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Esther Vergeer: The Most Dominant Player in History

• May 12, 2020

Paralympic tennis star Esther Vergeer has been hailed the most dominant player in history, thanks to her outstanding professional career. She won every Grand Slam singles tournament which she entered, enjoying an amazing winning streak of 470 consecutive matches, spanning a ten-year period.

As the world’s number one wheelchair tennis player from 1999, until she retired in February 2013, she lost only 25 singles matches during her entire career. Spending 668 weeks as the world’s number one, she first claimed the accolade on 6th April 1999 and regained it on 2nd October 2000, finally relinquishing it on 21st January 2013.

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Vergeer was born in Woerden, Netherlands, in July 1981. She began having health problems at the age of six, when she became unconscious due to a build-up of fluids in her brain. After ongoing problems over the next two years, a nine-hour operation left her paralysed from the waist down, when she was just eight years old.

Initially, she admitted to feeling “moody and sad” when she thought of all the things she could no longer do, such as running and playing outside. However, her parents refused to let her give up, telling her, “This is the situation, we’re still a family, so let’s make the best of it.”

She wasn’t particularly sporty prior to her illness, but during rehabilitation, she began playing tennis, volleyball and basketball in her wheelchair. Initially, she shone at basketball and played with the Dutch national wheelchair team, winning the European championship in 1997.

She realised sport was making her stronger, physically and mentally. It helped her to “find herself” again, she regained her confidence and became more positive and independent. Focusing on keeping one step ahead of her competitors, she always strived to improve herself or her wheelchair.

Tennis career

Vergeer was playing tennis as well in 1996, but less successfully than her basketball career: after winning one singles tournament in Tilburg and reaching a final in Melin, which she lost, she entered plenty of tournaments, but with limited success.

However, fired up by her will to win and indomitable spirit, she continued playing tennis in favour of basketball. She first began to enjoy success in 1998, when she won the Wheelchair Tennis Masters. This was the start of her amazing professional career.

Vergeer played both singles and doubles, winning 695 singles matches, 148 singles titles, four Paralympic singles’ gold medals, 14 NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters and 21 Grand Slams. In doubles, she won 136 titles, including 27 at Grand Slams.

With three Paralympic doubles’ gold medals, she has been part of the winning World Team Cup side 12 times. She was also the ITF World Champion for 13 years in a row.

In 2002 and 2008, Vergeer was awarded the Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability.

Vergeer won 559 of her last 560 matches, so it came as something of a surprise to fans when she decided to retire in 2013, when she was 32, as she was still at the peak of her career. She was popular because she was never an arrogant champion and instead had a simple desire to always do better.

After retiring, she became known as one of the most dominant athletes in any sport. It’s an accolade which has surprised her. “During my playing days, I wasn’t actually proud of what I did,” she admitted.

It was only after her retirement that she began to become proud of her achievements, but said being a role model for young players still felt “weird”. Realising that other people were inspired by her story was the “biggest compliment” she had ever received.

In her post-tennis career, she has remained involved in the sport. As a big promoter of the increased integration of Paralympic and Olympic sports, currently the two events are separate, but she says it’s her “dream” to bring the worlds of able-bodied and disabled athletes together.

Cancer battle

In January 2020, Vergeer revealed she had been diagnosed with breast cancer and was starting treatment. Like everything else in her life, she has tackled her latest battle bravely and with determination and dignity.

In April, she revealed in an interview that a scan had shown her chemotherapy was working. She said, “I have completed the four toughest courses of chemotherapy, so I am in good spirits for the rest of the treatments.”

Despite her illness, Vergeer is still looking out for the wheelchair tennis players, whose hopes of playing at the Paralympic Games this summer have been dashed, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The games have now been moved to 2021, like the Olympic Games.

Providing a listening ear for the athletes during the COVID-19, she said despite some nervousness among the athletes, they were solving the problems of training at home, which was being done with “a lot of creativity”.

Vergeer led the Dutch Paralympic Team as Chef de mission at the 2018 Paralympic Games in PyeongChang. The summer Paralympic Games are now due to take place between Tuesday 24th August and Sunday 5th September 2021.

