Golden debut for Schroder and Vink, Tokyo 2020 quad doubles champions
Dutch Paralympic debutants Sam Schroder and Niels Vink were crowned Tokyo 2020 quad doubles champions after denying Rio 2016 gold medallists Dylan Alcott and Heath Davidson the chance to defend their crown.
Schroder, 21, and 18-year-old Vink produced a nerveless performance when it mattered, dealing with a rain delay and a spirited second-set fightback from the Australian duo to close out a 6-4 6-3 victory in two hours, two minutes.
“It’s incredible, I have no words for it – it’s insane, a dream,” said Vink, who just 24 hours earlier had been reduced to tears on the same Centre Court following his singles semi-final loss to Alcott, rebounding in champion fashion alongside Schroder.
“It hasn’t really sunk in, for me at least,” Schroder said immediately after the match. “When we get our medals and the national anthem plays, it will all come out. But until then, just no words. I hope we can find a beer somewhere.”
Victory for Schroder and Vink sees them become the first Dutch quad players to claim a gold medal, and the first Dutchmen to win Paralympic gold since Robin Ammerlaan’s men's singles triumph at Athens 2004.
The match itself was a hard-fought affair befitting a clash between the top two seeds, who had claimed two wins apiece from their previous four encounters.
Alcott and Davidson broke for a 3-2 lead before the Dutch duo responded in kind in the next game, Schroder firing a winner that bisected the Aussies down the centre of the court.
“They blasted winners past us, first and foremost,” Davidson of the difference between the sides. “My ball quality wasn’t quite there tonight, and it just put us under so much pressure. But no excuses, they played much better than us tonight.”
The returning rain prompted a delay as the Centre Court roof was closed, and the set hung in the balance until Alcott was broken in game 10.
When Schroder and Vink broke Davidson’s serve to open up a 3-1 lead, the match was theirs to lose. Alcott and Davidson broke back in game seven, but it was a brief reprieve: Davidson’s serve faltered again in the next game to hand Vink the chance to serve for the title.
“We were better today, so yeah, we deserved the medal,” Schroder said. “If I’m honest, I think our semi-final was the best match we’ve ever played together, but ultimately today we were better than our opponents and that’s all that mattered.”
Schroder and Alcott will be back on court on Thursday to contest the quad singles gold medal match, the Australian looking for back-to-back singles wins against the doubles champions to keep his Golden Slam bid alive ahead of the US Open.
And the 30-year-old paid tribute to the quality of the Dutch duo’s performance, which reminded him of his younger self.
“To be that young and to bring it to us like that is impressive,” he said. “I like to think that’s what I was like as a 17-year-old winning a gold playing wheelchair basketball – I just wanted to smash everyone. They did the same thing – and that’s hard to do.
“We got pumped tonight – no excuses, they were better than us. They deserved it and good on them. Yeah, our level wasn’t there, but win lose or draw, Heath’s my best mate. Medals come and go but our friendship stays forever.”
Bronze went to Japan’s Koji Sugeno and Mitsuteru Moroishi, who survived a marathon encounter that lasted exactly three hours against Great Britain’s Andy Lapthorne and Antony Cotterill.
The home pair claimed Japan’s first ever quad wheelchair tennis Paralympic medal with a 7-5 3-6 7-5 victory as the stadium clock struck 02:02 on Thursday morning, some 15 hours after play began on a rain-soaked day at Ariake Tennis Park. The Tokyo 2020 hosts become the seventh nation to win a medal in the quad division since its introduction at Athens 2004.
With the final match of the day running late into the night, and with Alcott, Schroder, Vink and Sugeno back in action the following day, the quad doubles medal ceremony was postponed until Thursday 2 September.