Diede de Groot (born 19 December 1996) is a Dutch

wheelchair tennis Wheelchair tennis is one of the forms of tennis adapted for wheelchair users. The size of the court, net height and rackets are the same, but there are two major differences from pedestrian tennis: athletes use specially designed wheelchairs, ...

player who is the current world No. 1 in both singles and doubles. De Groot is a 31-time

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

champion, having won 16 titles in singles, and 15 titles in doubles. In 2021, she achieved the first calendar-year Super Slam in tennis history by winning all four singles major titles, the

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...

gold medal, and the

Wheelchair Tennis Masters The Wheelchair Tennis Masters refers to a pair of end of year tennis events for wheelchair athletes held on an annual basis under the jurisdiction of the International Tennis Federation. The Wheelchair Tennis Masters for singles is an end-of-yea ...

title in women's singles. The following year, she became the first player in any discipline of tennis to "defend" the

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

, and win all four majors in two consecutive years. De Groot also completed the Grand Slam in doubles in 2019, partnering

Aniek van Koot Aniek van Koot (born 15 August 1990) is a Dutch wheelchair tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in both singles and doubles. Van Koot is a 23-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2013 Australian Open, 2013 US Open and 2019 Wimbledon ...

. Apart from her major titles, de Groot has won multiple Wheelchair Tennis Masters titles between 2016 and 2018 in both singles and doubles, as well as gold medals in both disciplines at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. She was part of the Dutch team that won the World Team Cup on eight occasions between 2011 and 2019.

Career

De Groot was born with

unequal leg length Unequal leg length (also termed leg length inequality, LLI or leg length discrepancy, LLD) is where the human leg, legs are either different lengths or appear to be different lengths because of misalignment. It has been estimated that at least 0.1% ...

and began her wheelchair tennis career at age seven. She started playing on the

ITF Wheelchair Tennis Tour The ITF Wheelchair Tennis Tour (currently sponsored as the Uniqlo Wheelchair Tennis Tour and abbreviated to the Uniqlo Tour) is a tennis tour for disabled men and women. There are three divisions: Men, Women, and Quad. The Quad division is a mixed ...

in 2009 as a junior player. During her time with the ITF, De Groot won the Cruyff Foundation Junior Masters in 2013 in singles and doubles. The following year, she won the 2014 Junior Masters in doubles. De Groot made her first

appearance at the

2017 Australian Open The 2017 Australian Open was a tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park between 16 and 29 January 2017. It was the 105th edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam tournament of the year. The tournament consisted of event ...

. After placing in the quarterfinals at the Australian Open and the 2017 French Open, de Groot won her first Grand Slam title at the

2017 Wimbledon Championships The 2017 Wimbledon Championships was a Grand Slam tennis tournament that took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. The main draw matches commenced on 3 July 2017 and concluded on 16 July 20 ...

. She ended the 2017 Grand Slam tournaments with a finals finish at the 2017 US Open. At the start of 2018, she won the 2018 Australian Open and appeared at the final of the

2018 French Open The 2018 French Open was a Grand Slam (tennis), major tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 27 May to 10 June and consisted of events for players in singles, doubles and m ...

. For the remaining Grand Slams of 2018, De Groot won the women's singles division at the

2018 Wimbledon Championships The 2018 Wimbledon Championships was a Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam tennis tournament which took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. The main tournament began on Monday, 2 July 2018 and ...

and her first US Open singles title at the 2018 US Open. In 2019, de Groot rewon the Australian Open title in singles competition at the 2019 Australian Open. At the

2019 French Open The 2019 French Open was a Grand Slam (tennis), major tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was held at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 26 May to 9 June, comprising singles, doubles and mixed doubles play. Junior and ...

, de Groot completed her career Grand Slam when she won her first French Open singles title. Her French Open title also made de Groot the first wheelchair tennis player to complete a Non-calendar year Grand Slam (win all four Grand Slam singles events in a row, but not in the same year). At the

2019 Wimbledon Championships The 2019 Wimbledon Championships was a Grand Slam tennis tournament that took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. The main tournament began on Monday 1 July 2019 and finished on Sunday 14 J ...

