Oda completes four-timer as De Groot, Vink regain Roland Garros titles

At a Roland Garros remarkable for stunning upsets, the triumphant champions in the wheelchair divisions restored a sense of familiarity to the presentation ceremonies.

But as exceptional as Diede De Groot and Niels Vink, in particular, have been in their careers, Saturday was an emotional day for both Dutch stars given recent adversities.

De Groot, who ended rising star Ksenia Chasteau’s hopes of becoming the first French woman to win a major wheelchair title with a 6-1 6-0 victory, was ecstatic after her triumph. Her compatriot Vink was also thrilled after denying Ahmet Kaplan’s bid to become the first player from Turkey to win a major in any discipline with a 6-3 6-4 victory in the quad singles.

The duo were later joined as 2026 Roland Garros champions by Japanese sensation Tokito Oda, whose dominance in Paris continued with a fine 6-3 6-3 win over Alfie Hewett.

De Groot now has 24 major singles titles but her most recent major championship had been at Wimbledon in 2024 and she was the No.4 seed at Roland Garros this year.

For a player with such an exceptional resume, the record-breaker’s dominance had diminished due to injuries including hip and shoulder issues over the past two years.

As the Dutch icon, who won 145 matches in succession between 2021 and 2024, explained after joining Shingo Kunieda and Esther Vergeer as the winner of at least six Roland Garros wheelchair championships, doubt had crept into her mind given the challenges.

“My past year has been so difficult. I have had so many injuries and then I pushed so hard to get to that Australian Open final,” she said.

“But my shoulder, it was giving up on me and I really struggled throughout the whole season on hard court, and then my first match (back was) playing in Rome, so only three weeks ago after that Australian Open final.

“It feels a little bit surreal. That's why it's so special that I actually managed to win it. I'm mainly just really, really happy that I was able to enjoy it. I didn't think about winning or losing. All I was thinking was, ‘Okay. I'm gonna play … like how I'm training, and I'm going to enjoy it. I'm going to work for every shot.’ It came off, so, yeah, I'm happy.”

The 29-year-old, who embraced the crestfallen Chasteau at the net and told her rival that her time would come, touched on the ITF Wheelchair Hall of Champions initiative celebrating 50 years of the sport as another reason this success will be a memorable one.

“It's a funny feeling. I'm still playing. I don't feel like a legend yet and I would never call myself that, anyway,” she said. “But just knowing that you're part of something very special, warms my heart.”

Vink, meanwhile, now holds all four major championships after an exceptional 12 months in Grand Slams that began a third straight Wimbledon title last July.

But the right-hander, who partnered Guy Sasson to win the Roland Garros quad doubles on Friday, had not won the singles championship at the clay court championship since 2023. And, in recent months, he had found himself in such a funk he pondered not coming to Paris.

“It is really special (because) there was a difficult time for me. When I was on the plane from Barcelona to here, honestly, I didn't want to go because I was not feeling good mentally,” he said.“Honestly, I don't know why I was struggling, but … from the last few months on the court I'm not feeling myself and I was enjoying more things outside of the court.

“In Barcelona, it didn't go well. In Munich, it didn't go well. In Japan, I was becoming myself a little bit more. But in Barcelona it was terrible, because normally it's one of my favourite tournaments, but I didn't want to be there.

“So I thought, ‘Oh. Roland Garros. I want to go home.’ But luckily, I could change my mind (and) here I am with the title.”

It was not just the sizzling shot-making of Kaplan that Vink, whose family left the Netherlands at 4.30am on Saturday to travel to Roland Garros for the final, had to overcome. The pair were also forced to regroup after rain interrupted the final twice in the opening set.

Having completed a career Golden Slam in Melbourne earlier this year, when winning his first Australian Open, Vink has now won both majors in 2026 and hopes to further the streak.

“Of course, my dream is to do it all in one year and right now I'm two out of four. (There are) two more to go, so hopefully I can achieve it,” he said.

Oda, who overcame a 3-0 deficit in the second set against Hewett to claim his fourth straight title in Paris, was planning to celebrate with his team on Saturday night.

“I turned 20 last month, so finally I can open champagne right now. Definitely we're going to open champagne with my team,” he said.

“I feel like I cannot miss this (tournament) forever because … it's always a different feeling when I come to Paris. I am definitely feeling like I cannot miss here. I know how to play here. I feel like I made it.”