The Queen of Wheelchair Tennis: Esther Vergeer

posted on Sep 13 by Admin in the Advocacy, Fun, Interesting Links, Paralympics, Wheelchair Sports category

There is no doubt that you have heard of the legendary athletes like Tiger Woods or Rodger Federer, but have you heard of Esther Vergeer?  She is a 29 year old woman from the Netherlands who is also renowned in her sport, but most people might not have heard of her.   She is the Number 1 ranked woman’s wheelchair tennis player in the world, and ohh yeah; she has not lost a match since 2003.

Esther Vergeer was 8 years old when she had complications from a risky surgical procedure involving a spinal defect.  She wound up losing the use of her legs, although the procedure saved her life.  Vergeer was a great athlete even very young and not only played tennis but basketball as well.  However, after a few years she had to make a tough decision and decide which sport she was going to concentrate on.  With Esther’s determination and discipline, she chooses to continue with tennis, as it was not a team sport and she would not have to rely on other people that might not have her level of determination.  Marc Kalkman, the national coach for the wheelchair players in the Royal Dutch Tennis Association, was one of Vergeer’s advisors on this decision.  Kalkman has known Vergeer since she was 12 years old.

“When I became paralyzed, I wanted to show the world that I was still Esther, and I didn’t want people to see the disability.” She said. “So I was just trying to find something that I would be good at so that people would recognize that instead of the disability.”  And this she has done as she has won 395 matches in a row and 10 consecutive world titles.  In her career she has a 96% win rate in her singles matches.  Rodger Federer has a win rate of 81% and Tiger Woods as the top golfer for 270 weeks (little over 5 years) in a row.   Vergeer is also being compared to Michael Phelps, the swimmer that won 8 gold medals in the 2008 Olympics.

Vergeer has had her share of ups and downs as she was losing in the finals of the 2008 Paralympic games.  She was able to brush everything off, center herself and come back from match point to win the gold, taking home her 3^rd Olympic singles medal.  Vergeer has her eyes set on another gold medal at the London Games in 2012.

Although tennis has been around for a while, wheelchair tennis is fairly young as it was born in the late 1970’s in California.  Brad Parks and Jeff Minnenbraker were promoting wheelchair tennis with just a simply rules change.  The tennis ball could bounce 2 times as long as the initial bounce was inbounds.  Players of wheelchair tennis use the same equipment as traditional players except of course for the wheelchairs.  The wheelchairs are however not traditional wheelchairs as they have 2 wheels in the front for stability and 2 wheels on the sides at 60 degree angles which allows for faster and better ability to change direction.  Additionally, there is 1 last wheel in the back to prevent players from injury while tossing the ball to serve.  Also, the wheelchairs are made out of titanium and therefore lighter and highly pressurized wheels allow for a smoother ride.