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Hall of fame rewind: our conversation with esther vergeer, who ended her career on a 470-match win streak, marcos giron's upset of andrey rublev in halle may be a sign of things to come on grass, andrey rublev turns to halle's peaceful setting and hotel sauna for mental reset, joao fonseca is in no rush to skip steps even with "crazy" opportunity of halle wild card, "i can see it in my tennis": matteo arnaldi doesn't need a ranking to show positive gains, behind the lens: the magic of rafael nadal, red clay and roland garros, nostalgic alizé cornet ready to return to the love at roland garros in career swan song, dayana yastremska returns to form at roland garros after illnesses derail spring results, jon wertheim’s interview with simona halep: things we learned and bonus commentary, stan smith is still going strong, watch: diego schwartzman tries wheelchair tennis.

I hear wheelchair players say, “The prize money isn’t enough. I can’t live off it. I can’t make my whole life about tennis, where if you are an able-bodied athlete you win millions and it’s easier to make it a full-time job.” I think that’s bulls---. Esther Vergeer

Wheelchair tennis great Esther Vergeer enshrined in Hall of Fame

• Associated Press

NEWPORT, R.I. -- Esther Vergeer put up eye-popping numbers during her career in wheelchair tennis, piling them up as the sport grew and became a Grand Slam event.

Now, her accomplishments will be on display forever after she was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame on Saturday during a 45-minute ceremony on grass courts just outside the museum.

"Tennis transformed me into the very essence of who I am today," said Vergeer, who suffered from a series of strokes as a child, and an operation to address an abnormality in her spinal cord blood supply left her legs paralyzed.

"A testament to the power of perseverance, resilience and determination," she told the crowd. "This moment is not mine alone. It reflects the unlimited support and dedication and love that has surrounded me throughout my tennis career."

A 21-time Grand Slam singles champion and seven-time Paralympic gold medalist, Vergeer held the No. 1 spot in the world rankings for 668 weeks from 2000-13 and won 470 straight singles matches. She won 96% of her singles matches overall, and also claimed 136 doubles titles.

The 42-year-old Vergeer, from the Netherlands, was inducted along with American Rick Draney, 61, who won 12 singles titles and six in doubles before the Slam era of wheelchair tennis and is a pioneer in bringing quad tennis to the sport.

When her career was over, did she ever sit back, pause and think: 'Did I do all that?'

"Yeah, there were some moments," she said, breaking into a brief laugh before smiling after being asked the question at an afternoon news conference.

"Now, again, when people repeat those numbers, I'm like whoa. It all happened so fast that when you're playing you don't realize what the number are," she said. "To look back on my career and see what I did, yeah, it's quite impressive, especially when you see you're unbeaten and to be able to win every time."

But it may take little longer for Vergeer to realize her place in the sport's history in Newport because of all the attention this weekend.

"I'm so busy here," she said. "When I get back on the plane going home, that's when I'll probably realize how big this is. Not only for me, but for tennis as a whole."

Draney has been credited with bringing quad tennis -- a classification that accounts for impairment in the arms, as well -- to the Paralympics and other top tournaments.

"I'm still part of that process and it is happening, in some part, because of my efforts," he said. "I take immense pride in that and satisfaction to know we are where we are now."

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Esther Vergeer

Tennis player, 1981 –, who is esther vergeer.

Esther Mary Vergeer is a retired Dutch wheelchair tennis player. Combining singles and doubles, she has won 42 Grand Slam tournaments, 22 year-end championships and 7 Paralympics titles. Vergeer has been the world number one wheelchair tennis player since 1999. In singles matches, she has been undefeated since January 2003 and ended her career on a winning streak of 470 matches. She is often mentioned as the most dominant player in professional sports.

Over the course of her career Vergeer won 700 matches and lost just 25. Vergeer won 148 singles titles including four Paralympic Singles Gold medals, 21 Grand Slam titles and 14 NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters. Vergeer spent 668 weeks as the World Number One, first claiming the position on 6 April 1999, regaining it on the 2 October 2000, and relinquishing it on 21 January 2013. Vergeer was the ITF World Champion for 13 years in a row. In doubles competitions Vergeer won 136 titles, 23 of which were won at the Grand Slams. Vergeer also has three Paralympic gold medals for the doubles and has been part of the winning World Team Cup side on 12 occasions.

