Vergeer had started in wheelchair tennis parallel to wheelchair basketball and played her first international tournament in 1996. Two years later she finally changed the sport. Her first big success was winning the US Open in 1998 , which catapulted her from 15th to 2nd in the world rankings. A year later, she was number 1 in the world rankings for the first time. At the Summer Paralympics 2000 in Sydney , she did not lose a single set and won gold in both singles and doubles with Maaike Smit .
In her career, Esther Vergeer won a total of 169 titles in singles and another 158 in doubles. In singles she won 687 out of 712 games, in doubles she was successful 440 times in 475 games. She has only lost one game since 2001 (against Australian Daniela Di Toro in 2003 ) and her last winning streak lasted 470 games. At the Wheelchair Tennis Masters she won 14 singles and nine doubles.
It was five times for the Laureus World Sports Awards as a disabled athlete of the year nominated and won the award in 2002 and 2008. In the Netherlands, it was 2002, 2003, 2005 to 2008 and 2010 Disabled Athlete of the Year chosen. In February 2013, she announced the end of her career, making her the first wheelchair tennis player to end her career as number 1. During these 668 weeks she was at the top of the world rankings.
Title (selection)
Individual balance at Grand Slam tournaments and the Masters
competition
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
total
Australian Open
N / A
N / A
N / A
N / A
S.
S.
S.
DNS
S.
S.
S.
S.
DNS
S.
S.
9
French Open
N / A
N / A
N / A
N / A
S.
DNS
DNS
S.
S.
S.
S.
S.
S.
S.
S.
9
Wimbledon
N / A
N / A
N / A
N / A
N / A
N / A
N / A
N / A
N / A
N / A
N / A
N / A
N / A
N / A
N / A
N / A
US Open
N / A
N / A
N / A
N / A
S.
S.
DNS
S.
S.
S.
N / A
S.
S.
S.
8th
Masters
S.
S.
S.
S.
S.
S.
S.
S.
S.
S.
S.
S.
S.
S.
14th
Double balance at Grand Slam tournaments and the Masters
Netherlands
