Vink takes Alcott counsel ahead of career Grand Slam bid in Melbourne

Australian sporting legend Dylan Alcott was the guest of honour at the draw for the 2026 Australian Open Wheelchair Championships on Sunday 25 January.

Niels Vink, who attended the ceremony alongside other wheelchair competitors, beamed widely when the topic of his quad semi-final against Alcott at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Wheelchair Tennis Event came up.

Alcott has said repeatedly that his two-and-a-half-hour match against the then 18-year-old Dutch player (Alcott had just turned 30 at the time) was the hardest match of his career.

“I was so close to winning,” recalls Vink. “I had points to go 5-3 up in the final set and Dylan hit a winner down the line. And then it was back to deuce and he won it.

“I don't remember much from that match because it's already years ago. I always enjoyed playing against Dylan but the sad thing is that I never won against him, so that's the only thing that's haunting me.

“That's the only thing he's saying to me, ‘you never beat me’. That will never change.”

It has not prevented an enduring friendship with the pair practising together in recent days ahead of Vink's opening match of the quad singles against Australian wildcard Finn Broadbent.

“Dylan is something else, like a superstar,” said the 23-year-old, who vowed to “destroy” the Aussie in the Australia Day practice session.

And he may well be asking Alcott for advice on how to win in Melbourne given the Aussie claimed seven singles titles there. Vink has seven Grand Slam singles titles in total but is yet to add the Australian Open to his list. If he did, it would complete the career Grand Slam in singles to add to the one he already has in doubles. 

He loves coming to Melbourne, but is at a loss to explain why an Australian Open singles title has proven elusive. 

“I really don't know, this is the one I've been to the most," he said. "Last year, in the final, I was leading the first set and then I lost that set and the second. I don't know why."

Help is possibly at hand though from an unexpected source.

When Vink took part in the opening ceremony, a three-person camera crew was there to capture his every movement.

Thomas Swinkels, Thijs van Oosterhout and Teun de Graaf are students at the Dutch Filmers Academy in Eindhoven and Swinkels has known Vink since they were little.

They stopped playing tennis together when they were 13, but recently got together again after Swinkels came across a photo of them together after winning a competition in Helmond.

The plan behind the documentary, which has its own crowdfunding page, is simple.

“The Australian Open is the Grand Slam that Niels hasn’t won yet," he said. "The drive behind him trying to achieve this goal, combined with his unusual childhood, raises interesting questions,” said Swinkels. “We’ll try to capture the reason for his success.”

The trio, who have set up their own company, called Frameplay Media, have already followed Niels at home in Helmond to try and see the person behind the athlete, as well as at the Emilio Sanchez Academy in Barcelona where he has been preparing for Melbourne. 

All being well, the documentary will be completed by May, with a screening planned in Helmond. 

Vink has lost the singles final twice at the Australian Open in 2023 and 2025, both times to his former doubles partner Sam Schroder.

Should it not happen this year, “blame the film crew” he laughed.

Regardless, it is a public exposure that can only boost wheelchair tennis.

Further information on the 2026 Australian Open Wheelchair Championships is available here.