2015 VIS Award of Excellence winner Dylan Alcott has taken out the Australian Open wheelchair tennis title for a third straight year, winning the final in straight sets.
The popular basketballer turned tennis tyro needed just an hour and nine minutes to see off British rival Andy Lapthorne 6-2, 6-2 at Melbourne Park on Saturday.
It is the latest accomplishment in a glittering stretch for the top-seeded Alcott who won gold medals in the singles and doubles at last year's Rio Paralympics and also took home the top Australian tennis award, The Newk, in 2016.
The final at Rod Laver Arena was the first wheelchair tennis match to be played on centre court at a major. Alcott said he hoped to see wheelchair tennis added to Wimbledon and the French Open in the future; "The standard of our tennis back in the day wasn't high enough but you can't tell me that wasn't high enough!" he said.
"We are changing perceptions of disability together ... you couldn't play this match on court seven because you're about 4,000 seats short."