, de Groot ended her back to back singles wins when she was defeated by

in the final. In 2021, she won the Wimbledon Single Ladies Wheelchair championship. In doubles, De Groot was a runner up in the 2017 Australian, French and Wimbledon championships. After winning her first doubles title at the 2017 US Open, she lost at the 2018 Australian Open and co-won the doubles event at the 2018 French Open. De Groot became the first woman in wheelchair tennis to win both the women's singles and doubles events at Wimbledon in July 2018. She won her second US Open doubles title at the 2018 US Open alongside

Yui Kamiji is a Japanese wheelchair tennis player. She has won 26 major titles, as well as a Paralympic silver and bronze medal in singles and doubles, respectively, at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. She also won a bronze medal in singles at the 2016 Rio P ...

. At the 2019 Australian Open, De Groot won her first Australian doubles title with

alongside her singles title in January 2019. At the following Grand Slams, De Groot and Van Koot won the 2019 doubles titles at the French Open and Wimbledon. Outside of the Grand Slam tournaments, De Groot competed at the

2016 Summer Paralympics ) , nations = 159 , athletes = 4,342 , opening = 7 September , closing = 18 September , opened_by = President Michel Temer , cauldron = Clodoaldo Silva , events = 528 in 22 sports , stadium = Maracanã , sum ...

in singles and doubles competitions. While De Groot did not medal in singles, she won a silver medal in women's doubles. In Masters competitions, De Groot won the 2017 and 2018

in women's singles. Competing in doubles, she won the 2016 Wheelchair Doubles Masters with

Lucy Shuker Lucy Shuker (born 28 May 1980) is a British wheelchair tennis player who is currently the highest ranked woman in the sport in Britain. A previous singles & doubles National Champion, Lucy has represented Great Britain at three successive Para ...

and the 2017 Wheelchair Doubles Masters alongside

Marjolein Buis Marjolein Buis (born 11 January 1988) is a Dutch retired wheelchair tennis player. Buis won 18 singles titles and 52 doubles titles. She won the gold medal in the women's doubles event with Esther Vergeer along with six grand slam doubles and t ...

. She has also appeared at the BNP Paribas World Team Cup in consecutive years from 2011 to 2019. At the World Team Cup, De Groot started as a junior in 2011 before competing a world team competitor in 2012. De Groot also competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics, winning gold medals in both singles and doubles.

Golden Slam: 2021

In 2021, De Groot earned the calendar year Golden Slam, winning singles titles in the

Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

, US Open and the singles gold medal at the 2020 Summer Paralympics. She was the first professional wheelchair tennis player to achieve the feat in the history of the sport. She is also one of just three professional tennis players overall, and first since

Steffi Graf Stefanie Maria Graf ( , ; born 14 June 1969) is a German former professional tennis player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 for a record 377 weeks and won 22 major singles titles, ...

in 1988, to accomplish the feat.

Awards and honors

In 2018, de Groot was named

ITF World Champion The International Tennis Federation (ITF) designates a World Champion each year based on performances throughout the year, emphasising the Grand Slam tournaments,ITF Constitution, p.26, Rule 2.2(a)(iii) and also considering team events such as the ...

in women's wheelchair tennis. The following year, she was nominated for the Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability in 2019.

Grand Slam performance timelines

Wheelchair singles

Wheelchair doubles

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Groot, Diede de 1996 births Living people Dutch female tennis players Wheelchair tennis players Australian Open (tennis) champions French Open champions Wimbledon champions US Open (tennis) champions Paralympic wheelchair tennis players of the Netherlands Paralympic gold medalists for the Netherlands Paralympic silver medalists for the Netherlands Paralympic medalists in wheelchair tennis Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair tennis players at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair tennis players at the 2020 Summer Paralympics ITF number 1 ranked wheelchair tennis players ITF World Champions