Dream team Diede de Groot and Aniek van Koot on their golden partnership

Diede de Groot and Aniek van Koot are both teammates and rivals in wheelchair tennis. At the European Para Championships in Rotterdam, Netherlands, the Dutch pair faced off in an exciting women’s singles final and returned to the court a few hours later to compete together in the doubles.  

“I would say we’re sort of used to it. We play singles against each other. We’re teammates and we play doubles together,” said de Groot, the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics women’s singles champion. 

“We always give each other a little bit more time after the match. But then before the match, we’re back on it. We’re together, we have teamwork. That’s how we do it.” 

Their partnership goes back about five years – together, they have topped the podium at Tokyo 2020 and won 13 Grand Slam titles.  

And they added another gold medal to their collection in August 2023, dominating the women's doubles final against Great Britain’s Cornelia Oosthuizen and Lucy Shuker in Rotterdam to claim the title in front of their home fans. 

Key to doubles success 

When they take to the court, it is a display of great teamwork. They defeated the British duo 6-1, 6-1 at an outdoor court in the city centre, where their friends and family also had the chance to follow their campaign. 

“The secret in doubles? I think it’s good communication, and that we can smile and have fun. So if you make a mistake, you’re not as harsh on each other,” said van Koot. 

 
“Obviously when you’re playing against each other, it’s a battle. Sometimes you play against each other. And then after an hour, you play with each other. 

“It is sometimes quite difficult, but in doubles, you always aim for the same goal – you want to win. So you could put everything past you and you just go for it.” 

Before their doubles final, de Groot pulled off a 6-3, 6-1 victory over van Koot to become the first-ever women’s singles champion at the European Para Championships. De Groot has not lost a singles match since February 2021, and celebrated her 100th straight victory at the French Open in July.  

“We try to call every ball even though it’s very obvious that the other one is going to hit it, we still say ‘you’ or ‘me’. And I think that’s how we try to go at it because communication is important,” de Groot explained. 

“I don’t know about any secrets, but I think the movement is very important because it's the two of you. So you can cover the court really well – make sure the opponent cannot hit a winner because then the rally keeps going. And that’s what is mainly very fun about doubles.” 

Different strengths 

De Groot said that there were challenges when she started working together with van Koot because they played different styles of tennis.  

“Aniek and I, we really had to work through our different game styles a little bit. But I think they met really well together,” said de Groot.

“We’ve played five years (together) now. So that’s very interesting and we are going to play together at the Paralympic Games again so we’re going to be on top.” 

Dutch domination 

At the European Para Championships, the hosts captured all six gold medals up for grabs in wheelchair tennis. Niels Vink topped the podium in the quad singles as well as the quad doubles with Sam Schroder, while Ruben Spaargaren also took double gold medals in the men’s singles and doubles. 

Dutch domination is also a long tradition at the Paralympic Games – Netherlands have topped the medals table in wheelchair tennis since the sport made its Games debut at Barcelona 1992, led by the legendary Esther Vergeer, who won 21 Grand Slam titles and four Paralympic gold medals in women’s singles. 

How do the Dutch do it?  

“The secret is probably that the country is so small,” van Koot said.  

“If we all decide to train in Utrecht, for example, the centre of Holland, no one has to drive further than an hour. It’s just so small. 

“And we have some people that are really into coaching and bringing tennis to a higher level. That’s one thing and obviously we have the sports foundations and the tennis foundation that are behind us and want us to do really well so they support us.” 

Next stop: New York 

Before the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games open on 28 August next year, there are a number of competitions on the sports calendar. Their next stop will be the final Grand Slam of the year, the US Open, which takes place from 22 August to 10 September in New York. 

“It’s crazy how I’m doing. The year is not finished yet, so I don’t like to celebrate yet. But I’m so proud of myself for keeping the moment, not letting my opponents feel like somehow I slowed down so I’m just really happy,” added de Groot. 

Meanwhile Van Koot said she will take some time off to recharge before returning to the tennis court. 

“One week of absolutely nothing and then obviously training hard toward the US Open,” she said about her plans. “I’m pretty good at switching off. And switching back on will be just like setting your timer because in the end, it’s the thing that I love most." 

“Tennis is such a beautiful sport and I’ve been doing it for so long. But I still enjoy it. Actually I enjoy it much more than I did five years ago.”  

Follow all the action in all 10 sports being contested in Rotterdam on the European Para Championships website .