Vergeer had been undefeated in women's singles matches for ten years, having lost on 30 January 2003 to Daniela di Toro. Over the next 10 years, Vergeer won 120 tournaments, 470 matches, beat 73 different opponents and did not lose a game on 95 occasions. Additionally, during the streak she lost only 18 sets and was taken to match point only once; against Korie Homan in the final of the 2008 Paralympic Games. Vergeer retired in February 2013.

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Unbeaten Since 2003, Wheelchair Champ Retires

By Ben Rothenberg

• Feb. 12, 2013

Esther Vergeer did not simply go out on top. She went out after a decade of soaring out of other players’ reach.

Vergeer, a Dutch wheelchair tennis juggernaut, announced her retirement at 31 on Tuesday in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

She retires with an active win streak in singles of 470 matches, her last loss coming a little more than 10 years ago, in January 2003. Vergeer lost only 18 sets during the streak, and she won more than a third of her sets by the score of 6-0. She had 95 6-0, 6-0 victories in her career.

“I’m hugely proud of my performances, my titles and can look back on my career with a great feeling,” Vergeer said. “Keeping going would not add anything.”

Her final tournament was the London Paralympics in September. She captured the gold medal with typical ease, winning 7 of 12 sets in the singles competition by the score of 6-0. It was her fourth Paralympic gold medal in singles, to go along with her 21 Grand Slam singles titles. Although she was not as dominant when sharing the court with a partner, Vergeer also found success in doubles, winning 3 Paralympic gold medals and 23 Grand Slam titles.

“Esther Vergeer is a tremendous ambassador not only for tennis, but also for disability sports,” Francesco Ricci Bitti, the International Tennis Federation’s president, said in a statement. “She is an inspiration to many. Wheelchair tennis owes her a huge debt of gratitude for her professionalism and her quality as a player.”

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Esther Vergeer

Introduction.

Vergeer was born on July 18, 1981, in Woerden, the Netherlands. When she was 8 years old, she had surgery on her spine . The surgery left her unable to move her legs. As she adapted to her injury, Vergeer learned how to play basketball and tennis in a wheelchair. At first, Vergeer focused on playing wheelchair basketball. She was asked to join the national Dutch wheelchair basketball team, and she helped the team win the European championship in 1997. However, a year later she had to choose between playing basketball or tennis, and she chose tennis.

Tennis Career

In 2004 Vergeer founded the Esther Vergeer Foundation. The organization promotes sports among children with disabilities. After she retired in 2013, Vergeer remained very involved in sports. She serves on the Dutch Paralympic delegation and is a member of the Dutch Sports Council. She also is the director of the wheelchair tennis tournament at the ABN AMRO Open, a major men’s tennis tournament.

During and after her playing career, Vergeer won many awards. They include the Laureus Award for Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability in 2002 and in 2008. In 2016 she was awarded the Fanny Blankers–Koen Career Award, which is the highest award for a Dutch athlete. Vergeer also holds two degrees: one in management, economics and law and another in international sports management.

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Ten Things You May Not Know About Esther Vergeer

Latest News

TENNIS PLAYER

Esther Vergeer

1981 - Today

Esther Mary Vergeer (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɛstər vərˈɣeːr]; born 18 July 1981) is a Dutch former professional wheelchair tennis player. Vergeer won 43 major titles (21 in singles and 22 in doubles), 23 year-end championships (14 consecutive in singles and nine in doubles), and seven Paralympic gold medals (four in singles and three in doubles). She was the world No . Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Esther Vergeer has received more than 266,630 page views. Her biography is available in 22 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 18 in 2019) . Esther Vergeer is the 745th most popular tennis player (down from 621st in 2019) , the 1,188th most popular biography from Netherlands (down from 1,074th in 2019) and the 16th most popular Dutch Tennis Player .

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Page Views (PV)

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Languages Editions (L)

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Among TENNIS PLAYERS

Among tennis players , Esther Vergeer ranks 745 out of 1,569 .  Before her are Jaime Yzaga , Robin Haase , Mona Barthel , Jelena Kostanić Tošić , Jasmine Paolini , and Karolína Muchová . After her are Nuria Llagostera Vives , Ctislav Doseděl , Javier Frana , Victor Hănescu , Christine Truman , and Jan Apell .

