LLOYD GLASSPOOL and Julian Cash became the first all-British pairing to win the Wimbledon men’s doubles title for 89 YEARS.
Brummie Glasspool, 31, and Brighton-born Cash, 28, overcame alternates Rinky Hijikata of Australia and David Pel from Holland 6-2 7-6 in 82 minutes on a hot afternoon on Centre Court.
The pair have dominated the grass-court season this summer, winning the titles at Queen’s and Eastbourne, stretching their unbeaten streak to 14 matches on the surface.
They are the first homegrown duo to take home these silver bowls since Pat Hughes and Raymond Tuckey in 1936.
The two guys shared a selfie on court when the result was confirmed and thanked their respective friends and family.
Glasspool’s elder brother Parry, 33, is an actor and has appeared in Hollyoaks, where he played murder victim Harry Thompson until 2019.
He also played Jason Denshaw in Emmerdale.
And Glasspool’s fiancé is businesswoman and legal expert Sophia Maslin, from London, who has launched a company dedicated to drawing up the final wishes of people who die young.
Maslin was in the players’ box, screaming her head off as she always does, as the two lads worked out how to split a £680,000 top prize.
Glasspool said: “It’s incredible. We’ve had a Brit win last year (Henry Patten) and the year before (Neal Skupski). Now we have given you two Brits. We did our best.
“I want to thank all of my team. I’ve had people fly in from America, Italy, though coming from Birmingham is not as impressive.
“My fiancé Sophia has put up with me for the last two weeks, making her stay in bed until I wake up.
“All the LTA staff, who have given us massive support through my whole career, the coaches, the physios. They help us all through the year. We are incredibly grateful.”
Hijikata and Pel had little expectation this fortnight and were a scratch pairing, having not met before the tournament had started, and shared their first words together on day one.
By winning this trophy in front of a healthy Centre Court crowd thanks to the 1pm start, the two Englishmen have now confirmed their spot at the end-of-season ATP Finals in Turin in November.
Glasspool had been involved in 17 Majors before this one and Cash had participated in 11 in his career without ever going beyond the quarter-final stage.
Cash said: “We’ve played a crazy amount of tennis on the grass. Every match we possibly could.
“A lot of people were talking about this event. There was a lot of pressure on our shoulders.
“The fact we were able to do what everyone was talking about is surreal. This means the world.
“Going into this year we had two goals – the first one was to make Turin, the other one was to win a Slam.
“A lot of people would have probably not believed us. Neither of us had been past the quarter-final coming into this year.
“Our team backed us. We put so much effort in. Playing doubles, we aren’t always on the biggest courts, so to play on the most special court in the world is incredible.”
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