Imperious is as good a word as any to describe Diede de Groot’s 2019 campaign, during which she dazzled on the biggest of stages and dominated the women’s wheelchair game. It came as very little surprise that, for the second year running, De Groot was named Women’s Wheelchair ITF World Champion.

De Groot was simply ruthless and the narrative of her season emanated from the Grand Slams as she won three of the four on offer, completed her career Grand Slam and became the first wheelchair player to complete a non-calendar year Grand Slam.

Such headlines were created by her lifting silverware at Roland Garros – the first time she had done so in singles on the clay of Paris – as she comfortably dispatched Japan’s Yui Kamiji in the final.

Kamiji was also De Groot’s victim in the final of the Australian Open in January and September’s US Open, while the 23-year-old was only denied a calendar-year Grand Slam by compatriot Aniek van Koot, who crashed her Wimbledon party in a three-set final.

Aside from her Grand Slam joy, De Groot scooped six other singles titles, which included the retention of her NEC Wheelchair Singles Masters crown in Orlando in November, and returned a 45-4 match record across the campaign.

It was a glory-filled year across the board and a calendar-year Grand Slam was forthcoming in doubles as De Groot and Van Koot joined forces and proved themselves an impenetrable pairing.

De Groot, together with Van Koot, claimed another six titles outside of the Grand Slams, while the former scooped a fourth World Team Cup gold medal in the colours of Netherlands in May.

It came as little shock that De Groot topped the 2019 year-end UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour world rankings in both singles and doubles.

"2019 was very special for me,” said De Groot. “By winning Roland Garros for the first time, I completed the career Grand Slam, winning all four majors in a row. Besides many good results, it was a year where I learnt a lot of new things. I'm excited for 2020."