From August 30th to September 7th, I participated in the Paralympic Games in Paris. On August 30th, I played my first match of the tournament. I partnered with Jinte Bos against the British duo of Lucy Shuker and Abbie Breakwell. We played in Suzanne Lenglen, a stadium that can hold over 10,000 spectators, and all tickets were sold out that day. Among the spectators were many friends and family members cheering us on. It was a truly bizarre experience to play in such a large stadium in front of so many people. We ultimately won the match 6-2, 6-4, which meant we were in the quarterfinals.

The next day, I played the first round singles against Zhenzhen Zhu. Unfortunately, I lost the first set 1-6, but then I managed a strong comeback and convincingly won the second set 6-1. When the score was 0-2 in the third set, we had a short break due to a rain shower, and I ultimately lost the third set 2-6.

On September 1st, Jinte and I played the quarterfinals of doubles against the Japanese duo of Manami Tanaka and Yui Kamiji. Manami and Yui were a bit too high for us. We lost the match 3-6, 0-6.

It was a very special experience to be able to participate in the Paralympic Games and play in such a large stadium. It’s a dream come true!

Picture: TeamNL Insta