Wheelchair Tennis | US Open 2023 | Doubles success for Houdet & Sanada | More glory for Hewett

[Music] [Music] ready [Applause] play good afternoon good evening good morning gemer and I are just one hour time difference apart and yet I've already confused the hell out of both of us on a couple of occasions by getting the two time zones confused but there were far um more complicated scenarios regarding half an hours and differences so hi to everyone who's tuning in uh we're back here with Gemma last time we saw Gemma live at least was just after Wimbledon although we did get a little snippet from her just before the men's singles final and she called it uh in terms of jovic and um Mev um but that's something else and we've done that to the death let's talk about the wheel chairs again and let's begin with well actually let's begin with a topic that I wasn't aware of I'm sure some of my audience isn't aware of and Jemma you can explain it just before we went live I said well we've got men singles women singles and I mentioned mixed doubles and you went oh there's no mixed doubles in the wheelchairs at least not at the slams why is that um I think I think there's something about um draw sizes and scheduling and stuff but in I mean there is a loophole so you could technically in the quads division have a mix doubles uh because um men and women compete in um the quad division together so technically you could see that in the quad division in any tournament incl including a grand slam if a woman was to get kind of high enough ranked um but we have seen them at some tournaments as kind of like fun events so the British Open here in Nottingham um before the pandemic so it's not happened since the pandemic but before the pandemic used to regularly um run a mix doubles event just for fun and any players could sign up it was always great fun because you'd see Partnerships you never thought you'd see um and um you'd see you know Lucy Shuka partnering Stephen HUD and um Alfie partnering Dana Matthews and you know it was it was it was it's a fun event I I thoroughly want there to be mixed up with in whe tennis but yeah at the minute the only loophole where we see it is if a a female plays with male in the quads doubles event okay let's begin therefore let's get into the you know the winners and the losers um at the tournament in the US Open and I'm sure there'll be plenty of narratives to emerge Alfie huitt again is somebody that many of us particularly in the UK will be uh familiar with uh adding his name to the men's wheelchair singles trophy for the fourth time I believe is that right that he's won the US Open singles yeah four times now so and of course he beat a fellow fellow Brit in the final in Gordon Reed oh I'm going to go I'm sure many occasions we'll go for a tangent I I remember seeing a tweet I think from you that you're a little bit disappointed by the lack of journalistic presence from particularly British journalists bearing in mind it was an all men's final right in the in the press conference I mean the honest truth is that in every um press conference that either Gordon or Rie had through the tournament it was just me um uh that's how I mean I get and I you know okay the jovic medad final was on when Alfie went to press but I don't think when they're 10 10 steps away from you giving up 15 minutes to go and speak to a British winner when you're a British journalist is that hard because that's what you're there for to report on the Tennant in all its forms yes um so I got quite because actually I even said to my mom because I can't go in the traditional press way because they're stairs so I go in the same way as the players I'm like they lit they literally had to walk less than I had to wheel to get there yeah and it was really disappointing and really disappointing to see because it felt like at Wimbledon there was this turn around but it and then at the US Open it just didn't happen and then I mean I always have excuses on my Twitter when I put things up and it's like well it's difficult to and it's up to editors to say no but you're there so you can just say I'm going to ask a few questions see if I can get story out of it um you know and and it it just was really really disappointing too there was a couple of times and he didn't mean this in a horrible way um where Alfie would turn up for press and he' turn and go is it just Gemma and and I'd be like sorry um um and and like when I was Sting that massive press room because they give them the main Press Room when they win the titles at the US Open I was like there's literally me and a lady from the US Open website and that is it and um it just it just gets me angry because like what do these guys need to do I mean that was alie's eighth singles title eight singles Grand Slam title across all of the grand slams um you know he's not you know mediocre he's like achieving on the big stage and it was an all British final and it was a historic moment so in any form of the game they're never been an all British singles final men's singles final in the open era so what CH what court was that played on played on Lou Armstrong so one of the show courts yeah yeah um I mean the problem is of course is that a journalist is probably asked to not miss a single detail from the men's singles final between jovic and meev and I'm just wondering if how that could have been if that could have