Oliver Cox makes World Team Cup debut to become LTA Colour Holder No.325
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17 year-old Oliver Cox is one of the youngest players to become an LTA Colour Holder after making his senior debut for the Lexus GB World Team Cup quad team in Jurmala, Latvia.
Cox is also the youngest quad wheelchair tennis player to become a Colour Holder and joins the likes of Paralympic medallists Gordon Reid and Jordanne Whiley in making their senior debut the year after becoming a junior World Team Cup champion, Reid and Whiley achieved the same feat in 2007 and 2008.
Cox's senior debut came in a dominant 3-0 win for the British team over Sweden in the group stages of the World Team Cup Qualifiers. Following victories from Andy Lapthorne and Greg Slade, Cox joined forces with Gary Cox to beat Petter Edstrom and Anders Hard 6-4, 6-2 in the final doubles rubber.
Currently a member of our U18 National Age Group Programme, Cox was selected to the National Age Group Programme in 2020 at the age of 13.
Born with cerebral palsy, Oxfordshire-based Cox began playing tennis in 2016 at Faringdon Tennis Club. After seeing Paralympic silver medallist and now 17-time Grand Slam champion Lapthorne on TV, his parents realised Cox would be eligible to play wheelchair tennis and in 2017 they took him to a wheelchair tennis ‘come and try’ session at Taunton Tennis Club.
A year later Cox represented England in the wheelchair tennis event at the 2018 National School Games, a route taken by many of Britain’s rising stars who have gone one to become LTA Colour Holders, including Ben Bartram, Dahnon Ward, Abbie Breakwell and Ruby Bishop.
“It’s a really proud day, especially to cap my debut with a win,” said Cox. “When I first started playing wheelchair tennis I could never have imagined what would be in store for me a few years down the line. It wasn’t until watching Andy Lapthorne on TV that we realised I would be able to play wheelchair tennis and to now be in a Great Britain team alongside Andy and to have my LTA Colour Holder pin badge presented to me by Andy is brilliant. It’s really amazing to be able to represent GB at a senior level and to be part of such a high level team.”
After being part of the Great Britain team that won the Junior World Team Cup title in Vilamoura, Portugal, last year, Cox went to win his first international quad doubles title at the Vilnius Open in Lithuania and then his first international quad singles title at the Abingdon Futures in October
