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Alcott becomes first wheelchair athlete to win highest award in Australian tennis

Xinhua, November 29, 2016 Adjust font size:

Dylan Alcott has become the first wheelchair athlete to win the highest award in Australian tennis.

Alcott, 25, was awarded the Newcombe Medal to cap off a year in which he maintained his world number one ranking by winning the Australian Open and two gold medals at the Paralympic Games in Rio for singles and doubles events.

The medal, named after John Newcombe who won seven Grand Slams between 1967 and 1975, has been awarded every year since 2010.

Alcott, who missed out on a nomination for the award in 2015 despite winning both the Australian open and US Open, described his win as a "glass shattering" achievement for disabled athletes.

"It's been the best year of my life bar none," Alcott said upon receiving the award in Melbourne.

"I'm so proud to be a Paralympian and to have the Paralympics come into everybody's television this year, it was massive for me."

In addition to a successful solo year, Alcott teamed up with fellow Victorian Heath Davidson in doubles to win the World Team Cup in Tokyo as well as titles in Brisbane, Sydney, South Africa, Japan, France and Britain.

Alcott, who was awarded Australian Paralympian of the Year in October, beat out fellow nominees Daria Gavrilova, John Millman, Jordan Thompson, John Peers and three-time winner Samantha Stosur to win the award.

He joins some of Australian tennis' biggest names to have won the award such as Lleyton Hewitt, Nick Kyrgios and Stosur.

Alcott, who won a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics and Silver at the London Games in 2012 for men's wheelchair basketball, urged fans to get behind the growing Paralympic movement.

"It's here upon us and, if you don't get on board now, you're going to get left behind," he told Melbourne radio station 3AW on Tuesday.

"We're elite athletes that are out there kicking arse just like our able-bodied mates."

Despite successful years on the court Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic, Australia's two highest ranked able-bodied tennis players, were not nominated for the award for failing to meet ambassador for tennis curriculum. Endit