. I was kind of playing the slams with foreign partners, but I was looking for somebody to try to work towards the Paralympics in Rio together.

When Alfie finished school, he started playing more tennis, committing more time to that. I thought it was a good opportunity. Could see he was going to be a great player. I think it was a good idea for us to start the team from an early position all those years ago.

I think we've grown stronger and stronger every year. But especially probably the last two or three years we've put a lot more time and effort, invested more energy into the doubles side of things as well. I think the results that we've had is showing that that's paid off.

ALFIE HEWETT: Yeah, I think Gordon has been the mentor in the partnership. Obviously I was young when we initially came together. A bit of a journey I think for ourselves. What we've accomplished over the last few years is just a result of the hard work, the time that we've put into this partnership.

Not sure how many hours is spent in other partnerships. We know as a team kind of with our locations, geographical issues, him being in Scotland, we still manage to come down and chat when we're apart to keep things ticking over. It's good to see the results are coming off.

It's been a long journey. We've had our ups and our downs in that moment, but we've always come back together stronger, always tried to figure out a way to improve as a team. Obviously as individuals, people, we've grown up. We've learnt a lot over the last seven years. We've only got stronger, only gelled more and more.

We've had one common goal, which is to succeed. We strive to work on the partnership.

Q. Before the gold medal match in Tokyo, you said some things about the work that's been done with the LTA. Can you put that in context.

ALFIE HEWETT: Yeah, I mean, those guys have been instrumental in the success we've had over the past 18 months, two years. Really helped us come together. They've been a big part of what's going on.

All the hours spent out on the court, Martin for example going through endless amount of stats, analysis, looking up pairs in detail, coming up with plans for us. Sarah from a psychology point of view, a partnership, us as a team, have really, really put in the work.

Would we be here? I'm not sure without them, so...

Q. What means the most to you with all your wins?

GORDON REID: I mean, I think for me this one's a massive one because it's not just one week, it's not just one tournament, but it's a collective 12 months, four slams in one year, which is obviously a big achievement. It's something that you have to show a lot of consistency in your performances to achieve.

I think for us, for me personally, that's something that means a lot. Like Alfie said, we've committed a lot of time, a lot of hours behind the scenes with the guys back home, to building our team and improving, especially over the last two or three years. Obviously getting the titles is what we're trying to achieve. Moments like this is what we do that for.

Yeah, it's just a good feeling knowing the hard work's paying off.