Already a Paralympic gold medal from Beijing and a silver medal from London were in his keeping. He had aspirations of a role in sports media and was ready to turn his focus in that direction.

"I actually wanted to quit sport altogether after London and get a job in the media," he remembers of the period after the 2012 Paralympics.

But soon the competitive embers started flickering again. What turned him around was a return to one of his childhood loves: whacking tennis balls around the court. Now the 25-year-old can contemplate the possibility of winning gold medals in two Paralympic sports.

Once he'd hitched his wagon to the wheelchair tennis wagon, with the full support of Tennis Australia, Alcott says a gold medal in Rio de Janeiro has been firmly in his sights.

"I've been thinking about that for three-and-a-half years, every single day that I've been hitting tennis balls," he says.

"Not many athletes have been able to win gold across two different sports, across two different Games.

"I've had incredible support over the years – close friends of mine who've helped me along the way. I think the best way to justify that support is to bring home gold for Australia."

Alcott's aspirations are not pie in the sky stuff. At age 16 he had been No.4 in the world before the hoops took him away.

And after his comeback to wheelchair tennis in 2014 he soon shot up the rankings and managed a win over British world No.3 Andy Lapthorne in the British Open final.

He then achieved one of his greatest moments by taking out the quad singles title at his home slam, the 2015 Australian Open – a title he defended at Melbourne Park earlier this year.

But all along his comeback path he knew winning Paralympic gold was the eventual aim.

"I said: 'I'm only going to do it [return to wheelchair tennis] if I do it properly'," Alcott says.

"That goal was to win the Paralympic gold medal. In the wheelchair tennis world, grand slams mean a lot but I think the Holy Grail is that Paralympic gold medal.

"So that's definitely what the aim has been. I've done everything I can.

"I'm looking forward to getting over to Rio, enjoying myself and hopefully playing the best tennis I can."

Alcott was born with a tumour wrapped around his spinal cord and had surgery at just three years of age, resulting in his paraplegia.

He is a fierce advocate for disabled sport and knows how important the role the Paralympics play.

"Mate, it's everything for me," he says.

"A lot of people say to me 'Oh, it's a real shame that the Olympics are not the same time as the Paralympics'. I don't really buy into that, because I love having our own event.

"I'm proud to be a Paralympian, and I love having it afterwards, especially this time as it's on commercial free-to-air television [and] the commercial partnerships that we've had have been incredible.

"Back when I was a kid I didn't really know much about the Paralympics. It wasn't really on TV.

"I used to look up to people like Pat Rafter, Roger Federer and these guys. But I could obviously never be them.

"With the added exposure of the Paralympics … disabled kids in Australia who can hopefully look up to other disabled athletes now because they know who they are, and they can support them.

"It's a really powerful movement and it's incredible to have the support of so many different people now."

Once his competition is over, Alcott will then have a role with host broadcaster Channel Seven.

"I think there needs to be a lot more positive role models of people with disabilities on TV and in the media," he says.

"There isn't really that many of them just yet in Australia, and I'd love to be a bit of a trailblazer.

"I love sharing people's stories, talking to them … It's great that Channel Seven are giving me the opportunity to do that."