Australian Open 2021 titels

For the third time in her career wheelchair tennis player Diede de Groot has won the Australian Open. In the singles final the Dutch tennisplayer was too strong for the Japenese Yui Kamiji.

After two and a half hours the match in Melbourne Park ended with a 6-3 6-7 and 7-6 victory for de Groot. Earlier this week, the player from Oudewater and her partner Aniek van Koot won the doubles title.

In preparation of the Australian Open the 24 year old already played two tournaments in Craigieburn Australia. Resulting in three finals and a singles and doubles title.

De Groot has already won a Grand Slam singles titles eight times before. In addition to her three Australian Open victories (2018, 2019 and 2021), she has also won Roland Garros (2019), Wimbledon (2017 and 2018) and the US Open (2018, 2019 and 2020).

Ambassadorship Fonds Gehandicaptensport

Badhoevedorp – wheelchair tennis player Diede de Groot and paralympic athlete Kimberly Alkemade have become the new ambassadors of ‘Fonds gehandicaptensport’ (the foundation for sports for the disabled). “We are proud of having these two talents join us in our mission”, says Nike Boor, the foundation director.

Diede de Groot is the number one ranking wheelchair tennis player in the world. Diede was 7 years old when she got acquainted with wheelchair tennis. In August 2020 de Groot became a dutch national champion for the fourth time in her carreer. And in September of the same year she won the US open for the third time in a row. A month later, together with doubles partner Aniek van Koot, she won Roland Garros for the third time in a row.

Kimberly Alkemade is a dutch paralympic athlete. She represented the Netherlands at the world championships para athletics 2019 in Dubai and won the silver medal at the 200 meter T64-event and a bronze medal at the 100 meter T64-event. By winning these two medals the odds are in her favor for the possibility to represent the Netherlands at the paralympics 2021 in Tokyo.

Boor says: “Diede and Kimberly are both lead figures when it comes to paralympic sports at the top level. They are role models for many disabled people and evidence that dreams can come true. Athletes like them really set the spotlights on the Netherlands”.

The importance of ambassadors for the foundation.
In the Netherlands there are 1.7 million disabled people who need extra support in playing sports. Sadly sports is not that self-evident for them. Not all sports are accessible to them or facilities are missing in their near surroundings. The foundation for sports for the disabled has a mission to make playing sports accessible for the disabled as close to home as possible. When we succeed, only then the match is figuratively won.

The foundation for sports for the disabled gets lots of support from their ambassadors in realizing their mission, also by helping with fundraising events and raising awareness.

Wilfred Genee, Toine van Peperstraten, Sander Westerveld, Jetze Plat, Fleur Jong and Jiske Griffioen are just examples of the many people who committed themselves to helping the foundation. And now we can add Diede de Groot and Kimberly Alkemade to the list of active ambassadors.

 

Hattrick at French Open

Diede de Groot and Aniek van Koot have seized the championship in women’s doubles in Roland Garros wheelchair tennis. In a spectacular final match the Dutch team beat Yui Kamiji and Jordanne Whiley. De Groot and Van Koot are now the three times in a row doubles-champions at Roland Garros.

 

Earlier this week Diede de Groot was not able to renew her women’s singles title. The wheelchar tennisplayer, playing for tennisclub Nieuwe Sloot in Alphen aan de Rijn, lost her semi-finals match against Momoko Ohtani from Japan.

During the US Open in mid September, Diede also surprised everyone when she won the women’s singles championship for the third time in a row. In the final match she beat Yuri Kamiji 6-3 6-3 in the Louis Armstrong Stadium.

Diede prolongeert titel US Open

Rolstoeltennisster Diede de Groot heeft zaterdag haar titel op de US Open met succes verdedigd. De Nederlandse was in de finale in twee sets te sterk voor de Japanse Yui Kamiji.

De 23-jarige Oudewaterse, als eerste geplaatst op Flushing Meadows, versloeg Kamiji met 6-3 en 6-3. Dit is de derde keer op rij dat De Groot de US Open op haar naam zet. In totaal heeft De Groot nu acht Grand Slam-titels in het enkelspel op haar palmares staan.

De US Open was sinds de komst van het Corona het eerste Internationale toernooi op de kalender. “Het was weer even wennen, maar heel fijn om eindelijk weer een toernooi te spelen. De zogenaamde US Open bubbel levert een bijzondere ervaring. Zonder publiek spelen is vreemd, zeker bij zo’n normaliter massaal evenement. Het levert echter ook wel weer mooie ervaringen op. Zo kregen topspelers toegang tot een persoonlijke skybox, deze worden normaal gesproken toebedeeld aan sponsoren”, aldus Diede. De Groot staat samen met Marjolein Buis morgen ook nog in de dubbelspelfinale. Het Nederlandse duo neemt het in de eindstrijd op tegen de Japanse Kamiji en de Britse Whiley.