Andy Lapthorne

Triple Paralympic medallist Andy Lapthorne took up wheelchair tennis after playing on the courts at his local park.

He was subsequently introduced to opportunities to progress to elite level through the Tennis Foundation’s Wheelchair Tennis camps.

Towards the end of 2008, Andy began competing in the quad division. In his first quad singles competition, at the 2008 Nottingham Indoor Tournament, Andy reached the semi-finals.

In 2009, his first full season, he succeeded in beating Beijing Paralympic silver medallist Johan Andersson of Sweden in the quad singles quarter-finals of the Florida Open, where Andy and Peter Norfolk also made a spectacular debut as a doubles pairing when they defeated American Paralympic quad doubles champions Nick Taylor and David Wagner before going on to win the title.

Additional career highlights include winning the 2011 and 2012 Australian Open quad doubles titles with Peter as well as their victory in Australia in 2011 which saw them become the first all-British pairing to win a Grand Slam wheelchair tennis doubles title. This subsequently took Andy to the world No. 1 quad doubles ranking for a period of several weeks.

At London 2012, Andy made his Paralympic debut, winning silver in the quad doubles alongside ParalympicsGB flag-bearer Peter Norfolk.

Following London 2012 Andy won his first Grand Slam quad singles title at the 2014 US Open as well as two additional Australian Open quad doubles titles. Andy also developed a strong doubles partnership with fellow Brit Jamie Burdekin and they beat three-time Paralympic champions Taylor and Wagner on a number of occasions.

On his second Games appearance at Rio 2016, Andy set an unusual record alongside Jamie Burdekin en route to the podium.

Lapthorne and Burdekin emerged victorious in the longest ever Paralympic wheelchair tennis match, to win bronze in the men’s quad doubles.

The match lasted four hours and 25 minutes, but the ParalympicsGB pair kept their heads to beat their Israeli opponents, Itai Erenlib and Shraga Weinberg, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6.

In the quad singles, top seed Dylan Alcott had too much for Andy as he settled for silver, the British fourth seed losing 6-3, 6-4.

Away from the tennis court, Andy supports West Ham United and Brentford FC and has a keen interest in many sports, especially boxing.

In the future, Andy has a keen interest in working in the media.

Rio 2016 Paralympic Games

• Quad singles: Silver
• Quad doubles (with Jamie Burdekin): Bronze

London 2012 Paralympic Games

• Quad doubles (with Peter Norfolk): Silver