Tennis: Hewett, Reid, Lapthorne and Shuker will play at Eastbourne

This year’s Rothesay International Eastbourne is the first of the LTA’s major grass court tournaments to feature men’s, women’s and quad wheelchair draws all at one venue, with many of the players going on to contest the Lexus British Open Roehampton the following week (2-5 July) in the lead up to the wheelchair events at The Championships, Wimbledon.

World No.1 Hewett and world No.5 Reid head all four top ranked Brits who are set to contest the men’s singles and doubles in Eastbourne, with Ben Bartram and Dahnon Ward having joined Hewett and Reid in the Lexus GB World Team Cup men’s team that won the World Team Cup for the fourth time in nine years in early May. British No.5 Andrew Penney is also among the home entry.

Argentina’s world No.3 Gustavo Fernandez is also among the confirmed men’s entries for the Eastbourne tournament, which has ITF 2 status on the International Tennis Federation’s UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour.

British No.1 and world No.6 Lapthorne, the reigning Rothesay International Eastbourne quad singles champion, is one of five top 10 players entered for this year’s quad singles and doubles draws, alongside the world No.2 ranked Dutchman Sam Schroder, Australia’s world No.5 Heath Davidson, the USA’s world No.7 David Wagner and world No.8 Ahmet Kaplan of Turkey.

British No.2 Greg Slade, runner-up to Lapthorne in last year’s all-British quad singles final and fellow LTA Colour Holder Gary Cox complete a three-strong British entry.

World No.3, Rio Paralympic gold medallist and 2023 Eastbourne finalist Jiske Griffioen of the Netherlands heads four top 10 ranked players entered for the women’s singles, along with China’s Zhenzhen Zhu, Colombia’s Angelica Bernal and the USA’s Dana Mathewson, with British No.1 Shuker due to return to Eastbourne for the third successive year along with British No.2 Abbie Breakwell.

Kirsty Thomson, LTA Tournament Director, said: “We are delighted with the strength and quality of each of the wheelchair draws for the Rothesay International Eastbourne as we get a new era of international grass court wheelchair tennis underway at the LTA’s major events this summer. With the Lexus British Open Roehampton, Wimbledon and the Paris Paralympics coming up we have an amazing summer of wheelchair tennis ahead to inspire new player and new fans.”

A high-level disability tennis exhibition event will also be held at The Queen’s Club over the final weekend of the cinch Championships, featuring several international wheelchair players as well as Britain’s leading learning disability players.