been a bit if the scheduling could have been a bit more spread out even well the final was before the final was before the jovic match finish before it got it yeah I mean I mean attending the press conference cuz you said it was the press conference was going on at the same time and I know I I'm just thinking Jemma that if if my editor is saying listen I don't want you to miss a single beat of that men's singles final I I probably can't even leave for 10 or 15 minutes do do you know what I mean yeah but I think also like I go as kind of a oneman band I manag to get every single wheelchair player that I want um I go as a onean band um and a lot of these places are going with teams of two or three people you can give up one person yeah like like it's you know when they say oh we're really stretched there's three of us and we have to do all this work I'm like there's one of me there's one of me with no functional hands and no functional legs so come up with another excuse you know what about Gemma what I would propose is to try and get uh by the time that the the tournament is thinning out to try and get this on on the Arthur Ash stadium and then have it as part of a you know I think there's only one other final that same day I think there's a doubles final that precedes the men's singles final why not have three matches on ash that day I mean yeah I mean they have played on ash before uh so I have been at the US Open before when they played on ash it's generally been because we've had one of those New York days which we didn't really get till the end um last this year which is where it's just completely rained for the whole day and they've had to keep up with the schedule so we have seen wheelchair matches on ash um but um I mean Lou Armstrong is quite an impressive Stadium as well and I think some things the I mean I understand it as a wheelchair user having to get from Louis Armstrong to The Press Room uh it is a mammoth task um you have to I mean I I the players have a separate way to go but it is quite far away from the media center um I mean when I have to go I have to try and avoid being Sat On By people knocked over by people um and I have to try and do it as quickly as possible um so that I'm there ready for when the players are there um so um um so um so it it is you know it's not like it's not like there would have been any delays in the press conference happening you know the players were going straight to press conferences on finals days um because they just wanted to get do that journey and then go back back and do what they wanted so there was always going to be a bit of a lag on it um so um so yeah okay what did Alfie had to say when he come to press after uh he was very happy obviously we didn't get to see the um the The Grudge Match the Rivalry match between him and Taquito Oda because actually Stefan HUD uh in spectacular fashion in the first round uh not Kito out of the singles one and one um so we didn't that's how we we have a bit of a different final so Stefan hudo was playing the tennis of his life I think he was having the tournament of his life um um quite impressively and um eventually toppled by Gordon Reed in the semi-finals but um yeah that's why we don't didn't see Taquito Oda uh in the final with Alfie I think there were a few um different feelings going on with Alfie because obviously um um it opened up the door and it opened up the door massively on Gordon's side um because everybody would have expected him to Taquito Oda to be in that semifinal but I think Alfie was a bit like I wanted to play him and get get get my revenge for Wimbledon um what's what's the what do you when you're talking about this Grudge Match is it because of what happened at Wimbledon or is there something deeper going on just it's no no no no there's nothing deeper going on it's just it's a really nice rivalry to see starting to happen um it's really nice rivalry because the um um because what's happening is Alfie and Taquito are pushing each other to be better uh so you you every time you watch them play each other there's so many um developments in each of their games to watch and little little tiny bits of progress that you can see having been made because the pair of them know that at some point they're probably going to end up going head-to-head whether that's in a final a semi-final or quarterfinal and um and and they're they're really up in their game so it's always nice to see it's not it's not nice to watch because your heart does stop but it's always nice to watch in a way that you can see the improvements that both players are making to the game and how they're both kind of um pushing the boundaries of what can be done in wheelchair tennis as well uh a word on Gordon on Reed as well of course who lost that final I mean a lot of positives to take I guess despite the disappointing final I mean yeah I would say Gordon was a bit harsh on himself in in you know his speech that he did at the end of the match because the tennis he played for the whole week was phenomenal and you know given this time last year he had that wrist injury and you know he didn't know whether he was going to play again what did he what did he say in the speech after sorry he was a bit harsh and he was like oh I didn't really turn up today and I didn't play my best and stuff like that you know it's difficult and actually if you look at Alfie's