ALFIE HEWETT is fired up for another tilt at a first Wimbledon singles title, which he also knows could be his last.

Britain’s biggest wheelchair tennis star is in the best form of his life, having reached four successive slam singles finals, winning back-to-back French Open titles, and six consecutive doubles crowns with Scot Gordon Reid.

Hewett, ranked second in the world behind Japan’s Shingo Kunieda, is relishing being back at the All England Club, where he is yet to go beyond the semi-finals in singles.

“There will be a very high expectation of mine to go and win it,” he admitted today.

“It will be extremely tough because I do think other players are probably more favoured in terms of their confidence levels and their styles on grass, but I’ve been playing some of my best tennis and that’s all I can focus on. Hopefully it can go my way.”

Hewett is only 23 but has been playing on borrowed time for nearly two years since the International Tennis Federation changed the rules on classification and ruled that the Norwich player’s disability — he was diagnosed as a child with Perthes disease, which affects the hip and pelvis — was not severe enough.

With no other option for disabled athletes in tennis other than the wheelchair category, Hewett was staring at an extremely premature end to his career.

The rules were supposed to come into force this year but that was put back following the pandemic and the postponement of the Paralympic Games, so Hewett will be able to compete in Tokyo.

New hope has also arrived in the form of sport-specific research into the tennis classification system — previously it was based on para-athletics — that could lead to a rethink.

But that Hewett has managed to play his best tennis with a sword effectively hanging over his head is testament to his mental strength.

“It’s difficult,” he said. “I’ve gone through stages, whether it was angry, frustrated, unsure — there’s a lot of uncertainty going on in my life.

“It’s what I get up for in the mornings; to train, to compete, to play at the slams, to be the best wheelchair tennis player I can be. It’s a massive part of me.”

The Wimbledon men’s wheelchair singles draw will be released on July 6.