“My will to win, my will to be the best I could be is the thing that set me apart from the others.” - Esther Vergeer
A LIVING LEGEND
Seldom do you find a sport that is globally dominated by just one person. For ten years, Esther Vergeer of the Netherlands was unbeatable; she won everything there was to win. With her fierceness and vulnerability, she became a role model on the court and off. Vergeer involves others in her success and her crusade for the integration of disability sport. It makes her a living legend.
When she was eight years old, Vergeer had three internal hemorrhages caused by a blood vessel defect that required multiple surgeries. After the third operation, she woke up without sensation in her lower legs, ending up in a wheelchair. Throughout her rehabilitation, sports constituted the cornerstones for the acceptance of her disability. Moreover, wheelchair tennis and wheelchair basketball opened the door to a life filled with new expectations and opportunities.
A DOMINATING CAREER
Vergeer chose tennis and turned her dreams into action. Her imposing career started in her own country, when she was named the ITF’s World Champion in the women’s wheelchair category. It is a title she won thirteen times in a row – a record for any tennis player in any category. Overall, Vergeer had 668 consecutive weeks ranked number one in the world, 169 singles title, 136 doubles titles, 48 Grand Slam titles (21 in singles and 27 in doubles), 23 year-end championship titles (14 in singles and nine in doubles), and seven Paralympic Gold medals (four in singles and three in doubles). In 2002 and 2008, she received the highest global recognition in the sport, the Laureus World Sports Award. Her singles win-loss record stands at a staggering 700-25 (97%). She won all 21 Grand Slam singles events she entered and holds the second-longest winning streak of any professional athlete ever with 470 matches. Fellow Hall of Famer Martina Navratilova sums up Vergeer’s career saying, “It is fair to say no one will ever break Esther’s records – an amazing streak. Esther is a champion on and off the court.”
BEYOND THE COURT
In 2004, Vergeer created the Esther Vergeer Foundation, with the mission of providing young people with physical disabilities and chronic conditions the opportunity to exercise regularly, like any other child. The foundation aims to strengthen self-confidence and self-reliance in participants through sport. Team ParaStars, one of the foundation’s initiatives, shows the world that all children can dream big by shining a brighter light on elite athletes with disabilities and creating a new kind of sports hero. Vergeer also has had countless ambassadorships, all with the goal of introducing the power of sport to those with disabilities.
AN ICONIC LEGACY
While the Dutch sporting superstar hit her last match point in the final of the 2012 London Paralympic Games, she remains highly involved in the sport. Since the Paralympic Games of 2018, Esther has led the Dutch Paralympic Team as Chef de Mission. With her foundation and role as tournament director of the ABN AMRO World Wheelchair Tennis Tournament, she continues to work for the sport and society at large. As a top athlete, Vergeer is an icon of disability sport, nationally and internationally, and she is the personification of its evolution.