Most Popular Tennis Players in Wikipedia

Jaime Yzaga

1967 - Present

Robin Haase

1987 - Present

Mona Barthel

1990 - Present

Jelena Kostanić Tošić

1981 - Present

Jasmine Paolini

1996 - Present

Karolína Muchová

Nuria Llagostera Vives

1980 - Present

Ctislav Doseděl

1970 - Present

Javier Frana

1966 - Present

Victor Hănescu

Christine Truman

1941 - Present

1969 - Present

Contemporaries

Among people born in 1981 , Esther Vergeer ranks 518 .  Before her are Stefanie Böhler , Jelena Kostanić Tošić , Michael Mifsud , Omar Naber , Souleymane Youla , and Jim Parrack . After her are Hanna Alström , Jonathan Bennett , Natalya Antyukh , Ruby , Victor Hănescu , and Emiliano Moretti .

Others Born in 1981

Stefanie Böhler

Michael Mifsud

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In netherlands.

Among people born in Netherlands , Esther Vergeer ranks 1,188 out of 1,646 .  Before her are Sjeng Schalken (1976) , Roel Reiné (1970) , Robin Haase (1987) , Sharon Kovacs (1990) , Jan Bos (1975) , and Chantal van den Broek-Blaak (1989) . After her are Ali Elkhattabi (1977) , Alexander Büttner (1989) , Ryan Donk (1986) , Robert Verbeek (1961) , Jean-Paul Boëtius (1994) , and Harald Zwart (1965) .

Others born in Netherlands

Sjeng Schalken

1976 - Present

Rank: 1,182

FILM DIRECTOR

Rank: 1,183

Rank: 1,184

Sharon Kovacs

Rank: 1,185

1975 - Present

Rank: 1,186

Chantal van den Broek-Blaak

1989 - Present

Rank: 1,187

Rank: 1,188

Ali Elkhattabi

1977 - Present

Rank: 1,189

Alexander Büttner

Rank: 1,190

1986 - Present

Rank: 1,191

Robert Verbeek

1961 - Present

Rank: 1,192

Jean-Paul Boëtius

1994 - Present

Rank: 1,193

Harald Zwart

1965 - Present

Rank: 1,194

Among TENNIS PLAYERS In Netherlands

Among tennis players born in Netherlands , Esther Vergeer ranks 16 .  Before her are Manon Bollegraf (1964) , Arantxa Rus (1990) , Miriam Oremans (1972) , Tallon Griekspoor (1996) , Sjeng Schalken (1976) , and Robin Haase (1987) . After her are Michaëlla Krajicek (1989) , Botic van de Zandschulp (1995) , Brenda Schultz-McCarthy (1970) , Wesley Koolhof (1989) , Rogier Wassen (1976) , and Raemon Sluiter (1978) .

Dutch born Tennis Players

Manon Bollegraf

1964 - Present

Arantxa Rus

Miriam Oremans

1972 - Present

Tallon Griekspoor

Michaëlla Krajicek

Botic van de Zandschulp

1995 - Present

Brenda Schultz-McCarthy

Wesley Koolhof

Rogier Wassen

Raemon Sluiter

1978 - Present

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Wheelchair pioneers Esther Vergeer, Rick Draney to be inducted into Tennis Hall of Fame

FILE - Netherlands’ Esther Vergeer returns to Netherlands’ Jiske Griffioen, not seen, during the women’s single wheelchair tennis semifinal match at the 2012 Paralympics, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2012, in London. Vergeer won the match. Wheelchair tennis star Esther Vergeer will be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame on Saturday, July 22. (AP Photo/Raissa Ioussouf, File)

FILE - Esther Vergeer of the Netherlands holds her gold medal for winning the women’s wheelchair tennis final at the 2012 Paralympics games, Friday, Sept. 7, 2012, in London. Wheelchair tennis star Esther Vergeer will be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame on Saturday, July 22. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File)

Diede De Groot of the Netherlands celebrates with her trophy after winning the women’s wheelchair singles final match against Jiske Griffioen of the Netherlands on day thirteen of the Wimbledon tennis championships in London, Saturday, July 15, 2023. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Jiske Griffioen of the Netherlands in action against Diede De Groot of the Netherlands during the women’s wheelchair singles final match on day thirteen of the Wimbledon tennis championships in London, Saturday, July 15, 2023. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

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Esther Vergeer had few role models in wheelchair tennis and limited opportunities when she took up the sport.

