Alfie Hewett on Cancelling the US Open

I my last last bit moving into the bigger picture you know you uh Mark Bullock and I have to shout out Mark you know Mark's a good friend of mine and Mark's done brilliant things with wheelchair tennis over the years I was having a big chat with him at Wimbledon I know you guys again got onto the show coats even earlier this time you know the the through through demand you know through you know we all go back and I I always use Y and Golden's final last year it was on simultaneous with the the men's doubles final which had Neil scopy in and I was watching the two courts on different TVs and your court was 20 times louder you know like the whole you know that you you've really got the certainly certainly in the UK it seems like you've you've grasped the imagination and and and and inspiring so many now but then it comes along and we hear that us open's taken the event away this year you know and that seems to be a bit of a step backwards when there seems to be so much progress being made what what what are your thoughts and take on that and how does that affect the the the positive feeling that has been happening in the sport over over the last couple of years yeah I mean I I fully understand the re reasons why your open isn't taking place um I feel like I'm I'm in a position where I can speak to people who make these decisions or at least um in the you know the in the room when these decisions are being made and I fully understand that the par Olympics obviously clashes at the same time as the US Open so therefore there was no physical way that um the US Open for us would have been able to to be possible um could it have been played obviously either a week later or a couple of weeks earlier that was the the conversation that a lot of players were um inquisitive about and I know that they looked into all used to to make it possible I do believe it's it's important that wheelchair tennis is at every Grand Slam every single year take nothing away from the par Olympics par Olympic is it's a huge event it holds you know a lot of history a lot of prestige um as so does the US Open and and in the sporting world of tennis it's it's obviously huge um but there has been a lot of progression um especially other slams as well I mean wimon has been it's just remarkable in terms of its uh its profile Razer the opportunities that are being given um and the other and the other Slams are also doing that you know we've played on chatu now played on Arthur rash um and Rod La has had wheelchair matches and each year you uh you feel like it's growing um so to then miss out once every four years feels like um a bit of a gap in that progression but the next one is in LA and I'm fairly confident that they'll be able to to figure out a solution because all players they want that we don't want to have to to pick um because the Paralympics does mean so much to um to wheelchair tennis and you know to me you know it's an absolute dream to to go there and and play for my country and try and play for a medal but as a tennis professional a wheelchair tennis professional US Open is also a huge event in the calendar for um for legacy for history for titles um you know but also for for for finances as well because for for wheelchair tennis the the main prize money is really earned at the Grand Slams so you then take away one event in in that year it can potentially make a big difference to to someone's um to someone's income if that's not there US Open did um have listened to to that side of it and that's why they're still offering prize money the top 14 men's and women's um and quads in the world so that there are no uh people missing out which I think is a is a is a great thing to recognize and just and just share because that was probably one of the main the main um disadvantages of of it because yeah it's it's a huge huge gap otherwise so they've um they've been very open about the whole process and it's a difficult decision to to make at the end of the day I'm still going to be there um in Paris abs absolutely loving the fact that I'm that I'm playing in my third par Olympics but I you know I'm I'm confident and and I hope that in future years there can be a system or or a way to figure out um the both that both can can happen