ITF World Summer 2022 21
NIELS VINK INTERVIEW
ITF World Winter 2022/23 21
After playing his first two ITF
junior wheelchair tournaments in
2016, Vink won 15 singles titles and
13 doubles titles in the quad division
before the onset of the Covid-19
pandemic in 2020.
With the pandemic causing the
postponement of the Tokyo
Paralympics, Vink arrived at the
rearranged Games having already
won five singles titles and six doubles
titles in 2021 and went on to clinch
the quad singles bronze medal and
the quad doubles gold medal with
partner Sam Schroder. He ended
2021 by winning the NEC Singles
Masters and ITF Wheelchair Doubles
Master titles – the latter again with
Schroder.
"It's crazy, if you think about it,
that 10 years ago I didn't even know
that wheelchair tennis existed and
now I'm world No. 1, a Paralympic
gold and bronze medallist, and a
Masters champion… It's incredible,
it's a dream that came true,"
declared Vink.
For the Helmond native things have
happened so quickly that he can't
remember the year nor the venue
where he first met Schroder, the
23-year-old countryman who is
now his biggest rival in quad
singles competition and his
greatest ally in doubles. But he
does remember the occasion.
"We first met at a Christmas and
New Year fun tournament where
a wheelchair player plays with an
able-bodied person," said Vink. "Sam
played with his dad and I played
with my dad. Of course, at the time,
I didn't know who Sam was and I
didn't know we would go on to win
Paralympic gold and so many other
tournaments together."
While their first meeting came in
that fun and relaxed environment,
things are now far more serious.
"Sam is mentally very strong and
in a match he is really consistent.
I'm more aggressive on the court
and want to make points and make
winners," said Vink as he considered
the relative strengths that make
them the current dominant force
in the quad game.
This is something relatively new for
the Netherlands. Although the Dutch
have a long history in wheelchair
Clockwise from
top le :
With his first
Grand Slam trophy
at 2022 Roland
Garros; winning the
2021 NEC Singles
Masters; Vink won
quad doubles gold
with countryman
and rival Sam
Schroder at Tokyo
2020; in ac on
for Netherlands
at the 2022 BNP
Paribas World Team
Cup; celebra ng
his Roland Garros
victory with friends
and family
Congratulations
to all the 2022 ITF
World Champions.
The full roll of honour is:
Iga Swiatek (POL)
Rafael Nadal (ESP)
Barbora Krejcikova (CZE)
and Katerina Siniakova (CZE)
Rajeev Ram (USA)
and Joe Salisbury (GBR)
Lucie Havlickova (CZE)
Gilles Bailly (BEL)
Diede de Groot (NED)
Shingo Kunieda (JPN)
Niels Vink (NED)
Click on each player's
name for more about their
outstanding years.
The winners will be honoured
at the ITF World Champions
Awards, which move from Paris
to London this year and will be
held at the Victoria and Albert
Museum during Wimbledon.
tennis, they're more used to being
dominant in the women's open
division than the quad division,
which is for athletes affected in three
or more limbs.
"As players we have a game plan for
each opponent and I have a game
plan for playing against Sam. I just
try my best to complete the game
plan. Sometimes it will work and
sometimes you don't have your
day," he added, with no hint of
giving away his game plan for facing
Schroder, having beaten the world
No. 2 in five of the eight matches
they contested last season.
"In 2022, every final I played, except
for Sardinia and Barcelona, I played
against Sam. So, we've played a lot
of matches against each other and
we make each other better because
of that. And we're both very young
so we can still both improve."
Vink and Schroder won two Grand
Slam singles titles apiece last year,
and Vink faced Schroder in three
Grand Slam finals. Vink defeated his
countryman to claim his first Grand
Slam singles title at Roland Garros
on his favourite clay surface, and also
triumphed in New York, but lost to
Schroder in the Wimbledon final.
Vink believes he played his "worst
match in two years" when the two
Dutchmen met in front of a home
crowd in the NEC Singles Masters
final in Oss in November, with
Schroder winning 6-3 6-0 at the
season-ending championships. A
day earlier they teamed up to win
their second successive Doubles
Masters title together.
Aside from that singles result
reinforcing Vink's assertion that his
mental strength is the main aspect
he wants to improve in 2023, the
outcome in Oss also confirms how
close the Vink-Schroder rivalry is,
as the new season starts.
Schroder's Singles Masters victory
left him just nine ranking points
behind Vink, while they finished the
year with the same doubles ranking
point totals, with Schroder earning
the year-end No. 1 doubles spot by
virtue of having accrued his points
from playing two tournaments fewer
than Vink.
Wheelchair players are far more used
to playing singles matches against
each other and doubles matches
with each other than many non-
disabled pros. It's a situation that
Vink largely takes in his stride.
"I still find that really weird
sometimes, if we play the singles
and doubles final on the same day,
but I have to deal with it," said Vink.
"I much prefer if we play the doubles
final on a Saturday and the singles
final on the Sunday.
"We only played singles and
doubles finals on the same day
once in 2022 and that was at
Wimbledon. I lost the singles final
and then four hours later we were
back on court for doubles. After the
singles final I needed some time for
myself, but then half an hour before
doubles we were sitting together
and talking about the game plan
for that final."
There will surely be plenty more
game plans to mull over in 2023,
both as opponents and doubles
partners, with Vink versus Schroder
promising to match any of the
greatest tennis rivalries. n
