The top-ranked man in able-bodied tennis, Novak Djokovic, has tried his skills in a wheelchair across the net from Alcott, which he said made him appreciate the challenge and the craft of the discipline.

“Dylan deserves the popularity,” Djokovic said. “He’s a very great guy, very charismatic. I’ve said it before, these guys are heroes to me, they really are. They make the game of tennis more beautiful and more unique because of what they do and how they do it .”

After winning Paralympic gold medals in singles and doubles in 2016, Alcott was presented Tennis Australia’s Newcombe Medal, which goes annually to the country’s top player. Alcott said winning an award in a general category rather than one designated for disabled athletes “felt like breaking through.”

Alcott was born with lipomeningocele, which caused a large tumor against his spinal cord. He underwent his first of many surgeries at five weeks old. Health struggles continued throughout his childhood, with his ability to use his extremities worsening at times, both gradually and suddenly.

In 2012, an inebriated acquaintance tried to pick up his chair and dumped him onto the floor, which was covered in broken glass; Alcott severed an artery in his hand in the fall, damaging his ability to use his right hand fully, which is one of the reasons he competes in the quad division. That spelled the end of his wheelchair basketball career and led him to focus on tennis, which he had started playing around age 9 or 10.