matches through the US Open and it's probably because each of them know each other's games from playing doubles and they're very open and honest with each other because they have to be as doubles Partners about their tennis and how they best play so it probably doesn't do either of them any favors um if you looked at the games and the points uh I mean when you look at the way Alfie swept past Gustavo Fernandez the round before uh how Gordon kept him and kept him working and kept him working actually was really impressive during that final um you know it was probably one of those um finals where the score line didn't 100% especially in the second set reflect what was going on in court on court really okay uh let's move over to the women's singles uh where again there was a familiar face uh who was successful uh a five-time champion there are going to be some new people of course we're going to have some unseeded finalists to talk about in a minute but before we do let's get into five time direct defending Champion did a grut uh who beat Yu kamii in the final in straight sets uh the US Open and so did you manage to attend that one as well yeah uh so I watched that one it's really important to me to do the women's wheelchair as well because even though we don't didn't have any Brits in by the time it reached the pointy end we did have Lucy Shar in who got her first ever win at Singles win at the US Open um and made it to the quarterfinals but she she got knocked out by daa in the quarterfinals um I mean sta is just this phenomenal athlete and again like we said for Alfie you is that she just seems to be improving a game I mean um this season I was talking to her and she says you know because last season actually she was getting really frustrated with her serve so she's really gone and worked on it um this season and um I mean this season generally on the big stages when I've seen her her's been working it's been it's I mean it's been brilliant even when she was saying it was dodgy to be fair it was still very good um but how's your serve Jemma actually it's probably one of the strongest part of my game okay so it's not too bad um but um they um they um what she's doing is and I think it's a really good psychology to have actually and it's helping her you know she's not con concentrating on how many singles matches she's now gone on beaten she's not chasing any records that EST gear set because she's openly said it to me that you know she ends her career not having achieved it and she sets it as a goal then she'll be disappointed when actually what she has a achieved um in her career so far is you know incredible um she's very much focused on her own progress so she looks at her game she studies her game and she um she says right I'm not happy with this element of I game what can I do better with it and and then she goes into the next tournament with that um so and and you know there were some you know some of her opponents you know U mamoko orani had changed her game up a bit uh so she played Moko atani in the semi-final she changed her game up a bit which gave her de her a few questions to answer um when they played each other in semi-final but you know daa daa answers those questions expertly and um you know whichever slam you see her winning at the minute it seems to mean a lot to her is it 12 in a row by the way for her yeah she's now done the calendar Grand Slam for three years straight that's pretty incredible I don't think anybody else has achieved that it's um it's you know and actually one of them was a golden slam because she won the gold medal in the par Olympics in Tokyo as well so the question is what is it that she's doing better than everyone else would you say I think it's the all round athleticism like if you ask the other girls on the tour they will say she's just an incredible athlete like she's she's on another level when it comes to you know we talk about in the um ATP and WTA tours about um players who are athletes that are incredible Beyond tennis and I think that's what DEA is um you know she works so hard she's got such a work ethic that um honestly I I've never really seen before um and she just wants more and more more and like I say I think it's because she focuses on the individual progress so there small goals to get the big picture rather than saying right I've got to win this many matches to get the title at the end of it it's very much and Alfie's very much the same actually he uses progress goals rather than outcome goals um so it that might be the secret to both of their successes I I have no idea but I just it would be interesting because next year she can't defend the golden slam Zeda because there's no wheelchair tennis at the Us open because the Paralympics are on and are at the same time so it will just be three slams and the Paralympics so it's a bit it would have been nice to see if she could have done like the double golden slam as well and done Tokyo and Paris but we're not going to get to see that really no I listen this is just a first thought that comes to mind I was just wondering if they could have a a separate part of the calendar for the US Open you know just have you know I don't know how long it could it would need and um you know I'm sure a week of US Open wheelchair tennis could really bring a lot of focus to the sport now what I mean is so we have the par Olympics taking place