Paralympic gold medalist and world No.1 Dylan Alcott last night took home Australia's top tennis award, the Newcombe Medal, becoming the first wheelchair athlete to win the award.
Alcott enjoyed a stellar 2016 season, winning the 2016 Australian Open singles quad wheelchair championship, before winning titles at the South Africa Open, Japan Open, Open de France, British Open and winning the World Team Cup event, as well as taking out the gold medal in the Paralympics.
“These big top awards are normally reserved for the best able-bodied athlete to be honest so to have a disabled athlete there, a Paralympic athlete, is just a massive glass ceiling-smashing effort by Tennis Australia,'' Alcott said.
“To get a big hug and kiss on stage off ‘Newk' after I did it, and he said that I was such a deserving winner really means a lot to me and the Paralympic movement.”
The other players to be nominated were Sam Stosur, Daria Gavrilova, John Millman, Jordan Thompson and John Peers.
