Melbourne Wheelchair Open 2024: Preview, draws, player list & how to watch

When is the Melbourne Wheelchair Open 2024?

The Melbourne Wheelchair Open will take place from Sunday 14 January until Friday 19 January.

Where is the Melbourne Wheelchair Open 2024 being held?

The Melbourne Wheelchair Open will be hosted at the Hume Tennis and Community Centre – an impressive tennis facility with 16 courts just north of Melbourne.

What is an ITF Super Series event?

The Melbourne Wheelchair Open is an ITF Super Series event – the highest level of wheelchair tennis event on the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour outside of the Grand Slams and end of season Masters.

These prestigious events are the equivalent of the Masters tournaments on the ATP and WTA tours.

How to watch the Melbourne Wheelchair Open 2024

Live coverage of the semi-finals and finals at the Melbourne Wheelchair Open will be available at the Hume Tennis and Community Centre Facebook and on our website.

Which British players will be competing in the Melbourne Wheelchair Open 2024?

Women’s

Lucy Shuker will once again fly the flag for the Brits in the Melbourne Wheelchair Open in both the singles and doubles draws. Shuker is a two-time singles quarter-finalist and doubles semi-finalist in Melbourne and will be aiming for a career-best performance in 2024.

The British No.1 finished last year with four ITF 1 doubles titles with three different partners as well as capturing the UH Cougar Open singles trophy.

Men’s

Alfie Hewett returns to Melbourne with his eyes set on retaining his singles title from last year. The 26-year-old had the best year of his career to date in 2023 – winning five Grand Slam titles, the World Team Cup, Wheelchair Masters and finishing the year as world No.1. Hewett has already had an impressive start to the season - winnng the Victorian Open title this week.

Hewett will once again be joined by his doubles partner Gordon Reid in both draws down in Melbourne. The 2023 US Open runner-up made the semi-finals at this competition last year, narrowly losing out to French Open and Wimbledon champion Tokito Oda in three-sets.

Hewett and Reid won three Grand Slam titles together last year, but haven’t won the Melbourne Wheelchair Open doubles crown since 2020 – could this be the year they lift the trophy again?

This year, they will also be joined by 18-year-old Dahnon Ward after the young Brit reached the semi-final at the ITF1 Victorian Open last week. Ward - who won the singles and doubles at the US Open Juniors last year - is one of the brightest talents in the game and will be going in search of his first win at a Super Series event.

Quad

Andy Lapthorne and Greg Slade are set to complete their preparations for the Australian Open at the ITF Super Series next week.

Lapthorne, a previous champion when the tournament was at ITF 2 level (2015 and 2016), is aiming to build on his semi-final appearances at the US Open and the NEC Wheelchair Masters at the end of last season. The British No.1 also added another Grand Slam to his trophy cabinet in 2023 in clinching the Roland Garros doubles trophy.

Slade continues to check off more firsts during the Australian summer of tennis as he’s set to feature at the Melbourne Wheelchair Open for the first time. The 21-year-old enjoyed a great 2023 season, winning his first ITF 2 singles title at the Open Paratennis du Loiret coming off a wrist injury, as well as three doubles trophies.

Who are the Melbourne Wheelchair Open reigning champions? 

• Wheelchair men’s singles – Alfie Hewett (GBR)
• Wheelchair women’s singles – Diede de Groot (NED)
• Wheelchair quad singles – Niels Vink (NED)
• Wheelchair men’s doubles – Joachim Gerard (BEL) & Takuya Miki (JPN)
• Wheelchair women’s doubles – Yui Kamiji (JPN) & Zhenzhen Zhu (CHN)
• Wheelchair quad doubles - Niels Vink (NED) & Sam Schroder (NED)