GWR 2024 Look Inside - Flipbook - Page 11
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Woerden, Netherlands
19 Dec 1996
Birthplace
Birth date
5, including first
consecutive calendaryear Grand Slam
champion
Gold: 2
Silver: 1
Preferred
surface
1
Diede was
nominated
as the Laureus
Sportsperson of the
Year with a Disability
in 2019, 2020
and 2022.
Find out more about Shingo and Diede
in the Hall of Fame section at www.
guinnessworldrecords.com/2024
Hard court
Highest rank No.1
Current
GWR titles
Paralympic
medals
Grand Slam Singles: 17
titles (as of
Doubles: 16
29 Jan 2023)
Diede de Groot
Name
VITAL STATISTICS
DIEDE DE GROOT
2: Diede and doubles partner Aniek van Koot
celebrate victory for the Netherlands at the
2021 Paralympics – the day after Diede also won
gold in the singles. They smashed their British
opponents 6–0, 6–1. Reflecting on the win,
Diede said: “Even though I was really tired, it
was a good match… Today, we were in control.
We were getting that title, and we did that.”
1: Diede on the training courts with her GWR
certificates. She attributes part of her huge
success to her friends, who she says always
treated her the same as everyone else.
2
A prosthetic leg has been part of Diede’s life for as long as she can
remember. Doctors diagnosed that her legs would not develop equally
just a few months after she was born.
When she first took up tennis aged seven, physiotherapists advised
she play in a wheelchair. Although at the time she had little experience
of using one, it was a recommendation that she embraced and a
tennis star was born.
After turning pro at 17, Diede rapidly went on to stamp her name
in the annals of the sport. Clinching her first Grand Slams in 2017,
she has since added 31 more to her tally (16 singles and 15 doubles),
as well as countless other titles and trophies. With so much achieved
so quickly, you wonder what ambitions Diede has left? “My dream is to
become the best wheelchair tennis player I can be,” she said.
A
t just 25, Diede de Groot has already laid claim to a feat
achieved by no solo tennis player before her: winning all
four Grand Slams for two years back to back – in 2021 and
2022. To top that off, with success at the Tokyo Games in 2021,
she also became the first woman since trailblazer Steffi Graf in
1988 to claim a same-year “Golden Slam” in singles.
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