and then a couple of weeks later four weeks later as long as weather permits end of September instead of being end of August beginning of September let's have a week of wheelchair tennis when there's like right now for example the the even tennis fans like myself are going La cup Davis Cup you know um is not as popular as it once was there's other tournaments going on hey how about let's have let's have a week of just incredible focus on wheelchair tennis and have a Us open during one week that would be my immediate response to that I mean the thing that the immediate reaction from some people was that well put us in the qualifying week because the qualifying weeks before the par Olympic start but um I do know and I did ask the USA whether there was a chance that it was going to happen because quite frankly I'm going to miss my trip to New York as well um I'm going to do two trips to Paris instead quite close to each other um um and um the USA said they haven't got enough courts um to run it qualifying week so um yeah I mean the problem is as well with the wheelchair calendar is it is a full calendar as well so as well as having the US Open you've also got I don't know how many of your listeners are aware but um the US Open Super Series which is held somewhere else in the USA and that's the level below Grand Slam and then obviously the wheelchair tennis players have their end of year Masters as well so this year it's in Spain um about the first week in November and end week of October first week in November so it's it's scheduling that in the calendar as well uh but it is a shame it's like so for Tokyo because they had to move the par Olympics slightly because of the humidity and the likelihood of you know extreme weather it worked out perfectly that you could do both the paralympic PS and play the US Open but it was the first time it had happened I think at all but it definitely during my reporting career it's always been this thing like every every four years the US Open wheelchair tennis gets yeah cast off for the par Olympics all right let's move over to the uh women's doubles uh Us open this year um tell us a little bit about uh I think it was one this year was it by Gabriela daoki and Erin Cliff um sorry no no no um uh sorry tell me a bit about the the women's devs oh yeah the women's wheelchair Dev so it was a bit of a weird final so uh daa was partnering um yisa um D all Dutch partnering and UI kamii and Katie mojani were partnering each other um now in the semifinals yisa had had to withdraw because she because of sickness because of illness oh um after the first set so um nobody quite like she posted on Instagram that night fingers crossed I'll be better for the doubles final um and then it got to the doubles final and um she wasn't feeling any better and so it was it was a walkover in the doubles final um slightly disappointed because those four going head-to-head would have been an amazing women's doubles final um um it would have been and I and you know what but um equally happy for yui and kg to see their names on another doubles title together because is actually they've not been playing together very long and they're quite a fun doubles partnership I love them I think I tweeted after I'd spoken to them that um there's some amazing characters in the women's wheelchair uh side of the draws and yui and kg are two of them I mean they're fantastic I mean I interviewed kg and UI after the walkover a final and I um I asked them to imagine how the final would go and and I'd like you I'd like you to tell me about an imaginary final I just did it for a bit of fun and what did they say they were like oh it's was going to be tight everything was going to go to juice which is probably about right but I think what it means is um when we see the singles and doubles Masters in November in Spain I think if these two Partnerships make it to the final um we're gonna see one final a US Open Light if you like yeah US Open repeat um by the way did I like that question and I it reminds me of um once a co- commentator asked maray Walker the Formula 1 commentator to imagine a Formula 1 race and just start commentating on it and his co- commentator Martin brundle said he he was so believable that he had to look out the window just to check that wasn't actually a race going on but no actually to be fair they were and to be fair they were just like K was just replaying every final I've watched four play because it is and that's what's that's you know yisa I hope she's starting to feel better now because I know she wasn't very well like um we were all like um and um and and we were like oh God hope she's okay um but um but they um but it was it was like I was like I wanted to see that final but it was I had it on my this is going to be the final of the day yeah um so and and and it's very like I love it when a women's match is the standout far like match of the day because I think much like with you know um The Pedestrian game the women do get kind of left behind I think I speak a lot on a women's sport show okay um and they let me talk about women uh um so it's with Fern Buckley on BBC soland she does a women sports show every Monday and I do um I occasionally go on and talk to her I think I talked to her last Monday and we were talking about Barbie dolls that were coaches and referees um talking about imagining things imagin scenarios with