Tokyo Paralympics: Gold a no-go for Novak Djokovic but Dylan Alcott’s still dreaming

Dylan Alcott can still succeed where Novak Djokovic has failed, keeping alive his dream of winning all four majors plus a Games gold medal this year.

Australia’s wheelchair tennis team, from left, Ben Weekes, Martyn Dunn, Heath Davidson and Dylan Alcott, with their support crew at Ariake Tennis Park in Tokyo. Picture: Getty Images

Dylan Alcott came into the world with a tumour wrapped around his neck. The surgery made him a paraplegic. He enjoyed his childhood … until the age of 12.

“That’s when I really started to struggle,” Alcott says. “I got bullied extensively. Got called a cripple and a bunch of other words. For about two years I sat at home, embarrassed to leave the house because I wasn’t proud of who I was.”

Alcott’s Paralympic and sporting careers have since become worthy of contentment. As a teenager, he won a gold medal in wheelchair basketball at Beijing in 2008. He won silver four years later in London. He switched to wheelchair tennis in 2014 and has become one of the most successful quad players the sport has ever seen: seven Australian Opens, three French Opens, two Wimbledons and two US Opens.

Now he’s a headline act of an Australian Paralympic team that gets into action at the Tokyo Games on Wednesday. Time to play. Alcott can still succeed where Novak Djokovic has failed, keeping alive his dream of winning all four majors plus a Games gold medal this year. Djokovic fell short at the Olympics but Alcott is still in the hunt for a so-called golden slam.

The 30-year-old Alcott is rolling along nicely, and yet this may be the final phase of his career. After winning his seventh consecutive Australian Open in February, he said: “I am always honest. I just want to get to the Paralympic Games. I might hit that last ball at the Paralympic Games and be like, ‘I’m done’. You know when you know, and I know I am getting close. It’s not because I’ve lost the passion to play tennis. It’s because I do TV, radio, got my foundation, a couple of companies. It adds up and there’s only so long you can spin the plates for.”

Alcott’s French Open and Wimbledon triumphs put paid to immediate retirement plans in Tokyo. The golden slam, or at least a regular calendar-year slam, ensure he will play the US Open last this month. And then, perhaps, there will be a final Australian Open next year.

Wheelchair tennis begins on Friday at Tokyo’s Ariake Park, where Ash Barty and John Peers won their bronze medal at the Olympics. Australia’s male-only team is five-time Paralympian Ben Weekes, Alcott, his doubles partner Heath Davidson and Martyn Dunn.