De Groot, Kunieda win singles titles at Roland Garros
Diede de Groot and Shingo Kunieda both added to their ever-increasing Grand Slam singles title hauls following victories against Yui Kamiji and Gustavo Fernandez, respectively, in the Roland Garros wheelchair singles finals on Saturday.
World No. 1 De Groot recorded a 6-4 6-1 victory over Kamiji in one hour and 13 minutes in the first-ever wheelchair singles final to take place on Court Philippe Chatrier. The win saw De Groot claim her sixth consecutive Grand Slam title, as well as extend a winning streak to 41 matches – not even Iga Swiatek, also a winner on Saturday, can match that run of excellence.
Meanwhile, Kunieda survived a rollercoaster of a match against Fernandez, with the momentum continually shifting throughout an epic encounter – but the Japanese world No. 2 eventually ended a 6-2 5-7 7-5 winner after two hours and 41 minutes on Court 14. Kunieda is now on his own winning streak of three consecutive Grand Slam titles, having also lifted the winner’s trophies at the US Open last year and the Australian Open this year.
Despite the incredible levels of success that this pair champions have enjoyed already in recent months, De Groot and Kunieda both expressed a desire to keep working so that more titles would come their way.
“I think what motivates me in finding a new way is that I know that my rivals are doing the same thing for me,” De Groot explained. “So I know that they are trying to keep improving themselves to basically chase me or beat me, and I have to do the same in order to stay on top.”
She will take some stopping. Winning six straight Grand Slam singles titles is something that only two other wheelchair tennis players have ever managed – the great Esther Vergeer and her fellow champion this week, Kunieda.
But even though her title count is rapidly climbing, De Groot insisted that she was not thinking in terms of chasing Vergeer’s all-time records.
“Definitely not, it actually frightens me a little bit,” she said when asked whether she compared herself to her compatriot. “I don't think I should be chasing her records. I think that will only make you very nervous. Like, what if my career stops and I only have 20 and she's got 21? Then it's like I'm a failure. She was one of the best players I think that ever existed, and I'm just me.”
In the men’s game, Kunieda already sits at the top of the pile – but even he is prone to moments of doubt. Although he had won this title seven times before (as well as 26 Grand Slam singles titles in total prior to this tournament), he confessed after Saturday’s final that he was unsure whether he would ever win in Paris again.
“Yeah, Gustavo is king of clay, and Alfie [Hewett] is also very good on clay,” he said. “Many times I couldn't win anymore here, I thought.”
He has achieved so much in his glittering career that it seems churlish to pick at things he has not achieved. But, as the tour moves on from the French capital after this weekend, Kunieda’s focus will surely be on capturing the one Grand Slam singles title that has so far eluded him.
“Of course, Wimbledon is last one,” he said “I couldn't get title there. So, yeah, I wish very, very much to win there. I will prepare for that with everything in my power.”
It will indeed be fascinating to see if De Groot and Kunieda can maintain their Grand Slam streaks at SW19 next month. The rest of the field, led by Kamiji and Fernandez, will be ever-more determined to ensure that they are not able to do so.
A rainy afternoon in Paris saw the three remaining matches postponed to Sunday – two of them at the most crucial moments. In the quad singles final, Niels Vink won the first set against Sam Schroder before the match was halted with Schroder leading 2-0 in the second-set tiebreak.
The women’s doubles final, between De Groot and Aniek van Koot, and Kamiji and Kgothatso Montjane, was rained off at 4-4 in the match tiebreak. And the men’s doubles final, which will see Fernandez and Kunieda team up to play the Brits Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid, did not make it on court.
Those 10 players will return to conclude the wheelchair tournament on Sunday.