Gordon Reid was still soaked in champagne as he made his way to the media centre, drenched by friends and family after winning the first wheelchair singles final at Wimbledon. It was July 2016 – a week after Brexit, the year Leicester City stunned football and England held the Ashes. On the grass courts of SW19, British tennis reached its peak with a record five titles in one weekend.
Three hours before Andy Murray’s men’s singles final, a crowd packed into a small outside court with just 276 seats – and many more peering over from the neighbouring court – to watch Reid take on Sweden’s Paralympic champion Stefan Olsson. Reid, who had won the wheelchair doubles title with Alfie Hewett the previous day, recalled “a real positivity and a real buzz around the British players that weekend”. He had moved hotels the night before because of a party next door. After a sleepless night averted, he won 6-1 6-4.
“British tennis won five Wimbledon titles in one weekend in 2016, a record that transformed the sport.”
Minutes after Reid’s victory, Jordanne Whiley became the second Briton to win that day, claiming her third consecutive women’s wheelchair doubles title with Yui Kamiji. By then, Murray was in the early stages of his final on Centre Court.
Murray’s memory of many matches has grown hazy – but not this one. He has watched championship point “a few times” since. In an era dominated by Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, Murray found himself the favourite: Federer had been stunned by Milos Raonic in the semi-finals, Djokovic suffered a shock third-round defeat, and Nadal was absent through injury. Murray had dropped only two sets en route to the final, having been runner-up at the two previous Grand Slams that year. He kissed, hugged and lifted the golden trophy for a second time.
A decade on, Sir Andy Murray returns to the All England Club this week – not as a player, but in the coaching box alongside Jack Draper. Draper is one of many British players in this year’s draw who were inspired by Murray’s exploits on that golden weekend. The legacy of five trophies in three days, the champagne-soaked triumph of Reid, Whiley and Murray, continues to shape British tennis.