Whiley and Shuker win third Paralympic medal as a pair after doubles silver

Jordanne Whiley and Lucy Shuker emerged with silver from the women’s doubles gold medal match, their third Paralympic medal together and best-ever performance.

The ParalympicsGB wheelchair tennis pair were beaten 6-0 6-1 by Dutch duo Diede de Groot and Aniek van Koot in 67 minutes.

Whiley and Shuker first combined at Beijing 2008, when the former was just 16, and won back-to-back Paralympic bronze medals at London 2012 and Rio 2016.

With Whiley confirming this will be her last Paralympic Games, the pair can reflect on a long journey together in the sport.

“I was very young and inexperienced in Beijing and this is a completely different turn of events,” said Whiley.

“I’m proud of where we’ve come from. I was in a bad place in Rio which in turn made the partnership not great.

“To come from that to a place now where we’re on the podium and wanting it so badly for each other, I’m really pleased.

“We’re now the strongest we’ve ever been, this was our Games. We didn’t come away with gold but we’ve made a lot of improvements if I looked back five years ago.”

De Groot, who won singles gold to leave her on the brink of a Golden Slam in 2021, was particular impressive and her power proved too much to handle for the British pair.

Van Koot was also fired up having been beaten to singles bronze by Whiley, who won her maiden Paralympic medal flying solo on Friday night.

Shuker went to Centre Court to watch her partner claim victory and despite a quick turnaround, encouraged her to have no regrets.

“With the weather, the scheduling, it’s really tough for Jordanne,” she said. “To get to bed so late and have to prepare again for a big match today, it’s tough.

“I was lucky that I watched her but I went back and I was tucked up in bed.

“She deserved it, she got to the bronze medal of the singles which is a fantastic achievement. You can’t change that.”

Meanwhile, Gordon Reid beat Alfie Hewett in three sets to complete the set of Paralympic medals.

The Scot beat his close friend and doubles partner 6-4 3-6 7-5 in an emotionally charged two hour and 22-minute contest.

It was a repeat of the Rio 2016 final where Reid won gold and Hewett silver, another sign of the pair’s continued dominance of the sport.

“There have to be winners and losers and to be honest it doesn’t feel like I’m a winner today at the moment,” said Reid.

“But I’m sure that as soon as the emotions settle down, I’ll be proud of that fact that I’ve come here and won another singles medal.

“Also I now have the full collection of medals so that’s a cool thing.”

Neither player leaves Tokyo empty-handed with the pair winning men’s doubles silver just 24 hours earlier.

Hewett said: “I’m glad I came back from 5-2 [in the third set]. If I would have lost 6-2 that would have been a bit of a tough one to take.

“I lost myself with my emotions – understandable I think after the last 48 hours and everything going on.

“I managed to regroup and chill out a little bit – and play some of the tennis I wanted to play.

“I’m gutted I didn’t take my opportunities at 6-5, wishing I had maybe been a little bit more patient and composed, but that’s tennis.”