'It was my purpose yesterday. It's my purpose today.” Dylan Alcott describes the moment he became the first person with a physical disability in history to be crowned Australian of the Year. 9News READ MORE:
A fierce advocate for people with a disability, in 2021 Alcott became the first male tennis player in history to win the Golden Slam — all four grand slam titles plus an Olympic or Paralympic gold medal in the same year.
Young Australians with and without disabilities have been able to watch Alcott on court every couple of days throughout the Australian Open, and countless other tournaments over the years. They've heard him on youth broadcaster Triple J and seen regular media appearances.But the tennis champion didn't see that when he was younger.
He paid tribute to Paralympic heroes such as Louise Sauvage, Kurt Fearnley and Danni Di Toro who would eventually show him what was possible. That starts with fully funding the National Disability Insurance Scheme, speaking to people with lived experience of their conditions and investing in people with disabilities to get them and their carers off pensions and into the workforce.
While the pandemic caused the postponement of the festival in 2020, the 2021 edition was held in Melbourne in November, raising $400,000 for the Dylan Alcott Foundation.Long the top-ranked male wheelchair tennis player in the world, he took his career grand slam tally to 23 titles having won at Wimbledon as well as the Australian, French and US opens.
Alcott won his quad singles semi-final this afternoon to book his place in the final before leaving Melbourne for Canberra to attend the Australian of the Year awards ceremony.He'll be back in Melbourne on Thursday for his final against Dutchman Sam Schroder, as he attempts to win an eighth-straight Australian Open title in the final match of his career.
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