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Gordon Reid: Wimbledon champion


Having beaten Nicolas Peifer and Joachim Gerard en route to the final, all that stood in the way of Reid was Sweden’s Stefan Olsson. Having won the first set 6-1 the Scot had to work harder in the second set and when he had his first Championship point he served a double fault, before sealing the victory on the second in an hour and nine minutes.

“I let a little bit of doubt creep into my mind. Arm got a little bit tense. Didn’t go very fast through either of those serves,” he said. “But I just cleared my head and pushed back up for the second one. Just picked my spot and hit it well. The rest is history.

“It’s incredible.  Still feels like a bit of a dream. Doesn’t feel real, to be honest, right now.  A Wimbledon title is always going to be unbelievable, but to be the first ever in the singles event, I’m never going to forget that.”

Reid, who had already won the doubles title with fellow Brit Alfie Hewett on Saturday, knows what it’s like to win a singles Slam as well, having won the Australian Open title in Melbourne earlier this year.

“That just gave me the belief and the confidence that I can do that at a Grand Slam tournament,” he said.

Coming into Wimbledon Reid was mindful of the challenges of playing on grass

“In some ways it was what I expected.  The points were a little bit shorter,” he said. “But I actually felt like I got stronger throughout the week.  I felt like I moved my best yesterday in the doubles final and today.  I don’t know whether that’s because we flattened the grass so much with all the matches on that Court 17, or whether just the adrenaline was helping me through it.”

His preparation was perhaps not what he would have chosen. He had been staying at the National Tennis Centre (NTC) but he explained that it was quite noisy, so at about 10pm he moved across town to a hotel.

As to the nature of his celebrations, he said: “I might not be staying at the National Tennis Centre.  Don’t know if they let you in there with champagne”.

This story is brought to you by Wilson, the global leader in performance tennis


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Tim Farthing, Tennishead Editorial Director & Owner, has been a huge tennis fan his whole life. He's a tennis journalist and entrepreneur as well as playing tennis to a national standard. He also helps manage his local club and volunteers for his local tennis organisation. He's a specialist in content about the administration of professional tennis and tennis coaching for all levels.