Lapthorne, Cotterill and Shaw bidding to defend World Team Cup title in Apeldoorn

Andy Lapthorne, Antony Cotterill and James Shaw will put their quad title on the line later this month after being selected in Great Britain’s 2018 BNP Paribas World Team Cup squad.

The trio took gold in Sardinia last year, securing a 2-1 victory over Israel to secure Great Britain’s fifth World Team Cup quad title since 2001.

And the same three have been tasked with repeating the trick, with triple Paralympic medallist Lapthorne looking to continue his good form having won two Grand Slam titles in 2017.

They’ll be captained by Martyn Whait, with the British team competing in all four events at the International Tennis Federation’s flagship wheelchair tennis event, with the competition to take place in Apeldoorn from May 28 – June 3.

Meanwhile the men’s team will be looking to make more history for Great Britain, three years since winning a gold medal in the top tier for the first time.

That team then consisted of Gordon Reid and Alfie Hewett, with the world No.1s back in action alongside Dermot Bailey following their golden performance in Antalya, Turkey.

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to men’s event success, with the team finishing as silver medallists behind France last year, while two bronze medals have also come their way since 2014.

Great Britain will be represented in the women’s event at the World Team Cup finals for the first time since 2015 after Lucy Shuker, Louise Hunt and Lauren Jones won last month’s European Qualification event in Portugal after a late-night victory over Russia.

Shuker and Hunt have a long history of medal-winning performance representing the Great Britain in the World Team Cup and were both members of the team that reached the final for the first time in 2009.

Jones also joined Hewett in the Great Britain team that won the World Team Cup junior title in 2013.

Finally, four players will represent Great Britain in the junior event, namely Ben Bartram, Abbie Breakwell, Alex Chaston and Dahnon Ward.

Chaston won his first match as a GB player at the 2017 World Team Cup in Sardinia, Italy, while the other three will all be making their debuts in Apeldoorn.

“We have selected a strong and talented squad of players for the 2018 BNP Paribas World Team Cup and I am confident that we have a well-prepared squad that will do Great Britain and the Tennis Foundation Wheelchair Tennis World Class Programme proud once again,” said Matt Hammond, disability performance director for the Tennis Foundation.

“Great Britain has strong record in World Team Cup competition and a gold medal in the quad event and a silver medal in the men’s event last year went a considerable way to helping Great Britain win the Tennis Europe Trophy for wheelchair tennis outright for the first time in 2017.

“I am very much looking forward to my first World Team Cup finals as performance director, especially having witnessed the fine performances and resilience demonstrated by our GB women’s team at last month’s European Qualification in Portugal.”