World Team Cup 2024: Andy Lapthorne to lead British squad at World Team Cup Qualifiers
• 3 MINUTE READ
A four-strong Lexus Great Britain World Team Cup team has been named ahead of the 2024 quad wheelchair tennis European Qualification event in Latvia on 13-17 March.
From the experience of 17-time Grand Slam champion Andy Lapthorne to 17-year-old senior team debutant Oliver Cox, Great Britian will line up alongside teams from Austria, France, Germany, Sweden and Turkey in a bid to return to the quad World Group of eight nations for the wheelchair equivalent of the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup.
The four players selected for the Lexus Great Britain World Team Cup squad for the BNP Paribas World Team Cup European Qualification are:
Lexus GB World Team Cup quad team
Team Captain: Alex Cockram
- Andy Lapthorne (quad world No.8)
- Greg Slade (quad world No.17)
- Oliver Cox (quad world No.44)
- Gary Cox (quad world No.70)
Lapthorne made a memorable World Team Cup debut in 2009 when he was part the Great Britain team that won the World Team Cup quad title for a third time. Fifteen years later the British No.1 and three-time Paralympic medallist has helped Great Britain win a further two World Team Cup quad titles, along with a number of silver and bronze medals.
Lapthorne said, "I’m really excited to get back into World Team Cup competition for the first time since the pandemic and it’s great to be part of a full-strength Great Britain team again this year, especially on the back of some really positive results for myself and Greg (Slade) in recent weeks.
"The World Team Cup has provided me with some of my best memories as a player and I’m looking forward to getting to Latvia and helping Great Britain get back into the World Group, where we belong.”
Lapthorne and Slade recently dominated the quad singles and doubles draws, for players whose disability affects three or more limbs, at back-to-back Bolton Indoor ITF 3 and ITF 2 tournaments and were finalists between them in the quad singles and doubles at last week’s Georgia Open in the USA.
Lapthorne is one of two World Team Cup champions in the British team this year. Oliver Cox was part of the Great Britain team that won the junior title at the 2023 World Team Cup in Portugal.
Playing for the team in Latvia would see 17-year-old Cox earn his LTA Colour Holders status - something that Gary Cox (no relation) achieved at the 2023 European Qualification. Both players have since gone on to earn further individual international title success.
