MADRID, Spain— Diede de Groot (NED), one of the stars of Team Yonex, has won a 2024 Laureus World Sports Award in recognition of her remarkable and historic achievements in wheelchair tennis.
At a ceremony in Madrid, the Dutchwoman was named as Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability for the first time. Revered as one of the greatest and most iconic tennis players of all time, De Groot won four major singles titles in 2023, becoming the first player to complete three successive calendar year Grand Slams. The first of those, in 2021, saw her become the first wheelchair player in history to achieve a Golden Slam. De Groot was unplayable and undefeated in 2023, when she won all of her 53 singles matches, continuing a winning streak that began in 2021.
“Since I was a little girl, tennis gave me the biggest smile on my face. When I was a teenager, it gave me a different path to follow and suddenly tennis became my job. And it was only recently that wheelchair tennis gave me a different insight, that it was actually a very special journey," De Groot said in Madrid.
“It gave me the chance to improve on myself every day and inspire so many people throughout the whole world. This award is a motivator and also a reminder that with the biggest smile on my face, I can do anything and so can all the other little Diedes out there on their own journey.”
De Groot’s success at the 2024 Australian Open took her to a record-equaling 21 Grand Slam singles titles. She will have the chance at Roland-Garros to make the record her own.
Marketa Vondrousova (CZE), another Team Yonex star and the 2023 Wimbledon women’s singles champion, was nominated for the Laureus World Comeback of the Year Award.
