Japan’s Tokito Oda, 17, becomes youngest man to win a Wimbledon singles title in any discipline
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Aged 17 years and 69 days, Tokito Oda is the youngest man to win a Wimbledon singles title in any discipline.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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LONDON – Japanese teenager Tokito Oda made history by winning the Wimbledon wheelchair title with a commanding 6-4, 6-2 victory against Briton Alfie Hewett on Sunday.
Aged 17 years and 69 days, Oda is the youngest man to win a Wimbledon singles title in any discipline.
He is also the youngest player to win a Wimbledon singles title since 16-year-old Martina Hingis lifted the women’s trophy in 1997.
“This is so amazing. I didn’t expect this amazing support on this court. I am feeling like I’m living in a dream. I’m so happy,” Oda said.
“I want to thank Alfie and his support team. It was not easy playing in this situation against a country’s home player.
“He is one of the strongest players and I have played him many times. It’s really tough playing with him.”
Oda’s Wimbledon victory brought him a second Grand Slam title after he also beat Hewett to win the French Open in June.
That success made him the youngest man to win a Grand Slam tournament in any discipline and also the youngest world No. 1 in the history of wheelchair tennis.
Oda is too young to drink alcohol legally, so he had to settle for toasting his celebration with a glass of water instead of the champagne he would have preferred.
“I am still 17, I wanted to open the champagne but I couldn’t, so maybe I will have sparkling water with my team,” he said.
Britain’s Hewett won the Wimbledon wheelchair doubles title with Gordon Reid on Saturday.
But the 25-year-old lost the singles final for a second successive year as 11 double faults among his 19 unforced errors proved costly.
“First of all congrats to Tokito and your team. What a performance out there today and I hope you enjoy yourselves later on,” Hewett said.
“I feel like wheelchair tennis is being put on the map at Wimbledon.”
Centre Court fans managed to celebrate a home champion a day earlier as Neal Skupski and Dutch partner Wesley Koolhof won the men’s doubles title with a 6-4, 6-4 win against Spain-Argentina duo Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos on Saturday.
A clash lasting little more than an hour ended with Koolhof holding serve to love.
The 33-year-old Skupski, who collapsed to the ground after match point, is the first British man to win the men’s doubles at Wimbledon since Jonathan Marray played alongside Frederik Nielson in 2012.
Britain’s Neal Skupski (left) and Netherlands’ Wesley Koolhof won the men’s doubles title with a 6-4, 6-4.
PHOTO: AFP
Skupski adds the men’s doubles crown to the mixed doubles titles he won in 2021 and 2022.
He said: “I don’t know what to say. Growing up watching this amazing championship, going out there as a small boy, this feeling at the moment doesn’t get better.
“Me and Wesley came together 18 months ago and this year one of our goals was to win a Grand Slam and now we have done it, it feels very special.”
It was the second time that Granollers and Zeballos had fallen at the final hurdle at Wimbledon, having been beaten in 2021 by Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic. AFP, REUTERS