Those aren’t problems any more, and she’s a big reason why.

“That was also what I liked about my career, is that I know I was the one that pioneered. I was the one that could explore it all. And I was the one that needed to figure out what the pathway was,” Vergeer said in a telephone interview as she prepared for her induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. “That was also the fun part.”

Vergeer will be added to the Newport, Rhode Island, shrine on Saturday along with American Rick Draney, who won 12 singles titles and six in doubles before the Grand Slam era of wheelchair tennis. Draney has been credited with bringing quad tennis — a classification that accounts for impairment in the arms as well — to the Paralympics and other top tournaments.

A 21-time Grand Slam singles champion and seven-time Paralympic gold medalist, Vergeer began her career in an era when wheelchair tennis wasn’t included in the top events and retired as its most dominant player, holding the No. 1 spot in the world rankings for 668 weeks from 2000-13 and winning 470 straight singles matches. She won 96% of her singles matches in all, and also won 136 doubles titles.

“She’s a legend of the sport,” current No. 1 Diede De Groot said this month before winning Wimbledon for her 11th consecutive Grand Slam wheelchair singles title and her 111th match in a row — a streak second only to Vergeer’s. “Being in the position that I am now — having a very long streak but still not being nearly to her streak — my respect only grows for her. That she was able to have 10 years in a row where she was just absolutely dominant, it’s a little bit crazy for me to think about that. She deserves all that’s coming to her.”

Vergeer suffered from a series of strokes as a child, and an operation to address an abnormality in her spinal cord blood supply left her legs paralyzed. She also played volleyball and won a European wheelchair basketball championship before devoting herself to tennis.

At the time, the sport was still establishing itself. Although wheelchair singles became an official sport at the 1992 Paralympics, it wasn’t added to the Grand Slam tournaments for more than a decade after that.

“When she was on top of the game, (wheelchair) tennis was still growing so much,” de Groot said. “So she was really at the start of it, when it was growing. So she’s been so important in helping that and helping it start up. She was really part of the foundation for that big growth.”

A sports-loving country that cleans up in speedskating, cycling and swimming, the Netherlands has had little success in tennis: Richard Krajicek (Wimbledon, 1996) and Kea Bouman (French Open, 1927) are the only Dutch players to win major singles titles.

It’s a different story in wheelchair tennis — and especially on the women’s side. The Dutch women have won 18 of a possible 24 singles medals at the Paralympics and all seven Wimbledon singles titles since wheelchair was added to the program in 2016; at the U.S. Open, where wheelchair has been included since 2005, Holland has topped the podium 12 of 15 times in both singles and doubles.

Although de Groot joked that the Dutch success comes from the drinking water, Vergeer praised her homeland for providing equal resources such as training facilities and experts for para and other athletes. That helped make it a pioneer, and the results are still visible.

“Since I was very little, I’ve followed her every step of the way,” de Groot said. “So many people, including me, saw her do all of the things we only dreamed of. She’s been a big influence.”

Vergeer called that “the biggest honor you can ever have.”

“If I can be a role model for next-generation players, that is a big compliment. I wish I had that when I started playing tennis,” she said, adding that newcomers today might be looking up to players like de Groot in the same way. “And at the same time I realize that I am over 40 and maybe I’m not the role model anymore. ... So it’s for the next generation to come to, to make (the) next heroes.”

AP Tennis Writer Howard Fendrich contributed to this report from Wimbledon, England.

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

“It is not about being the best, but about becoming the best version of yourself.” . – Esther Vergeer –

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

#ThrowbackThursday: Esther Vergeer

The Netherlands’ Esther Vergeer – a seven-time Paralympic champion with 42 Grand Slam titles – is enjoying her first Paralympic cycle as a spectator.

