Esther Vergeer

Country	Netherlands
Residence	Woerden, The Netherlands
Date of birth	July 18, 1981 (1981-07-18) (age 28)
Place of birth	Woerden, The Netherlands
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	62 kg (140 lb)
Plays	Right Handed, Wheelchair
Official web site	[1]
Singles
Highest ranking	No. 1 (6 April 1999)
Current ranking	No. 1
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	W (2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009)
French Open	W (2007, 2008, 2009)
US Open	W (2005, 2006, 2007, 2009)
WTA Championships	W (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009)
Doubles
Highest ranking	No. 1 (20 October 1998)
Australian Open	W (2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009)
French Open	W (2007, 2008, 2009)
Wimbledon	W (2009)
US Open	W (2005, 2006, 2007, 2009)
Last updated on: September 14, 2009.

Medal record
Competitor for  Netherlands
Women's wheelchair tennis
Paralympic Games
Gold	2000 Sydney	Women's singles
Gold	2000 Sydney	Women's doubles
Gold	2004 Athens	Women's singles
Gold	2004 Athens	Women's doubles
Gold	2008 Beijing	Women's singles
Silver	2008 Beijing	Women's doubles

Esther Vergeer (born 18 July 1981, Woerden) is a Dutch former wheelchair basketball and current wheelchair tennis player. She is five-time Paralympics tennis champion, eleven-time consecutive world-champion (i.e. winner of the NEC Masters tournament)^[1], and has been the world's top ranked player since 1999. Unbeaten in singles matches since January 2003, she may be the most dominant player in any professional sports.

Vergeer became paraplegic when she was 8 years old due to an otherwise successful, very risky surgery concerning hemorrhaging blood vessels around her spinal cord. During revalidation she learned to play volleyball, basketball, and tennis in a wheelchair. After playing basketball for several years at club level, she was invited to join the national wheelchair basketball team. She played with the Dutch team that won the European championship in 1997.

Vergeer had started playing tennis in parallel with basketball, playing her first international tournament in 1996, and switched to full-time tennis in 1998. Coached by Marc Kalkman, her first big win was at the US Open championships in 1998, moving her from 15th to 2nd in the world ranking. During the 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney she did not lose a set to win the gold medal in singles and also won the doubles title with Maaike Smit as her partner.

At international tournaments, Vergeer has (as of September 11, 2009) won 139 singles and 122 doubles titles. Her overall record is 574 wins and 25 losses in singles, and 390 wins and 30 losses in doubles ^[2]. Since 31 March 2001 she has lost only one singles match (on 30 Jan 2003 at the Sydney International to Daniela Di Toro from Australia). Between August 2004 and October 2006 she even won 250 consecutive sets, only one of which ended with a tiebreaker. Vergeer is currently on a 376-match winning streak^[3][4] .

She has been nominated five times ^[5] for the Laureus Award for Sportsperson with a Disability of the Year, winning it twice in 2002 and 2008.

[edit] Major titles

• Australian Open: singles 2002-4, 2006-9, doubles 2003, 2006-9
• Wimbledon Championships: singles 2000-2009, doubles 1998-2004, 2006-9
• French Open: singles 1999-2002, 2005-9, doubles 1999, 2002, 2005-9
• Japan Open: singles 2004, 2007-8, doubles 2004, 2007-8
• US Open: singles 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005-7, 2009, doubles 1998- 2000, 2003, 2005-7, 2009
• NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters ("World Championships"): singles 1998-2008, doubles 2001, 2003, 2005-2008
• Paralympic Games: singles 2000,2004, 2008 & doubles 2000, 2004

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official site
• sportscolumn.com
• Esther Vergeer at the International Tennis Federation