Great Britain beat Japan to win fifth World Team Cup in Orlando
Great Britain beat defending champions Japan 2-1 to win the World Team Cup for the fifth time.
The tie was settled late on Saturday night in Orlando, Florida, when Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid won the deciding doubles rubber in ruthless fashion BBC Sport.
The World Team Cup is wheelchair tennis’s equivalent of the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup, the men’s and women’s team events in the running game. The final was played at the USTA National facility and went the distance after a day disrupted by extreme heat LTA.
Gordon Reid gave Britain the perfect start. He beat world No. 21 Daisuke Arai 6-2, 6-2 in the opening singles match, moving to five wins from five meetings with Arai. All five have come in straight sets.
The second singles swung back to Japan. Alfie Hewett led the rivalry into the match after beating world No. 1 Tokito Oda in the US Open singles final in New York one week earlier, 6-0, 7-6(5). In Orlando, their rematch was halted by extreme heat and resumed six hours later. Oda held his nerve on the restart to win 6-4, 7-5 and level the final at 1-1.
No nerves. No wobble. Hewett and Reid returned for the doubles against Oda and Arai and won 6-1, 6-2 in under an hour to reclaim the title Britain last won in 2024.
Reid and Hewett were also part of Britain’s winning squads in 2015, 2019, 2023 and 2024. This time they were joined by 21-year-old Ben Bartram, with Martyn Whait as captain. Britain had beaten South Korea and the Netherlands earlier in the week to reach the final.
What makes this stand out is the speed of the turnaround. Hewett lost a tight singles to Oda after beating him for a Grand Slam title days earlier, then had to reset for doubles on the same long, hot day. He and Reid answered with clean returning, sharp movement at the net and no loose service games when it mattered.
