Diede de Groot

Diede de Groot (born 19 December 1996) is a Dutch wheelchair tennis player. During her career, de Groot won over ten Grand Slam tournaments including back to back women's singles events at Wimbledon from 2017 to 2018. In 2019, de Groot completed her Career Grand Slam when she won the singles title at the 2019 French Open. Her 2019 singles win at the French Open also made de Groot the first wheelchair tennis player to complete a non-calendar year grand slam. Apart from her Grand Slam wins, De Groot won multiple Wheelchair Tennis Masters titles between 2016 and 2018 and a silver medal at the 2016 Summer Paralympics.

In this Dutch name, the surname is de Groot, not Groot.
Diede de Groot
Country (sports) Netherlands
Born (1996-12-19) 19 December 1996
Woerden, Netherlands
Singles
Career record242–58
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian OpenW (2018, 2019)
French OpenW (2019)
WimbledonW (2017, 2018)
US OpenW (2018, 2019, 2020)
Other tournaments
MastersW (2017, 2018)
Doubles
Career record150-48
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian OpenW (2019)
French OpenW (2018, 2019)
WimbledonW (2018, 2019)
US OpenW (2017, 2018, 2019)
Other doubles tournaments
Masters DoublesW (2016, 2017)
Paralympic Games Silver Medal (2016)
Team competitions
World Team Cup Champion (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019)

Career

De Groot was born with unequal leg length and began her wheelchair tennis career at the age of seven.[1] She started playing on the ITF Wheelchair Tennis Tour in 2009 as a junior player.[2] 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.[3]

De Groot made her first Grand Slam appearance at the 2017 Australian Open.[4] 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. She ended the 2017 Grand Slam tournaments with a finals finish at the 2017 US Open.[5] At the start of 2018, she won the 2018 Australian Open and appeared at the final of the 2018 French Open.[6] For the remaining Grand Slams of 2018, De Groot won the women's singles division at the 2018 Wimbledon Championships and her first US Open singles title at the 2018 US Open.[7][8] In 2019, de Groot rewon the Australian Open title in singles competition at the 2019 Australian Open.[9] At the 2019 French Open, de Groot completed her career Grand Slam when she won her first French Open singles title.[10] 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).[11] At the 2019 Wimbledon Championships, de Groot ended her back to back singles wins when she was defeated by Aniek van Koot in the final.[12]

In doubles, De Groot was a runner up in the 2017 Australian, French and Wimbledon championships.[5] 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.[13] De Groot became the first woman in wheelchair tennis to win both the women's singles and doubles events at Wimbledon in July 2018.[7] She won her second US Open doubles title at the 2018 US Open alongside Yui Kamiji.[14] At the 2019 Australian Open, De Groot won her first Australian doubles title with Aniek van Koot alongside her singles title in January 2019.[15] At the following Grand Slams, De Groot and Van Koot won the 2019 doubles titles at the French Open and Wimbledon.[11][16]

Outside of the Grand Slam tournaments, De Groot competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in singles and doubles competitions. While De Groot did not medal in singles, she won a silver medal in women's doubles.[3] In Masters competitions, De Groot won the 2017 and 2018 Wheelchair Tennis Masters in women's singles.[17][18] Competing in doubles, she won the 2016 Wheelchair Doubles Masters with Lucy Shuker and the 2017 Wheelchair Doubles Masters alongside Marjolein Buis.[19] 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.[2]

Awards and Honors

In 2018, de Groot was named ITF World Champion in women's wheelchair tennis.[20] The following year, she was nominated for the Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability in 2019.[21]

References
  1. Rossingh, Danielle (14 July 2018). "De Groot back on top". Wimbledon. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  2. "Diede DE GROOT". ITF Tennis. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  3. "Diede de Groot – Wheelchair tennis". Paralympics. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  4. Winters, Max (6 January 2017). "De Groot and Davidson set for Grand Slam debuts as 2017 Australian Open entries are confirmed". Inside the Games. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  5. "Diede de Groot". Australian Open. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
  6. Pearce, Linda. "De Groot sets up all-Dutch women's final". ITF Tennis. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  7. Stevenson, Gemma-Louise (16 July 2018). "Diede De Groot becomes first female player to win Wimbledon wheelchair singles and doubles titles in same year". Sky Sports. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  8. Morgan, Liam (9 September 2018). "Alcott, Hewett and De Groot earn wheelchair singles titles at US Open". Inside the Games. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
  9. Diamond, James (26 January 2019). "De Groot continues dominance of women's wheelchair tennis with singles and doubles victories at Australian Open". Inside the Games. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  10. McLean, Ross. "De Groot: 'I didn't want to be different anymore'". ITF. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  11. "Roland Garros 2019: De Groot, Fernandez and Alcott prevail". International Paralympic Committee. 9 June 2019. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  12. "Wimbledon 2019: Diede de Groot stunned". International Paraylmpic Committee. 14 July 2019. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  13. "Diede De Groot". Wimbledon. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  14. "US Open 2018: Diede de Groot edges closer to title". International Paralympic Committee. 9 September 2018. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
  15. Maher, Erin (28 January 2019). "2019 US Open Spotlight: Diede de Groot". US Open. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
  16. "Wimbledon 2019: Aniek van Koot & Diede de Groot win women's wheelchair doubles". BBC Sport. 14 July 2019. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  17. "De Groot the latest Dutch player to win NEC Masters women's title". NEC Wheelchair Masters. 3 December 2017. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  18. "Alcott, Gerard, de Groot win 25th NEC Masters". ITF. 3 December 2018. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  19. "Buis and de Groot claim UNIQLO Wheelchair Doubles Masters glory on home soil". BNP Paribas World Team Cup. 27 November 2017. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  20. "De Groot named 2018 women's wheelchair ITF world champion". ITF. 11 December 2018. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  21. "Laureus World Sports Awards: 2019 shortlist". International Paralympic Committee. 17 January 2019. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
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