By anyone’s standards, Niels Vink has been on an impressive upwards trajectory in recent seasons. But as the Dutch 18-year-old begins 2021 with his first Grand Slam appearance on the horizon, it is something he is taking in his stride, despite also appreciating the magnitude of the occasion.

“First of all I’m really happy to play a tournament again because it was a long time ago (since we last played), and also because it will be my first Grand Slam at the Australian Open, in a couple of weeks,” says Vink.

He is one of the 24 players contesting back-to-back tournaments in Craigieburn as a lead-in to the first major of the year. The fact that he will play at Melbourne Park is historic for the sport, not just for Vink, after the Australian Open announced it would be the first Grand Slam to feature an eight-strong quad division draw.

“I found out about the bigger draw size and that I would qualify just over a month ago. It feels amazing,” he adds. “I still can’t believe it. Two years ago I never thought that I would be world No.6 right now and playing my first Grand Slam.”

Indeed, it was only two years ago this week that Vink won the Cruyff Foundation Junior Masters boys’ singles title in Tarbes, France and became world No.1 junior for the first time. Less than six months later he pulled off a stunning victory at the British Open Wheelchair Tennis Championships, winning the quad singles title to earn his first quad singles ranking inside the world’s top eight.

“That was unbelievable, because that was my very first Super Series event” he enthuses. “The goal for that tournament was just to experience how it was at a Super Series tournament and then maybe we would go on and play more Super Series events that year, but the result was very good.

“It’s always been part of the plan to try and qualify for Tokyo, but then I won the British Open and that put me in the top eight and put me well ahead of our plan for where I expected to be” he adds.

While Vink is gearing up for his first Australian Open, it’s not his first trip to Australia. Last year he was set an ambitious plan by his team at the KNLTB to play back-to-back tournaments in Australia before flying back to Europe to try and defend his Junior Masters boys’ singles title, all in a little over two weeks.

“I had two good tournaments in Australia and played Dylan (Alcott) for the first time, then I flew straight back to the Netherlands, had one day at home to wash my clothes and pack my bags before flying to France,” he recalls about his action-packed schedule, that resulted in a second Junior Masters final but no second winners’ trophy.

Due to the pandemic he was only able to play four tournaments in 2020, with two of those ending in losses to world No.1 Alcott, although he did take a set off Alcott in his last match of last season, at the French Riviera Open. Alcott remains the only player of his seven rivals in Australia that Vink has not yet beaten.

His other senior tournament of 2020 ended with Vink finishing runner-up to fellow Dutchman Sam Schroder at the Melbourne Open, which will be the second of the two lead-in tournaments for this year’s Australian Open.

While Schroder went on to crown his 2020 season by winning the US Open quad singles title in September on his Grand Slam debut, Vink briefly acknowledges the possibility of doing the same at Melbourne Park. However, he is nothing if not measured.

“I’m taking it a match at a time. I don’t know if I can win it, but it would be awesome,” he says. “But I will always try to play the best tennis I can and we’ll see what result that brings on the day.”

After negotiating two lockdowns in the Netherlands and the quarantine rules in Australia, meaning that he has spent 19 hours a day in his hotel room for the first two weeks of his stay in Melbourne, there is something entirely apt about the fact that his go-to box set choice in recent weeks has been the US drama Prison Break.

However, a young man who lost both of his legs, fingertips and some areas of skin as a one-year-old after contracting the bacterial infection meningococcal sepsis, will always see the positives.

“On court I am feeling a lot stronger as I was able to do a lot more fitness for my muscles during certain parts of lockdown and that is helping my tennis,” he says.

Niels Vink will play Japan’s Koji Sugeno in the first round of the Victorian Wheelchair Open, with the winner to play Alcott or Schroder in the semi-finals. For full draws, click here. 

LIVESTREAMS. The tournament plans to livestream the last two days of play at the Victorian Wheelchair Open at https://www.facebook.com/HumeTC.

Friday, 5 February from 9am Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST)

Saturday, 6 February from 2pm Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST)