After successfully defending his Australian Open quad wheelchair singles title, Sam Schroder shared a poignant message.
‘Love yourself’ he wrote on camera after his 6-2 7-5 victory against top-seeded Niels Vink in Saturday's final at Margaret Court Arena.
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“I just think as a tennis player, I definitely do relate to a lot of players having difficult moments mentally. There is a lot of pressure on us to perform,” Schroder explained.
“I think at the end of the day, winning or losing shouldn't be so important that you lose yourself over it. That's kind of why I wrote it.”
The 23-year-old from the Netherlands handled such pressure with ease on Saturday, racing to a 5-0 opening-set lead in just 20 minutes.
Schroder has now faced Vink in four consecutive Grand Slam singles finals. “Against someone like Niels, I have to make sure I'm having the upper hand in the moment, because otherwise if he's feeling very confident, he will also just hit winners out of nowhere,” he added.
“I tried to play a bit more aggressively at the start. Maybe it's a bit more risk, but if it turns out well, then I'm the one having all the confidence and control of the match.
“That worked out pretty well for me.”
World No.2 Schroder withstood a late challenge in the opening set, with compatriot Vink saving six set points to break in a long seventh game.
But Schroder responded brilliantly, firing three winners in the following game to break Vink’s serve and take the first set in 41 minutes.
The Dutch talents, who combined to win their fourth consecutive Grand Slam doubles title together on Friday, traded breaks early in the second set.
Vink managed to edge ahead 5-3, before Schroder reeled off four consecutive games to clinch victory in the 92-minute encounter.
World No.1 Vink finished the match with 25 winners to 21, but his 26 unforced errors compared with Schroder’s 13 proved costly.
“I’m disappointed in myself that I didn’t play well today,” he said.
Although the 20-year-old leads their career head-to-head record with 13 wins from their 22 matches, Schroder has now won four of their past six encounters.
“Today was going to be another toss-up between who would win,” Schroder said. “I had a lot of confidence going into this match, so I felt very strong, and I just had a really great feeling about this match.
“It’s always great matches with us. I’m sure we’ll play many more finals together this year and the coming 10 years probably.”
After receiving the Australian Open trophy from seven-time champion and former world No.1 Dylan Alcott, Schroder dedicated the victory to one of his first assistant coaches, John Meyboom.
“When I first started playing wheelchair tennis, he would help out in some of the early practices,” Schroder explained.
“Unfortunately, he passed away last week, so that's why I had to dedicate it to him, because he definitely did help me out in the beginning a lot.
“It's incredible to win, but even more so if you have something to fight for and something to be proud of.”