De Groot delivers Paralympic gold against home hope Kamiji
Diede De Groot saved her best for last at Tokyo 2020, the world No. 1 underscoring her status as the leading player of her generation by winning her first Paralympic gold medal with a 6-3 7-6(1) victory over Japan’s world No. 2, Yui Kamiji.
It is the first singles gold of the 24-year-old Dutchwoman’s career, extending the nation’s unbroken streak of producing every Paralympic women’s wheelchair tennis singles champion since it was introduced as a medal sport at Barcelona 1992.
For De Groot, there is more history to be made, both in Tokyo – where she and Aniek van Koot can extend the Netherlands’ unblemished champions’ streak in that event against Great Britain’s Jordanne Whiley and Lucy Shuker – and beyond, with the US Open now the one title she needs to complete an unprecedented wheelchair tennis calendar Golden Slam.
“It’s funny how most of the time after a match, you don’t really remember the last point,” she told the press as a slow-motion replay of her winning shot glowed on a monitor in the mixed zone. “I think for most of the match I played well, but there were also some moments I was a little bit less aggressive. But that last point seemed like I was really trying to get it.
“Let’s just first say, there was so much pressure on me this whole week, and I think just managing that, playing match-for-match, not thinking ahead, trying to control my emotions, trying to be fierce, I’m just so proud of myself.”
Kamiji, who lit the Paralympic Cauldron to open these Games, can take more than the consolation of a silver medal from this performance, which produced arguably the finest women’s singles match of the tournament. The 27-year-old is the first woman to win a Paralympic singles medal at a home Games, and had created history as the first non-Dutch woman to contest a singles final.
She adds her second medal to the singles bronze she won against De Groot at Rio 2016, with the chance to win a third in the women’s doubles bronze medal match with Momoko Ohtani against Chinese pair Wang Ziying and Zhu Zhenzhen.
“It’s too bad that it wasn’t gold, and I really wanted to show the people who rooted for me the gold medal. But today’s performance I was able to use the things that I tried in my practice, but I didn’t have enough to beat De Groot.
“It’s too bad that it wasn’t gold, and I really wanted to show the people who rooted for me the gold medal,” said Kamiji, who prior to the match had teased a few tricks she planned to employ to keep De Groot guessing. “In today’s performance I was able to use the things that I tried in my practice, but I didn’t have enough to beat her.”
Kamiji did not go down without a fight. As the end seemed nigh, the world No. 2 saved two match points with De Groot serving for the match at 5-3, and four more in the next game, the world No. 1 determined to end the match on a winner that failed to find its mark.
Reprieved, Kamiji broke again and had the chance to serve for a third set. But when De Groot broke back to earn a tiebreak she never looked back, surging to a quite brilliant victory sealed with a forehand winner down the line on her seventh match point.
“I think Yui and myself, we’ve both been trying to up the game, and I think in this final – hitting winners, playing good serves – neither of us let ourselves down. I think we both set the standard.”
Mission accomplished as Whiley takes singles bronze at Tokyo 2020
Jordanne Whiley made good on her mission to end her career with a Paralympic singles medal from Tokyo 2020, winning a rollercoaster encounter with Aniek van Koot 6-4 6-7(7) 6-4.
The No. 4 seed saw a match point come and go in the second-set tiebreak before leading then trailing by a break in the decider. But having levelled at 4-4, she doubled down with her attacking game to break once more and seal an emotional victory in two hours, 35 minutes.
With that, Whiley becomes the first British woman to win a Paralympic singles medal. The 29-year-old has long targeted a singles medal since her return to the sport following the birth of her son Jackson, and has achieved her dream at what will be the final Games appearance of her career before her impending retirement.
“I literally just said to myself at the end, I did it,” Whiley said. “It’s not gold, but for me this feels like gold because I’ve never done this before. With everything that’s happened in the last two years – come back, had a baby, struggled with getting back to fitness – I’m really proud of myself. Honestly, this is the happiest I’ve ever been in my life.”
With a second medal in Tokyo guaranteed for both players after they meet in Saturday’s doubles gold medal match, Whiley joins Dutchwomen Maaike Smit, Monique van den Bosch and Chantal Vandierendonck in fourth position on the list of most decorated women’s wheelchair tennis Paralympians, behind the five medals won by Jiske Griffioen and van Koot – guaranteed her fifth in Saturday’s doubles final – and the eight claimed by Esther Vergeer.
Such accolades rarely come easy. Van Koot made Whiley work for every point in a cagey match, both players returning well to put pressure on the server, which led to a combined 25 double faults. Whiley was the aggressor for the most part, firing 53 winners, including six aces, to the Dutchwoman’s 32, but making 50 unforced errors into the bargain.
Whiley produced the telling hold when it mattered but van Koot responded early in the second set, opening a 4-1 lead that disappeared as quickly as it had been established. The tiebreak was a microcosm of the match, see-sawing in favour of both players, Whiley netting a backhand on match point at 7-6 in the tiebreak.
The No. 4 seed later admitted she thought her chance of reaching the podium had come and gone when the match went to a third set.
“That match could have gone either way, and I just kept fighting,” she said. “I had a small injury in my leg, which is ironic playing wheelchair tennis, and I honestly thought I was going down. But I just kept telling myself to keep fighting for every point, because you just don’t know in tennis. You’ve got to fight until the last point, and that’s what I did.”
In keeping with the ebbs and flows of an increasingly tense match, both players held and sacrificed final-set leads before Whiley broke van Koot serving to stay in the match, covering her face in disbelief when the final ball fell dead.
“She gave me everything today, and I think both of us left everything out on the court,” Whiley said of van Koot, who was emotional in the aftermath but vowed to be ready for Sunday’s doubles showdown alongside Diede De Groot.
“If I had to be ready in an hour, I’d be ready,” van Koot said. “I made a commitment to my partner, that’s all there is to it.”
Whiley will be there too, alongside Lucy Shuker as both bid for their first doubles gold medal. There will also be a little bit of Yui Kamiji, Whiley’s regular doubles partner, with her on court, the Briton revealed.
“I have a little smiley face on my leg that Yui drew for me, so she can stay with me in the match, to keep me happy,” she said. “And I’m going to keep it on there if I can.”