Esther Vergeer Dutch wheelchair tennis player Date of Birth: 18.07.1981 Country: Netherlands

Biography of Esther Vergeer

Esther Vergeer, born on July 18, 1981 in Woerden, The Netherlands, is a Dutch wheelchair tennis player. She earned paraplegia at the age of 8 due to a risky operation to stop the bleeding from the blood vessels around her spinal cord. During her rehabilitation, Vergeer learned to play volleyball, basketball, and tennis while using a wheelchair.

Playing basketball at a club level for several years, Vergeer joined the Dutch national wheelchair basketball team. Together with the team, she won the European Championship in 1997. Vergeer began playing tennis alongside basketball and won her first national tournament in 1996. By 1998, she fully focused on tennis.

Under the guidance of Marc Kalkman, Vergeer achieved her first major victory at the US Open in 1998, moving from 15th to 2nd place in the world rankings. She defeated Daniela Di Toro in the final to become the singles champion, and later partnered with Sonja Peters to become the doubles champion. Her success was recognized in TennisWeek magazine on November 26, 1998.

Continuing to compete at the highest level, Vergeer participated in the 2000 Summer Paralympic Games where she won a gold medal in singles and doubles with her partner Maaike Smit. She also won the prestigious Wheelchair Tennis Masters tournament in 1998.

As of July 31, 2011, Vergeer had won 150 singles championships and 128 doubles championships in international tournaments. In singles, she won 18 Grand Slam tournaments, 13 year-end championships, and 3 Paralympic Games. In doubles, she won 18 Grand Slam tournaments, 8 year-end championships, and 2 Paralympic Games. Vergeer was also a part of the Dutch team that won 14 World Team Cup titles.

From March 31, 2001, Vergeer lost only one singles match (January 30, 2003, against Daniela Di Toro at the Sydney International tournament). From August 2004 to October 2006, she won all 250 sets she played, with only one set going to a tiebreak. Her unbeaten streak in career victories reached 422.

Vergeer was nominated for the Laureus Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability award five times and won it twice, in 2002 and 2008. She posed nude for ESPN's annual Body Issue in October 2010, becoming the first athlete with a disability to be featured in the magazine. In December 2010, Vergeer was featured on CNN, receiving congratulations from Roger Federer and Kim Clijsters for her 401 consecutive victories.

Esther Vergeer admires people like Lance Armstrong, who do not allow setbacks to break them and fight for what they want to achieve. She dislikes people who give up without even trying.