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- Dutch Tennis Player Diede de Groot Just Won Her Third Straight US Open Wheelchair Title
Dutch Tennis Player Diede de Groot Just Won Her Third Straight US Open Wheelchair Title
Tennis player Diede de Groot’s career goals, according to her website, are to win multiple Grand Slams and to become an Olympic champion. The 23-year-old from the Netherlands has already made a major dent in those goals – actually, she’s nearly crushed them.
She is currently the No. 1 player in women’s wheelchair tennis, and she’s won back-to-back singles titles at Wimbledon (2017 and 2018) and the Australian Open (2018 and 2019). She’s won back-to-back-to-back singles titles at the US Open (2018, 2019, and 2020), having just clinched a victory in the tournament’s final on Sept. 12 against Japan’s Yui Kamiji.
De Groot claimed her first French Open singles title last year, meaning she’s won every Grand Slam tournament there is at least once – and she only made her Grand Slam debut in 2017!
Aside from her major singles wins, de Groot has racked up doubles titles at all four Grand Slams, is a three-time world champion, and won singles titles at the 2017 and 2018 Wheelchair Tennis Masters. And, to top it all off, she won a silver medal at the 2016 Paralympic Games.
Keep reading for some facts about de Groot that you may not know.
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She Was Discovered by Dutch Wheelchair Legend Esther Vergeer
Vergeer, seen here and who retired in 2012 after winning 21 Grand Slam singles titles, acted as de Groot’s mentor. “The mentoring wasn’t so much on the court, but mainly off it,” de Groot told Wimbledon.com. “Like how do you become a sports professional? How do you schedule your tournaments? Esther has been a big help in that.”