Esther Vergeer: 'It was fantastic!’

In a beautifully lit Wheelchair Arena, stands and alley ways packed with fans for the finals day on Saturday, together with other innovations, Esther Vergeer, director of the ABN AMRO Open wheelchair tournament, looks back with pride on a memorable edition at Rotterdam Ahoy.

Vergeer, who was also personally celebrated on Saturday for her outstanding contributions to wheelchair tennis, is careful not to take the tournament’s success for granted. "Thanks to the support of ABN AMRO, we can organize a tournament here every year in a unique setting, where we can demonstrate in practice how to create equal opportunities for everyone. The audience can watch the world’s top players compete and gain inspiration to start playing themselves.” The tournament director sees that as a mission: she wants to give young talent opportunities. "For example, I was delighted by the victory of a young talent like Maarten ter Hofte over an experienced player like Daniel Caverzaschi, it’s wonderful to see him develop.” Still, on finals day, the familiar faces: Diede de Groot (29) in the women’s event and Alfie Hewett (28) in the men’s side, claimed the top prizes once again. "Diede and Alfie have set very high standards. You can see it’s difficult for other players to match that level.” One complication is that some top Asian players find it too demanding to fly to Europe for a five-day tournament. Vergeer would also like to give more young players a chance, but she notes that the pool of emerging talent is not overly large.

Data makes an entrance

As a former world champion, Vergeer wants to improve the tournament every year. This year, for the first time, data generated from the wheelchairs was used. Vergeer sees this as just the beginning: "We can do a lot more with data, for example, using Hawkeye-like technology to show how and where players serve most often.” Regarding the setup of the Wheelchair Arena, Vergeer received many compliments. "The lighting, the decor, the whole experience in the Wheelchair Arena, those will certainly stay with me. Just like the build-up we had on finals day in the Wheelchair Arena. It was another fantastic week!”