Barbie being coaches and referees um but um they um I think I love yeah when when the women's match is the showstopper um it's always like I always because you know I am a woman in sport as well and I and I see how representation is lower still and I'm like we need we need to be hitting those headlines and so when the women wheelchair tennis players do I'm like yeah boom D it girls smashed it okay over to the men's double spinal and I did highlight how you know we're seeing repeat winners a lot on the singles in particular but actually on the men's doubles we had an all unseated final uh where houdet and Sonata uh overcame uh Miki and OD uh 6464 so of course the aforementioned toita a did have uh a shot of Fame in the in the in the doubles final or bit that it didn't work out for him on the day tell us a bit about that final and also the men's doubles tournament as a whole um the men's doubles tournament was incredibly high standard I think um um so sonada and Stefan HUD had um beaten Alfie and Gordon in the semi-final to get their place in the final the only pair to have done it this year um and you know um so actually as a British tennis journalist that semi-final was quite sad because you like uh the unbeaten runs come to an end and it's come to end in a semi-final not a final but actually um that if you go to that semi-final that semi-final was high quality tennis and what was weird about it was the match always felt like it was still on Gordon and Alfie's Racket and they and they it looked like they were still in control but like sard and Stefan just pulled something out the bag I think it was she Gritten to termination and they won as it got to close to close the match they won the important points which then saw them get the win in the semi-final uh and go on to the final and um yeah earlier on in the week obviously Stephan had had a lot of success against Odo in singles uh I think I think he'd maybe taken some of what he'd learned um playing him in singles to play him in doubles and um but again it was a high quality final like all of the men's doubles like the level of tennis that was played even though some of them say they were only straight sets which um the standard of tennis that was being played to get those straight sets wins was um probably some of the highest I've seen in a in a while really I mean just just thinking about it we have the the two men's singles finals both from the UK actually working as a doubles pairing over over in the doubles so I mean that is a mouthwatering combination and so if you're going to overcome them uh as they did in in the semis it's going to have to be a pretty Mammoth task um we it's just it's just going me to a point here that we're seeing we are seeing repeat names I guess what Gemma your part of your job is as well is to get more people to pick up a racket so that possibly in years to come we will look at these guys as as obviously Legends of the game and rightfully so but maybe in years to come 10 years from now we'll be talking about four different slam winners in one year you know that's that's with no disrespect to to these people that are repeat wins that's kind of the goal if that makes sense right I mean yeah I mean if you look at the men's draw in wheelchair tennis there was a time where I mean not recently where you were seeing that um and you were seeing um and even now like you saw with the result of Stefan HUD against taito Oda um even those that you see regularly in finals can still be beaten um and I think and actually in the men's draw in the US Open there was some there were some shot wins so like on the first day you had Stefan HUD be beating um toito Oda you saw Casey ratl who's been at the US Open as a wild card for years get his first singles win at the US Open and you know beat quite formidable Dutch opponent so you are seeing upsets happening I mean um that first day of the men's wheelchair tennis store it was like sorry what so you had it all written down where you thought it was going to land and then it would landed completely differently and then so I think Alfie when I interviewed him says um thankfully I didn't trip on that banana skin of being knocked out in the first round um because it was a day where the favorites if you looked at the match up a lot of them were going down uh I don't know whether that was a humidity out in New York or what because it was oppressively hot out there this year like I've never known it that hard and I asked the players I said what's the difference though because it was 40 degrees on at some points what's the difference between playing here and in Australia cuz sometimes when we're in Australia it's 40° and they were like a lot of them came back to me and says it's the humidity so for them with Australia it's fresher at 40° whereas this was more like a lot of them um compared it um to the humidity when they played in the Tokyo Paralympics okay yeah and said it was like dealing with that so what you saw as well matches were scheduled to start at 11:00 a.m. they couldn't start till 3 p.m. because it was just too hot um to play because um a lot of people in The Press Room were asking me why the wheelchair had stopped but none of other matches had so the reason why is because because in some um wheelchair users so from instance I'm I'm one of those so I have a brain injury which means my body can't control my temperature