Tennis champ Dylan Alcott considers shock new career
Days after announcing his retirement, Dylan Alcott has signalled his life could take a dramatic turn with a left-field new chapter taking shape.
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Tennis champion Dylan Alcott has confirmed his interest in entering politics just days after announcing his retirement.
The 30-year-old surprised the country on Tuesday when he announced the 2022 Australian Open will be his farewell to the sport
Alcott has previously flirted with the concept of taking up public office, and he is now not hiding away from his aspirations after being named Victorian Australian of the Year on Thursday.
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The fifteen-time Grand Slam champion and four-time Paralympic gold medallist was awarded the honour on the back of his profound impact in bringing joy to the state on and off the court.
His extensive charity work with Australians with disabilities, includes his work through his Dylan Alcott Foundation and music festival Ability Fest — which is Australia’s first all-access music festival.
He has made sport for Australians with disabilities more visible than it has ever been — a legacy that has raised him to be an icon of Australian sport.
Popularly recognised as the greatest quad tennis player of all time, Alcott now says he hopes to use his platform to continue to shape change in the lives of Australians with a disability.
It’s why he confirmed on Thursday that a career in politics is being seriously considered as he weighs up options for the next chapter of his live away from the tennis court.
“You can actually influence a lot of change in there,” Alcott said of entering the political sphere, on ABC.
“There hasn’t been many people with disability who’ve had the opportunity to do that.
“Obviously (Australian senator) Jordon Steele-John’s in there and a few others across the journey. That’d be awesome. And secondly, as I said, if you want to speak about somebody at a table, they need a seat at that table.
“And there’s so much policy made on behalf of people with disability. You know, not inclusive of us. And that’s not good enough.
“And I want to change that. And it’s already changing. You know, there are heaps of people with disability who get the opportunity to advocate and say what we want. But the final decisions are often not made by people with disability, are they, at the moment? So, why not? Why not.”
He went on to say: “Why couldn’t we have a prime minister with a disability? I’m serious. Why not”.
Alcott had said earlier this year that running for office was “definitely something I’ve thought of”.
Alcott has won seven Australian Open titles and will hope to go out with an eighth title before ending his stunning career.
Alcott has also won three French Opens, two Wimbledon titles and three US Opens — as well as eight doubles grand slam titles.
While Australia mainly knows Alcott as a tennis champion, he started his career in wheelchair basketball, winning a gold at the Beijing Paralympics and silver in London before he moved to tennis in 2014.
Since then, Alcott has dominated the quad singles world, winning singles and doubles gold at the Rio de Janeiro Paralympics, while claiming silver in doubles in Tokyo along with his singles gold.
But while Alcott has achieved so much on the court, arguably his biggest achievement has been the visibility he has given disabled athletes.
“I’m super proud and probably more proud of the work we’ve done off the court to be honest,” Alcott said. “Being a good tennis player is probably the 32nd priority of my life and I mean that. Being a good person is No. 1, a good family member, a good friend, a good partner to my partner Chantelle, and being a good advocate for my community to change perceptions for people like me so they can live the lives they deserve to live and get the opportunities that I’ve had. I’m so lucky.
“It’s not me, it’s we — we’ve all done this, my team, my family, some are here today, my doubles partner Heath, everybody that’s a part of what we do. It’s a big juggernaut but it’s really changed perceptions I hope.”
Alcott said that tennis had changed his life, admitting that he hated himself when he was younger after being bullied about his disability.
He said the moment it all changed was due to tennis when he was 11 at the Thurgoona Open, and saw other people like him.
“I saw a 20-year-old bloke driving a car — I didn’t know you could drive a car. He had a wife — I didn’t know you could have a wife. He had kids — I didn’t know you could have kids. And he was happy,” Alcott said. “That social part of tennis changed my life immediately. I realised I could have a life, it gave me a purpose, it introduced me to people who were like me. Mate, geez I’m glad I did that.”
Alcott continued and said the Australian Open helped take the sport to more people, beginning with a landmark moment when his quad singles final was moved onto Rod Laver Arena.
“I’ll never forget, I went up to Craig (Australian Open director Tilley) and I was playing on the outdoor courts and I studied commerce at uni and I just said ‘it’s basic economics, supply and demand, you’ve got more people that want to watch than we’ve got seats on the outdoor courts’,” he said. “So I conned him into putting me on Rod Laver. Then we played on Rod Laver and were live on TV and I’ll never forget the final, on Rod Laver, on TV, 10,000 people there, I looked up and there were 500 kids in wheelchairs there. I’d never seen that in my life. That’s the reason I get out of bed — it’s not to win the Golden Slam. But in saying that, tennis has given me the platform to do it and I am forever grateful.”
He said that the Aussie Open had now set the tone for how all disabled athletes should be treated.
Alcott admitted that he had been pondering retirement since 2017 and promised to “train my a*** off for the next two months and try to go out on a high”.
The 30-year-old has had a successful media career and has many other irons in the fire.
He has a consulting company, a food company, his foundation, wants to get into acting and even has a script he’s written
As a Victorian, Alcott said he wanted to go out at Melbourne Park.
“It means so much to me this place because of what the Tennis Australia has done, the Australian Open but mostly the Australian public,” he said. “Getting behind a disabled athlete in the way that everyone has just been life changing hopefully for a lot of people, and it’s set the standard of how athletes with a disability should be treated. We are worthy, people want to watch, we do give a return on investment. I”m really excited about the next generation who are going to get the same opportunities.”
Dylan Alcott by the numbers
Career-high singles ranking: World No. 1 (first achieved in June 2015)
Career-high doubles ranking: World No. 1 (first achieved in September 2019)
Grand Slam quad wheelchair titles: 15 singles, 8 doubles
Australian Open: 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 singles titles; 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 doubles (all with Australian Heath Davidson)
Roland Garros: 2019, 2020, 2021 singles titles; 2019 doubles (with American David Wagner)
Wimbledon: 2019, 2021 singles titles; 2019 doubles (with Brit Andy Lapthorne)
US Open: 2015, 2018, 2021 singles titles; 2019, 2020 doubles (both with Lapthorne)
Paralympic Games record: Four gold medals, two silver medals
Beijing 2008 gold medallist with Australian Rollers basketball team
London 2012 silver medallist with Australian Rollers basketball team
Rio 2016 singles and doubles (with Davidson) gold medallist quad wheelchair tennis
Tokyo 2020 singles gold medallist quad wheelchair tennis; doubles silver medallist (with Davidson)
Originally published as Tennis champ Dylan Alcott considers shock new career
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