“I now see the fun aspect of the game more and realise it’s OK if I’m not as good as I used to be,” Vergeer said. “It’s OK if I have a bad hit or if I don’t hit a serve 120km/hour over the net.

As the world’s top wheelchair tennis players gear up for September’s US Open – which is also a year out from the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games – the sport’s all-time greatest player will watch the action from afar.

Vergeer took a break from the court after the London 2012 Games, and decided to retire while she was at home watching the 2013 Australian Open. She closed her career on a winning streak of 470 matches and 668 straight weeks at world No. 1.

“The decision to retire was a tough decision,” Vergeer said. “You have to have the guts to say goodbye to what’s always been so comfortable. It took me a long time before I dared to speak up and say out loud that I wanted to retire.

“I wanted to have a little distance from the tennis court, tennis players and tennis world.

“But then the question is: What are you going to do?”

Since retiring, Vergeer said she has only played wheelchair tennis five times.

That’s a drastic change for someone who had won 120 successive tournaments and beaten 73 different opponents in the final decade of her career alone – a decade in which she dropped just 18 sets of tennis.

Filling that schedule void, though, has been a piece of cake.

A new world of business opportunities has opened up for Vergeer, and they have been in the industry that matters to her the most.

“My heart is still there with Paralympic sports, and I still really enjoy being involved in that world,” Vergeer said.

A full schedule

Atop Vergeer’s current career responsibilities is running the Esther Vergeer Foundation, which aims to improve the position of youngsters with an impairment worldwide through sport.

The Foundation has been working since 2004 to get kids with an impairment involved in sports at a young age, with an emphasis on promoting the fun of the game.

“We are trying to close the gap between sporting clubs and kids with disabilities,” Vergeer said.

“You can easily get a kid enthusiastic about a sport, but then the next step is to get them to be a member of a sporting club. We saw that was a difficult step to take for the kids and their parents, and we also noticed the clubs themselves have run into barriers before they eventually open their arms to welcome people with disabilities.”

At this point in time, wheelchair tennis is the Foundation’s main focus. But eventually Vergeer hopes to expand to other para-sports.

“I realise not everybody likes tennis as much as I do,” joked Vergeer.

Vergeer also works as an external advisor for the Dutch Paralympic Committee, helping find new Paralympic-exclusive sponsors in the Netherlands and sharing her past experiences with Dutch athletes to help them prepare for Rio 2016.

She serves as the tournament director for the ABM AMRO Word Wheelchair Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam, Netherlands, a competition that runs alongside an able-bodied tennis event.

In addition, Vergeer has continued to promote her biography, “Fierce and Vulnerable,” which was launched at the 2014 US Open. The book shares her life story, including views from everyone in her inner circle, as well as sports and business careers. Everyone from her parents and elementary school teacher, to her wheelchair tennis opponents and Roger Federer are quoted in the book.

Viewing pleasure

Vergeer said there are times when she misses the life of an athlete – traveling, being active all the time, maintaining a healthy diet and working toward a clear goal. But that on the other hand it is relaxing to not have every day of the next four years planned out for her.

Despite having remained physically distant from the court, Vergeer has continued to follow women’s wheelchair tennis tournaments closely.

She believes her compatriot, three-time Paralympic medallist Jiske Griffioen , will be the top player to watch at next month’s US Open (11-13 September) in New York, and next year’s Paralympic Games.

Griffioen is currently ranked No. 1 in the world, having won both the Australian Open and Roland Garros women’s singles titles this year.

“After London 2012, she really stepped up and put some extra efforts into her tennis game,” Vergeer said. “She put some work into her wheelchair and her racquets to become a more complete player.”

Vergeer added that Great Britain’s world No. 5 Jordanne Whiley, a Paralympic bronze medallist in doubles, is a dark horse.

“I think she really has this fighter mentality, and I’m sure she has her eyes on the gold medal in Rio,” Vergeer said. “I think in a year she’s going to be even better. She’s really aggressive. She never gives her opponent enough time to have a Plan B or recover on the court.”

As for Vergeer, now that she has had time to distance herself from the pressures of competing, she is easing back onto the court.

“I’m becoming friends with tennis again.”

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