Niels Vink has completed an historic career Golden Grand Slam after overcoming countryman and rival Sam Schroder in the quad wheelchair singles final at Australian Open 2026.
Vink, the top seed at Melbourne Park, bested fellow Dutchman 6-3 7-6(5) on a sun-washed Kia Arena to etch his name into wheelchair tennis history.
It was Vink’s third attempt at claiming the elusive title, having twice lost AO finals to Schroder in 2023 and 2025.
The victory means Vink has now won all four major quad wheelchair singles titles, to go with the Paralympic gold medal he earned in Paris in 2024.
It capped off a remarkable week in Melbourne for Vink, who also lifted the quad doubles trophy with Guy Sasson on Friday, 6-3 6-1, over Heath Davidson and Andy Lapthorne.
That result meant Vink, alongside Sasson, now also holds all four major quad doubles titles, cementing himself as one of the all-time quad wheelchair greats.
The match-up between Vink and Schroder appeared to be written in the stars — first seed versus second seed, Dutchman against Dutchman. One aiming to complete a career Grand Slam, another aiming for a fifth straight AO quad singles title.
But there could be only one winner.
The pair traded early breaks of serve in the first set as both players sought to gain a foothold in the match.
But it was Vink who broke a second time, before later holding his nerve in a marathon ninth game to break Schroder yet again and claim the first set.
Schroder raced out to a 3-1 lead in the second set, but Vink clawed the score back to 4-4.
Schroder stemmed the tide and was able to earn a break of his own to go up 6-5 and serve for the set.
Spectators appeared confident the match would go to a deciding set, before Vink drew level to trigger a second-set tiebreak, which he eventually claimed 7-5.
“I completed tennis,” Vink said with a smile post-match. “At 23 years old.”
“I have Wimbledon, Roland Garros, US Open, [Paralympic] gold medal, but this was the only one missing.”
The world No.1 dedicated the success to his longtime coach Hans-Jurgen Striek, who passed away not long after the US Open last year.
“We started the journey together,” Vink recalled. “And we wanted to … finish it, to win them all. But sadly he didn't make this one.”
The Dutchman said he had “a different vision” after losing Striek — even though he wanted to win everything, he wanted to enjoy his time on the court.
“If I win, nice. If I don’t win, [that’s] OK. I could be happy if I had fun on the court.
“It’s my first Slam without Hans, so that’s also very emotional.”
Vink also expressed admiration for downed compatriot Schroder after the match.
“Sam is an amazing person. He won this one four in a row … it’s insane.”
“I remember last year I was leading 5-2 and out of nowhere he said, OK, boom, boom, boom, 7-5 for him … I thought, what do I need to do?
“The whole match [today], it was so close and every game it was so close.
“I had to make sure that my ball was that good [so] that Sam is not getting an opportunity.
“It feels amazing to finally beat him here,” Vink said with a laugh.
“I'm gonna celebrate like crazy.”