Wheelchair champion Alcott to retire after Australian Open
The Hindu
The 15-times Grand Slam champion, a prominent media personality in Australia, said he was "spinning too many plates" and wanted the next generation to have a chance to shine
Wheelchair tennis world number one Dylan Alcott will bid for a record-extending eighth successive Australian Open title at his home Grand Slam before bowing out of the sport, he said on November 8.
The 30-year-old Melbourne man will look to go out on a high after having completed the "Golden Slam" in 2021, winning all four of the quad singles titles at the Grand Slams and a second successive Paralympics gold at Tokyo.
"This is my home and the Australian Open changed my life, tennis changed my life," Alcott told reporters at Melbourne Park.
Unlike most of the Olympic-bound athletes, who opt to train abroad before the big event, boxer Amit Panghal prefers training in home conditions prior to Paris 2024. A former World championships silver medallist and a World No. 1, Panghal won the 51kg quota place in the only chance he got. He wants to follow his own plans to script success in Paris.
The other men’s semifinal Friday is Norway’s Casper Ruud, twice the runner-up in Paris — to Rafael Nadal in 2022 and to Novak Djokovic in 2023 — against Germany’s Alexander Zverev, a finalist at the 2020 U.S. Open, an Olympic gold medalist and into the final four at Roland Garros for the fourth consecutive year.