so um they lower the wet bulb temperature to keep people safe so um I mean I was sat still outside the courts and I was like no I don't like this um it was oppressively hot like I've never know I mean the first day they moved the wheelchair tennis matches back me and my mom said I will go out to Manhattan in the morning I lasted 400 yards wheeling in my wheelchair before I went this is too much um because in central Manhattan it feels hotter as well so um yeah it I I don't know whether some of it was to do with the heat and who coped better with the heat on the day but um you know it it was good to see in those first rounds you know the draws had extended and it wasn't that you had two or three wild cards and you knew you they automatically went out because no some of the wild cards got through so it was quite exciting in those early stages so and I think and I think it's only going to get more and more like that I mean you look in Britain we have the LTA they do something called the wheelchair tennis initiative which is um where kids who want to even if they haven't picked up a racket before can go along for free for a couple like four or five hours um have some lesson like workshops with the LTA performance team and you know what if they're spotted as having Talent then they can get they start their Journeys on the performance pathway but even if they're not if they're enjoying the tennis like if they go along to those days if they're enjoying it the the whole point about participation is that it's not also yes it's about finding the future alies the future Gordons the future andyp thoughts um it's um it's about getting disabled people to enjoy tennis as a sport so on those days as well it's not all about are you good enough to go on performance pathway the LTA very much signpost um opportunities to people who maybe go on that day play tennis for the first time and say I'd quite like to keep playing so they have um an open court program which is clubs around the country that are set up and willing and able and accessible to take disabled players um so they're always very useful so I I always say to people in the UK you know even if you've never picked up a tennis racket before go to one of those wheelchair tennis initiative days get taught by the best and then um and then you'll find out what opportunities are available Jemma um we talked about some of the offc Court the stuff we mentioned some of the pros and cons at Wimbledon earlier this year with some matches getting some sort of prominence there on showc courts um we also spoke about the US Open just now in terms of disappointment in terms of maybe attending the press conference uh particularly the the men's singles final from the UK perspective uh were there any other sort of Pros and cons that you sort of look at from this year's US Open maybe comparing it to other years if it's better or worse or or any other takeaways that we can take for it I think um what was really good was um that obviously when we had Wimbledon and this was in the main draws as well as real CH tennis stores because of the weather there was a lot of um criticism wasn't there about scheduling and catching up on scheduling one thing I would give the US Open and me and my mom both said this is they had to completely change the schedule of the wheelchair tennis matches and they still got through every single one each day uh so every single one that was on the list they got through they somehow managed to work it uh I don't know how I do there were a couple of 11 pm finishes but um okay but um but you know what that's not that's early for New York isn't it everybody's still awake at that time so it doesn't feel like it's late uh and with the 3:00 start it wasn't that much so one thing I will say the scheduling at the US Open today this year was on point um I don't know how they did it I don't know how they got they had to move all the schedules because of the Heat and and then on the final day it just didn't stop raining um which is you know standard New York um but um and so they um but they they were they were cracking with the scheduling but one thing I always feel about the US Open is um the access is always great like i' okay um i' like kind of every experience I've had of the US Open um and it's why I love going there um they get what I'm there to do and they get why I'm there so they facilitate it really really nicely you know um and um it's really actually it's quite nice as well because they have this area in the Press office called the media Garden so instead of going into like a really small white Press Room that's just got this white paint across it and looks so formal uh they'll sometimes schedule like press conferences in the media garden and you're outside you can look out onto Ash you've got practice courts in the background you sat there with palm trees or some palm tree I think they're palm trees but there are a lot of trees and you're just outside interviewing players and and it's quite nice and it's quite different and and it's for me it's more like the informality that I have when I interview the players on the tour when it's not a grand slam um another tournament that does that well is Australian Open as well um because I don't know maybe it's just relaxed vibes from those two tournaments um that just allows them to do it um but it's it's just somewhere different to interview