Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid dug themselves out of a hole and into history in New York, clawing back from the brink to claim a sixth US Open men’s wheelchair doubles crown and keep their remarkable partnership rolling.
The British pair, the world No.1 team, were staring at defeat after a ragged mid-match collapse against 2025 Wimbledon champions Martin de la Puente and Ruben Spaargaren. A 2-0 lead in the opening set disintegrated into seven straight games lost, the scoreboard flipping brutally to 2-6 and a break down. For a spell, it looked like their bid for a third Grand Slam doubles title of the season might be ripped away under the lights.
Then the response came.
From a set and a break behind, Hewett and Reid tightened their patterns, found their returns, and dragged the contest back on their terms. They reeled off the last four games of the second set to take it 6-3, forcing a deciding match tie-break that felt like a test of nerve as much as skill.
Once there, the veterans took control when it mattered most, asserting themselves in the latter stages of the breaker to close out a 2-6, 6-3, 10-7 victory and reclaim a US Open title they had not lifted since 2021.
For Hewett, every one of his 26 Grand Slam doubles trophies has come alongside Reid. This one, in the 50th anniversary year of wheelchair tennis, clearly meant plenty. He spoke of how desperate and highly motivated they had been to get this title back, and how much they relished playing this kind of match in front of a packed New York crowd, underlining how far the sport has come in half a century.
Reid’s numbers are just as imposing. Friday’s win delivered his seventh US Open doubles title and the 30th Grand Slam doubles crown of his career. He reflected on more than 13 years alongside Hewett and made it clear they are not done yet, thanking his partner and savouring the chance to perform on these courts, with this kind of atmosphere pushing them on.
Hewett’s work in New York is far from finished.
Already a four-time US Open singles champion, he advanced to his eighth men’s singles final in nine appearances after a dominant, if curtailed, semi-final. He raced through the opening set 6-0 and led 3-0 in the second against 2025 runner-up Gustavo Fernandez when the Argentine was forced to retire, sending the Brit into Sunday’s final with minimal time spent on court and plenty of momentum.
Waiting for him will be top seed Tokito Oda of Japan, a showdown that pitches established champion against the sport’s leading young force on one of wheelchair tennis’s biggest stages.
Behind them, the next generation of British talent made its own statement.
Kent’s Matthew Knoesen became the third Brit since 2022 to lift the US Open boys’ wheelchair singles title, dismantling Australian Sonny Renison 6-0, 6-2 in a one-sided final. He then doubled up later in the day, teaming with Japan’s Hirofumi Inoue to overpower fellow Brit Will Barton and Italy’s Lorenzo Politano 6-1, 6-0 in the boys’ doubles final.
On a day that celebrated 50 years of wheelchair tennis, Britain’s past, present and future all left their mark on Flushing Meadows. Hewett and Reid are still collecting majors. Knoesen is already starting his own count. The question now is how far this new wave can push the standard the veterans keep raising.
