Upbeat Andy Lapthorne wants to use his Wimbledon experience as a platform for the Paris Paralympics.
The London player, 33, was beaten 6-1 6-0 in the wheelchair quad semi-finals by in-form No.1 seed Sam Schroder, who Lapthorne triumphed over at the start of the grass-court season at the LTA’s Rothesay International Eastbourne.
That dashed his hopes of reaching a second SW19 singles final but experienced Lapthorne will now turn his attention to the Games in the French capital next month.
He won a quad singles silver medal at Rio 2016 – and doubles silver and bronze in London and Brazil – and now hopes to climb to the top of the podium in the first European Games for 12 years.
He said: “It’s obviously never nice to lose, especially at Wimbledon.
“He’s a very good player and if he’s on, he’s on.
“Grass is tough, he’s such a big player, sometimes you’ve got to take your licks.
“I’m really looking forward to Paris and hoping that I can try and get in the medals again.
“I’ll have lots of support, we’ll get good TV coverage and just like London, we can hopefully use the Games as a vehicle for further growth.”
Lapthorne reached the singles final here back in 2019 and got his campaign off to the perfect start with a win against American David Wagner.
But a date with Dutch star and 2022 singles champion Schroder, 24, proved a tough test on Friday afternoon.
The power-packed six-time Grand Slam singles champion was in fluent form and ended Lapthorne’s hopes with a 57-minute triumph.
The British star added: “I don’t think I played too badly – he’s done that to me a few times at Slams and I feel like he raises his level.
“He’s obviously physically very strong, played better than me today and deserved to win.
“I have to keep moving forward – in tennis you have to be a good loser and try to come back stronger.”
For the latest action on the British summer grass court season, check out the LTA website