them all right what is there a slam of the four um that you think in terms of wheelchair tennis does the best job and and could you say why I think I know what you're going to say I think I think you're going to say Wimbledon right oh okay you're going to Australia so my first experience of reporting on wheelchair tennis at the slam well no it was Wimbledon but my first going away to slam was the Australian Open and I'd kind of LED myself to believe that it was just going to be a long haul with wheelchair tennis and maybe if if if it had the prominence by the time I retired that that would be a achievement um but I can always remember my first Australian Open and I went and it said the play are down at the practice court so they told me the tennis Australia told me they're down you can go and watch them and see how they're doing and stuff that's fine I went down to watch it and Dylan OT had as many people around his court as Roger feder and okay I think for myself as a wheelchair user as a disabled person not even a wheelchair tennis player as a disabled person seeing that like literally just Wheeling down to practice courts and you could see crowds by both like both were playing practicing at the same time I was like this this is a moment like why can't we Rec create this moment everywhere else um and I think it changed my outlook on because I'd been employed in media and I think I'd started as quite a like Rebel reporter going I will change this and I will do this like this and then I and I I was in a more of a staff job and I was like oh no I'm never going to change things until somebody like me becomes an editor and I don't think that's ever going to happen and then I went to that first Australian open so I then went freelance uh and do stuff for loads of places now instead of just one and I went went freelance and I went to my first Australian Open I was like man this can happen like Dylan is not taking any excuses for people not turning up for people not showing interest he's literally calling it out and getting the audiences out there and that's what I say like a lot of what happens in Australia is to do with Dylan orot and how he used his platform and how he went up to companies and was like take notice of this I'm not taking no an answer so then I was like no this is doable so I should continue fighting for this um it's why I highlight on my Twitter things like when I'm the only British journalist that turns out for the players because I think I sat there on my um bottom keeping quiet for so long and nobody actually knows that nobody's still turning up for these guys and on my Twitter I have a lot of wheelchair tennis fans who follow me four wheelchair tennis and I don't think they even knew the situation so I'm like right now know I'm sorry I'm not keeping quiet about this anymore I'm letting people know that this is the situation um um so um so it's um yeah so I think Australia showed me where it could be Wimbledon this share was phenomenal and I will say I hope it remains that way uh that was a big big big moment um yeah so but my first experience of seeing what wheelchair tennis could be and what crowd it could draw was Australia and it was the first place I'd ever seen it fair enough I mean uh as you say he that must give you a you know when you saw that with the with the Roger feder compar I been like wow this is uh this is cool um if you know course the sport can can can Branch out and have more Alie hits that would be great especially ones that as determined off the court as on it to make change I'm just sharing as well your Twitter handle right now as well on our screen as you can see so make sure you are a Twitter or ex user whatever you want to call it I don't care um make sure you give j a follow to keep up to date with all things whe chair tennis related um Gemma what else have we got to look forward to in terms of the wheelchair tennis this year so I think one thing we haven't mentioned of the US Open is actually Alie won the senior title but we actually haven't done the quads yet either we haven't done the quads oh no we haven't done the quads either but um we also had a British winner in the junior boys wheelchair singles Danon Ward and then him and a fellow Brit Joshua JNS won the doubles and they got to play on Lou Armstrong and straight after straight after all the senior singles finals um and I was like you know what that's that's an opportunity like like Alfie says it you know when he started playing in his career he dreamed about playing Court 91 at one of the Islams now you can like kids who are following him can look up saying I want to play court number one um and like donon and Joshua did it while they were playing in the Juniors you know incred and incredible results for Dan who finished runner up actually in the junior wheelchair singles last year he finished running up to another Brit Brit Ben Bartram um so um even last year we had quite a strong brick contingent in that US Open uh junior um draw us open's the only one Grand Slam at the minute that does a junior wheelchair tennis draw but it's great because you get to see the future and they get an experience of grand slams um so yeah and the quads yeah uh Sam schroer um was the winner of the Quad singles he played an incredible game actually because um in the second set so he he won the first set quite convincingly but then in the second set