De Groot: I am not as dominant as I was, but that is good for the game
While Dutch powerhouse Diede de Groot has not been as dominant in recent years since a spell away from the game, she admits the variety in champions is refreshing for the sport.
Such a statement will not come easy for a serial winner like De Groot – and she reveals it has been a little dent to her ego – especially when reflecting on the scale of her achievements to date.
For context, De Groot took an eight-month sabbatical from wheelchair tennis following hip surgery after the Paris 2024 Paralympic Wheelchair Tennis Event, where she lost to Japan’s Yui Kamiji in the gold medal match.
Prior to this, De Groot had won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, including 15 in succession, while she also chalked up an astonishing 145-match winning streak between 2021 and 2024.
Since returning to the sport – a period in which she has also struggled with a shoulder injury – De Groot has claimed just one Grand Slam title which came at Roland Garros earlier this year. No mean feat, but she has not been as prolific as before.
“I feel like now I know I can lose, and my opponents know they can win,” said De Groot. “That's the main difference. There are four or five of us that can now win a tournament, and that is really different to how it was before.
“I think I won some of my matches previously just on confidence and before the matches even started, simply because I was not losing. That is completely different now and it is good. It is healthy and good for the sport not to have one dominant player.
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“If you look at the men’s draw here. Carlos [Alcaraz] was here but we did not know his form and Jannik [Sinner] was not here, so anyone can win. It makes people more invested in their favourite players because they know they have a chance.
“That’s true also for us in wheelchair tennis. When I came back, I spoke more about how I struggled sometimes and because of that it is only natural that my opponents feel they now have more of a chance than before.”
De Groot will later today face France’s Ksenia Chasteau, a player she beat in the women’s singles final at Roland Garros, for a place in the US Open final She is one victory away from a place in her fourth successive Grand Slam final.
So, for all the talk of a lack of dominance, De Groot’s form has hardly fallen off a cliff. In short, she is not far away from adding further Grand Slam silverware to her ever-expanding trophy haul.
“I have been in all three previous Grand Slam finals this year and I am already very, very happy with this year,” added De Groot. “I can be really proud of myself for being so consistent and hopefully I can do well in the semi-finals here.
“As well, I think it comes down to the mental part of the game and believing in my shots. In training, I am better now than I was before the break but, in matches, I am not better than I was.
“I feel like I am hitting bigger shots and there is more variety in my serve in training, so now it is down to implementing that in matches. I have to trust my game a little bit more.”
A full list of results from the 2026 US Open Wheelchair Championships can be found here