ROLAND GARROS

June 8, 2024

Diede De Groot

Press Conference

D. de GROOT/Z. Zhenzhen

4-6, 6-2, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Congratulations on such a great performance here at Roland Garros. Fourth consecutive title here. Can you speak a bit about the key of your consistency here.

DIEDE de GROOT: I always like the clay as sort of a challenge. It's a little bit more difficult for us in comparison with hard court. But I always love the feeling that over here I can invite all of my family. It feels almost like a home tournament.

Yeah, it gives good feelings.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Congratulations. You were playing Zhenzhen who was playing in her first Grand Slam singles final. Regardless of the draw, anyone playing their first slam final could very easily shrink and be overwhelmed by the occasion. She actually said after the match that there was this kind of mysterious magical quality in playing in her first final on Philippe Chatrier. Were you able to feel that energy coming her way, especially considering she took the first set and it was a tough battle out there?

DIEDE de GROOT: So beforehand, I already expected that she was going to give her all. As much as she might be a little bit surprised, I wasn't surprised. She's mentally very tough, and I knew she was not going to be fazed about anything. I really knew I had to expect the best of her, which was maybe why I started off a little bit slow.

But, yeah, she did so well considering it's her first final. So, yeah, she can be really proud of herself.

Q. You've reached 22 single slams now, surpassing Esther. What does that mean to you to surpass someone who's so inspirational in wheelchair tennis but also from your country? What it means to you.

DIEDE de GROOT: Of course I'm really proud to now have this record be mine, but at the same time, I know the conditions when Esther played. She couldn't play singles at Wimbledon, a lot of the Grand Slams weren't even called Grand Slams yet. So it's really not much of a comparison.

Of course I'm really proud of myself, but I'm mainly just proud of myself for keeping it up like this. But for me, Esther will always have this legacy where for such a long time, like, 470 matches, I managed to do 150, and I didn't keep it, but she did 470. That's how good she was.

So yes, I have this record, and I'm super proud of myself, but for me, Esther, I mean, we could be together at the top. I feel like it's more together instead of which one is better.

Q. You mentioned that winning streak being broken last month. How tough mentally was it for you to bounce back from that? How impressive is it to bounce back and then win here?

DIEDE de GROOT: Yeah, it's a little bit strange actually. So it feels like it had two sides. So one, it was very normal, because tennis players lose, and then on the other end it was very special, because I hadn't lost in a long time.

So it was normal but it was strange. I needed a week to get myself back together. But after that, it's just continued like normal. Nothing had changed.

I knew what I had to do better, and I really hyper focused on those first two rounds here. I think I did that really well, but at the same time, I know these Chinese girls are working so hard to beat all of the players here. So it's going to be a tough summer.

Q. Congratulations. Today must give you confidence going into the Paralympics which are coming up here at Roland Garros. What will it mean for you to play for your country here in Paris where you've had so much success in your career?

DIEDE de GROOT: I'm not actually sure today it will give me a lot of confidence. It wasn't my best match, but just coming out here, already playing at Chatrier, which is going to be one of the main courts for us at the Paralympics, is very good, getting to know what it looks like. There were a lot of people watching us, and they were really engaged into the game, so that was really good to feel.

So I'm just really happy to get it going and then to come back in two-and-a-half months.

Q. My question is a bit strange, but I don't know if you are aware about an advertisement with you with Renault that is going on French TV, like 20 times a day.

DIEDE de GROOT: I don't know about this (smiling).

Q. I think in France, everyone who is watching tennis have seen your face without knowing who you are.

DIEDE de GROOT: Okay (smiling).

Q. So you're not aware of it?

DIEDE de GROOT: Of course, of course. It's my own ad. I'm in there. I did the video.

Q. Do you know that it's, like, going all the time on TV and that people are almost tired, not of you, but of the music that is going with this advertisement? Because all the time it is on the TV between the points, between the set and all of this. What's your feeling about knowing that everyone knows you but in some other ways they don't really know who you are. They just know you because they see you on the advertisement.

DIEDE de GROOT: I think it was a good choice to change the music. Last year it was, "It's the Most Wonderful Time," which is nice at Christmastime, but in the summer I think you want different music. So they did that. That's very smart choice (smiling).

I'm really proud of this advert. Of course I know and I've seen it and I've heard so many comments about this, We've seen your face on the television again.

But I think at the same time it's really important still for us to be visible in those kind of things, because a lot of people don't know me, and a lot of people don't know any of the wheelchair athletes that are playing here. Even though we are here at all the Grand Slams, we are -- I mean, we've got really good sponsors behind us, but people still don't know us yet. So we need help from those big brands.

I'm really proud of Renault for doing that.

Q. I was wondering, Dutch have champions in several sports, in the women's Tour de France, Max Verstappen. Do you speak much to the other Dutch champions? Do you all encourage each other? What sort of interactions do you have with each other?

DIEDE de GROOT: So I think, we're a very small country, but I think when you're very invested into one sport, which for me is tennis, I know a lot of tennis players. But I don't really know a lot of other sports.

Of course I know them by name and maybe I follow them, maybe they follow me back. But actually talking, not so much. But tennis definitely.

Yeah, I think it's really nice to see that we're such a small country, but we're quite big in sport compared to how small we are. So I think last games we are top 10 in ranking of the medal, so it shows that we are very interested in sports, and I think we take it very seriously.

For us as wheelchair tennis, we are completely integrated into the KNLTB, our tennis foundation, our national federation. So for us as wheelchair tennis players, we are completely combined with the able-bodied players, which gives us huge support and it's what we need and we are taken seriously, and that's most important, I think.

Q. I just wanted to know how you are preparing ahead of the Paralympics. I'm not sure if that's your next target but is there any preparation you're doing really that is different or not, and are really looking forward to it?

DIEDE de GROOT: So after my loss at the World Team Cup, I needed to reset but I also needed to think what is going to be most important playing on clay this year. Because we're a little bit slower, we need to react faster after, for example, our serves. So I practiced a lot on my serve, and it was good in training. I need to work on it a little bit more in matches.

But that was a very huge step for me the past two weeks. I play a lot against able-bodied players, so they are faster, they hit harder. So I need to adjust to that level, and that helped me a lot.

But I think mainly what's going to be fun is that I can be training at home on the same surface and really feel like it's going to be home. So a lot of people, a lot of my family and a lot of my friends are coming, which for me is going to be the first time at a Paralympics. Tokyo, nobody was allowed to come. Then Rio was my first time.

So this one, everyone is going to be there so I can celebrate with them and enjoy it with them. That's going to be most important for me for this games.