Alex Jewitt is getting ready to live the dream ... his first ever Paralympic Games.
The 31-year-old from Dronfield is one of eight wheelchair tennis players set to represent Britain at this summer's showdown in Beijing.
Jewitt, a former men's singles finalist at the national championships, has played tournaments in 11 different c
ountries in the past year in order to earn his qualification and selection.;
He said: "When I told my friends and family that I wanted to try and qualify for the Paralympics; there was a mixture of laughter and disbelief. However, once they saw I was serious, they have all been so supportive and backed me 100 per cent.
"Qualifying gives me the chance to say thank you to all of them. When I got the phone call to say I'd qualified for Beijing, I was so happy; that it's difficult to put into words. It makes all the training, hard work and sacrifice seem worthwhile.
"In Beijing I want to be playing my best ever tennis so that I can progress as far as possible and now I just can't wait to be there."
Alex, who trains at the Graves Tennis Centre, Sheffield, will continue with a carefully selected programme of tournaments over the summer to try and get as high a ranking as possible before the Games open on September 6.
He has a career high world ranking of 26, which he achieved during the qualification period for Beijing last August after reaching the quarter-finals of the Swiss Open.
His call up brought about a double celebration as Alex had been party to championship glory at the Invacare World Team Cup in Italy - the Davis Cup of wheelchair tennis.
He was part of a four-man Great Britain team that won the World Group 2 title with wins over Sri Lanka, Russia, Germany and top seeds Belgium in the final, and promotion back to World Group 1 for next year's event.
The tennis event in Beijing runs from September 8 to 15.
The full article contains 340 words and appears in Sheffield Telegraph newspaper.
