Dylan Alcott, Diede de Groot and Shingo Kunieda have ended 2021 on top of the world. The three champions, winners of the US Open Wheelchair Competition presented by Deloitte in September, have been crowned ITF world champions and year-end No. 1s in wheelchair tennis.
Alcott and de Groot top the year-end rankings for a third straight year, while Kunieda secured his ninth No. 1 finish overall. The Aussie and Dutchwoman had a history-making week in New York as they became the first-ever wheelchair tennis players to win the Golden Slam—all four Grand Slam tournaments and the Paralympic gold medal in the same year—within hours of each other on the penultimate day of the 2021 US Open.
It's also a guaranteed final season-ending honor for Alcott, who played his last tournament of 2021 at the US Open and announced in November that he'll retire from tennis after January's Australian Open.
De Groot doubled-up in year-end honors as announced by the ITF on Monday as she also ends the year as the doubles world No. 1. While she and partner Aniek van Koot ended the year with the same number of ranking points, de Groot tops the list by virtue of having played fewer tournaments than van Koot over the course of protected ranking period introduced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rounding out the year-end world No. 1s in the men's and quad doubles rankings, respectively, are Alfie Hewett and Niels Vink. Hewett and Gordon Reid teamed to win nine titles in 2021, including all four majors to complete the Grand Slam, while Vink won a total of eight titles, including six with compatriot Sam Schroder. The two Dutchmen made history for their nation by winning gold at the Paralympics, and also won their first Grand Slam title together at the US Open.
Vink, the US Open quad singles finalist, finished just 10 points ahead of Schroder for his first year-end honor.
In Their Own Words (via the ITF)
Dylan Alcott: “It’s an absolute honor to be named world champion for the last time. To be honest, I just felt extremely grateful that I could travel round the world and do my job this year, especially with everything that’s going on in the world and in Australia. It was a team effort and there were lots of ups and downs, but we managed to get it done. This year I’ve had the proudest moments probably in my whole career, which is pretty awesome. I’m really stoked that I could finish it off with the Golden Slam and I’m really looking forward to my last tournament coming up at the Australian Open.”
Diede de Groot: “It’s been a very special year for me, winning all of the Grand Slams and then on top of that also the two gold medals in Tokyo. I hadn’t expected so much luck for this year, but looking back at it, I worked really hard for it and I’m happy that I achieved so much."
Shingo Kunieda: “I am happy to be back to being the world champion again in 2021. This year was very special to me, not only because I could win the Tokyo Paralympics at my home country but also because lots of people in Japan, and hopefully all over the world, had an opportunity to watch the wheelchair tennis at the Paralympics. I continue to improve my level of tennis so that wheelchair tennis can be more accessible to many people.”
