With the European clay court season on the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour in full swing, the latest round of ITF 2 tournaments - three in a week in Turkey and Spain - brought three Dutch winners as Jiske Griffioen and Diede de Groot claimed the women’s singles titles at the Sahin Kirbiyik Open in Antalya and the Barcelona Open, respectively.

Tom Egberink added to the Dutch success in Antalya as he won his first men’s singles title since September 2019, while Argentine world No.2 Gustavo Fernandez joined de Groot in earning a clean sweep for the top seeds in Barcelona as both continue their strong preparations for Roland Garros. On the back of leading Brazil’s successful bid to qualify for the quad event at the 2021 BNP Paribas World Team Cup, Ymanitu Silva earned both quad singles titles in Turkey.

By claiming the women’s title at the Sahin Kirbiyik Open, Rio Paralympic champion Griffioen earned her first singles tournament win since launching her comeback to competitive wheelchair tennis in 2019, having originally announced her retirement in 2017.

“To me this title is very special. I know I’ve won bigger prizes than this, but a comeback after such a long period of not playing is hard,” said Griffioen, whose last title came at the Open de France Super Series in June 2017.

“I was happy to win the (Loughborough Indoor) doubles title in England with Aniek van Koot, because we beat the bronze medal winners of Rio there. But to win a singles title feels even better. To have one title more on my list means a lot to me. And I hope that I will add some more titles to that list.

In early 2020 Griffioen declared that her ‘motivation to play is that I still want to become a better tennis player. So that’s more of a goal for me now than any performance goals like Top 8, or any goal you can set’.

However, with the wheelchair tennis calendar significantly reduced during 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the 14-time singles and doubles Grand Slam champion has reassessed her performance goals.

“My motivation is still the same. I still want to become a better tennis player, but I also realise that I have to build on what I was doing well in the past,” she said. “I don't have to become a totally different player. If I can add just some little things to my game, that is already a great accomplishment. Maybe I wanted to change too much at first. Now I’m back on what my strengths were in the past.

“My goals have changed a little bit. I would love to reach the top eight again, because playing in the Grand Slams is such an amazing opportunity. I will keep fighting to reach that. And I will enjoy every win on that road, because I never thought I would be back on tour and every win is a bonus.”

Reflecting on 2020, she added: “It was a really difficult year. I finally got the guts to turn my life around and (commit to) playing full-time tennis again. And then most tournaments got cancelled. Every month there was another disappointment.

"It took a lot to keep motivated and hesitations about your choice pop into your head. But I’m so happy I kept working. And hopefully we will have a lot of tournaments the rest of this year so I can keep building my game.”

To earn the Sahin Kirbiyik Open title, Griffioen needed to rethink her strategy against Russia’s Viktoriia Lvova, who had beaten the Dutchwoman 6-1 6-3 in the quarter-finals of the Kemal Sahin Open before going on to win the first of the ITF 2 events in Antalya.

That was the first ever meeting between the two players, but come their quarter-final at the Sahin Kirbiyik Open, Griffioen executed her game plan confidently to prevail 6-2 6-2 and end Lvova’s hopes of back-to-back titles.

“What made it hard to start playing tournaments again was that I was playing against so many opponents that I never played before,” said Griffioen. “In Ile de Re in 2020 there was (Manami) Tanaka and (Nalani) Buob. At the French Riviera Open I played (Momoko) Othani and (Dana) Mathewson for the first time. And in Turkey it was Lvova.

“I feel like they know me and my game very well, but I didn't really know what to expect from them. This was the same when I played Viktoriia in the first ITF 2,” she continued. ”Viktoriia had improved a lot compared to the last time I saw her play. And I struggled big time with playing on clay and playing outdoors with the wind. I paid too much attention to what she was doing, and not enough attention on what I should be doing.

“After the first tournament I changed my tactics,” Griffioen added. “I knew I could do better and was happy that I had the chance to play her again. With these changes my level of play was closer to my level I reach in training, and then your confidence grows.”

Griffioen’s confidence has grown significantly since last month’s Kros Medical Open in Antalya, which came on the back of a Dutch performance camp in Turkey. Griffioen lost in the opening round of the ITF 3 event to Turkey’s Busra Un. Reflecting on the progress she is making, Griffioen said:

“When I decided to make a (full-time) comeback most tournaments were cancelled for the rest of the year. I have spent a lot of time on the practice court, but what I needed most was playing matches. In Turkey I struggled to find my rhythm. Before my retirement I played on hard courts 90 per cent of the year. Now I was back playing on clay, which I find difficult, and playing outdoors with a lot of wind was hard, too.

“I needed more matches but kept losing early in tournaments,” added Griffioen, who has returned to the Top 20 this week, following her Sahin Kirbiyik Open victory. “What didn't help was that in six tournaments my doubles partner cancelled. That would have meant playing a lot more matches and that would have helped me to gain confidence. If I would have played more matches in doubles, I probably would have found my game and my strengths earlier. What helped me the most is to have more tournaments in a short period of time.”

Egberink ends Oda’s 35-match unbeaten sequence

While Griffioen turned her fortunes around against Lvova during the ITF 2 events in Antalya, countryman Egberink did the same against world No.1 junior Tokito Oda as he earned his first men’s singles title since the SA Spring Open in South Africa in September 2019.

After a 6-3 7-6(3) loss to 15-year-old Oda in the final of the Kemal Sahin Open, where the young Japanese star won his first senior ITF 2 title, world No.8 and top seed Egberink ended Oda’s 35-match winning streak for the season when claiming their Sahin Kirbiyik Open final 6-4 6-2.

The latter event brought Oda’s only defeat after winning four men’s singles titles and five junior singles titles in Turkey since mid-April, becoming wheelchair tennis's youngest ever junior boys' singles world No.1 in the process. For Egberink it brought a welcome addition to his trophy cabinet after a difficult few seasons with injuries and surgeries.  

“I’m very pleased with this win, especially after my last surgery last year, and all the hard work I have put in since,” said Egberink. “Everyone in the team helped me very well and the COVID-19 period gave me the chance to keep (focussing on) the long process and not come back in a hurry. So, for Tokyo, I’m totally ready and hope to keep this injury-free for a long time.

"Oda is new (to me) and I saw some of his matches, so in the first set against him in the first tournament I was struggling with the different type of style,” added Egberink. “In the second set I was playing better and it gave me five set points, but I didn’t take them - maybe due to some nerves in my first singles final after a while.

“In the second final I knew more what to expect, but it was very windy. I was 4-2 down and then I started to play better and smarter and that gave me the 6-4 6-2 win. So I’m very happy with this title after a long time. Now I’ll be getting ready to play more and get ready for some big matches.”