HELENSBURGH’S Gordon Reid has spoken of his joy at being crowned a Wimbledon champion for the third year running.

The 26-year-old and his playing partner Alfie Hewett retained their men’s wheelchair doubles title at SW19 on Saturday with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Belgium’s Joachim Gerard and Stefan Olsson of Sweden.

In front of a thrilled near-capacity crowd on Court Three, Reid and Hewett became the first three-time winners of the men’s wheelchair doubles title, following up their victories in 2016 and 2017.

Second seeds Hewett and Reid could do little wrong in the first set, stringing together six games in a row to take the opener in just 25 minutes as Hewett fired a forehand winner on set point.

The second set was much closer, but the British pair recovered superbly after falling behind for the first time in the match, with Reid playing the title-winning shot as his looping forehand return on Gerard’s serve caught the line to secure the trophy.

Speaking after the match, a delighted Reid said: “They’ve got a dangerous game. They’re both big servers. They like to get forward, put us under pressure, and rush us.

“It was important to come out firing, try to stay on top of the points early. I felt we did that really well in the first set.”

The win gives Hewett and Reid a hat-trick of Wimbledon doubles titles, and adds to the US Open crown they won last year.

to the US Open crown they won last year. and sees the pair remain unbeaten as a partnership at SW19.

It’s also their fourth Grand Slam title together after they also won the 2017 US Open crown.

Asked how this win measures up against their other titles, Hewett said: “I think they’re all special. Every year to come back and win it, it’s tougher each year. People kind of expect you just to win it. We know that’s not the case. There’re a lot of strong guys out there. Yesterday’s match and even today’s match kind of proved how strong the field is.

Hewett and Reid’s success is inspiring more disabled people than ever before to pick up a racket and play tennis across the Tennis Foundation’s network of venues – something they are both well aware of and keen to drive further. The final was broadcast live by the BBC, and after receiving the trophy, Reid told presenter Clare Balding of the pair’s desire to act as an inspiration for others.

He said: “It’s a really exciting time for the sport and a really exciting time to a part of it. When we get the opportunity to showcase it to a wider audience it means we hopefully can inspire young kids who have a disability or aren’t active to pick up a sport.”

And there was no chance for Reid and Hewett to rest on their laurels after their Wimbledon triumph: they, and the rest of the world’s top wheelchair tennis players, are competing in this week’s British Open ‘Super Series’ in Nottingham, which runs until Sunday.

Next up for Reid and Hewett, along with the rest of the world’s best wheelchair tennis players, is the British Open ‘Super Series’ event in Nottingham,

now travel up to Nottingham for next week’s British Open ‘Super Series’ event, and Hewett says the pair will head there full of confidence, saying: “Moments like yesterday and moments like today really build us as a team.

“We’ll go into next week, you know, with that confidence, just try and enjoy it, to be honest. There’s a lot of pressure, a little bit of a stressful situation the last couple of days. Next week is a chance to get back on the court and just enjoy it.”

With the profile of the sport continuing to grow, a record crowd is expected at Nottingham Tennis Centre next week. Tickets for the British Open Wheelchair Tennis Championships are being made available free of charge via , with the event running from 17 – 22 July.

www.tennisfoundation.org.uk/BritishOpen