Neil started causing him problems and he was behind like he was behind for a lot of that second set and I thought oh we're going to three here we're going to three and then somehow he pulled it back um and um did it in straight sets it was an incredible match to watch actually um especially that second set um because Neils was challenging him he was challenging Neils they were frustrating each other in that they were making each other make errors um so um yeah that was a really good singles singles um final to be fair and then Sam and Neils then went on to win the dou title as well together um so that again familiar names we used to seeing um in um with their names on the trophies but also we had a great in the final Andy Thorn and Donald rampy uh finished runner up in the qu doubles um they are a hilarious pair like Donald has to be I think the happiest man in tennis let alone wheelchair tennis like he'll hit a dodgy shot and he'll just laugh and I'm like you know what I wish I wish I thought all about like that about my dodgy shots because I tend to get a bit annoyed but Donald just like laughs and goes well it happened he literally is one of the happiest players I've ever met been it's so great and um and I think him and Andy again bit like UI and um kg um they're quite a new partnership who are working together but they've already won one grand slam title together uh and they've been in US Open um doubles final together so they're doing quite well really for a new partnership and it it's it's quite nice to see that partnership growing that's what's really interesting there are some new Partnerships warning so with these draws expanding there are new Partnerships forming and you're not just seeing the same Partnerships and the you know this there's changes happening and and it when these news Partnerships are happening it's so interesting to see how these players who you know in reality go head-to-head against each other in singles and then have to kind of team up for the doubles all right thank you Gemma I'm just going to post your Twitter handle as well or X handle there so give Gemma a follow on X or or Twitter whatever you want to call it at G Stevenson sport to keep up with uh all things wheelchair tennis for l did not just through the slams but throughout the year gem a big thanks for stopping by just I did ask you a little while ago as well a couple minutes ago anything that it's particular exciting on the horizon for for wheelchair tennis this year so yeah look out for the wheelchair tennis Masters uh there's a singles and a doubles it's the same is like the WTA and the ATP finals that you watch but it's wheelchair tennis happening in Spain uh it's on Clay which is weird and different because they usually play those end of year finals on hardcore uh indoor clay or um I think it's outdoor I mean I mean it can be good good weather where is it in Spain it's down in the south of Spain so um so I mean they should be right but um it's it's very it's going to be a very different one this year because you are used to seeing the end of Masters on Hardcore um the reasoning for doing it they've said is in preparation for the Paro Olympics because obviously par Olympic wheelchair tennis will be played at Rand Garis which is on clay for so um so yeah so it'll be interesting to see because the clay does throw up a few um random challenges okay yeah I was wondering about actually a few minutes ago when I was thinking about the four slams yeah there must be some challenges for wheelchair users on Clay right yeah so you you've kind of got the different surfaces um hard courts obviously the lovely one to hit on and because you can keep rolling um Grass Court probably the worst so the one thing they tell you in wheelchair tennis is that you've always got to keep moving uh grass thought stops you from keeping moving so it's more of a challenging clay sort of in between is but you know somebody like Alfie says you know Alfie was always a good play Court player but what it might throw up is some very different finals semi-finals quarterfinals because it is a different surface uh and they've got to kind of go from the hardcourt swing back into clay Court training rather than carrying on with hardcore so it should be an interesting one this year all right uh big thank thank you to Gemma for stopping by again hopefully we'll catch up with you soon I would imagine probably sometime post Australia but uh who knows we may even cross path again before that Gemma uh a big thank you for taking time out in what I know is a busy shedule for you as well so make sure go g I've seen some of the comments just to let you um listeners know I'm not a Manu fan oh okay I I am a man united fan oh I was born in Newcastle so I'm a Newcastle fan but hilariously my dad's a Sunderland fan so you can imagine what it's like in our house oh yes T tensions big rivalry there all right J yes good uh we've got plenty of soccer lovers or football lovers in the chat as well I have to say both because my audience is all over the show um but yeah all right JMA big thanks for stopping by and um everybody as I said give Gemma a follow on social media her handle is there and for the rest of you you know the drill if you enjoyed this video make make sure you hit that like button don't forget to subscribe and click that notification Bell so you don't miss out on all things tennis