ITF

12 ITFWORLD WINTER 2017 NEC WHEELCHAIR TENNIS MASTERS IN WITH There was an inescapable feeling that we were witnessing a changing of the guard at the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters in early December, says Clive White. A lfie Hewett and Diede de Groot were crowned brand new champions at the NEC Masters, and had Britain's Andy Lapthorne managed to unseat the long- time quad champion David Wagner in the third final at the season-ending event, all three world No. 2s would have stepped up to claim their first Masters title. As it happened, Wagner decided to engineer a nice symmetry of his own at the tournament, held at Loughborough University, Great Britain. At 43 years of age he held off a man 16 years his junior to win his tenth Masters singles trophy, which, one imagines, now sits neatly in the Wagner display cabinet back in Fullerton, California, alongside his tenth UNIQLO Wheelchair Doubles Masters title, which he won a week earlier in Bemmel, Netherlands, with countryman Nick Taylor. The great Esther Vergeer, who was present in Loughborough, was NEC Masters singles champion for 14 consecutive years. NEW THE It would be asking a lot of Hewett and de Groot to reign for as long as Wagner and Vergeer. Nevertheless, it cannot be long before these two young people are dominating their sport. The fresh-faced Hewett, from Cantley, Great Britain, burst on to the scene at the Rio 2016 Paralympics where, at the age of 18, he won a silver medal in both the singles and doubles and, one sensed, was a little disappointed to do so. Paradoxically, his self-confidence is only matched by his beguiling charm and modesty. De Groot, who is a year older, probably expected at the start of the year to be playing bridesmaid to her more experienced compatriot Jiske Griffioen throughout 2017. However, the latter, who had hinted in Rio — where she won two golds — that she might not be around for the Tokyo Paralympics, called it a day in October. De Groot, who had already been tipped for the top by Vergeer, was obliged to step It was quite a week for the men's champion Alfie Hewett Diede de Groot was the seventh different Dutchwoman to win the Masters

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