Sam Schröder, born Sept. 25, 1999 professional wheelchair tennis player,
#1 of the world, resilient and, above all, bon vivant.
Sam was born with split-hand/split-foot syndrome. This leaves him with only one finger on each hand and the entire metatarsal foot, requiring him to use a wheelchair. Between the ages of 1 and 16, Sam underwent 30 surgeries to optimize his functionality.
At age 11, Sam started playing wheelchair tennis. This grew from group training once a week to full time private lessons with Joop Broens.
In 2013 he came into the KNLTB's sights and has been part of the national selection ever since. Since 2015, he has been playing internationally for the Quad rankings.
Quad players have functional disabilities on at least three limbs.
In September 2017, Sam began his senior year while in the meantime he was training and playing tournaments in abundance. At that time, he was ranked No. 1 in the world in juniors and No. 6 in the world in seniors. So everything was going according to plan until...
Cancer and now what?
"In October 2017, Sam received the unimaginable news that he had colon cancer. Several weeks of investigations followed in which Sam was examined from head to toe and the doctors formulated a treatment plan.
It was clear from the beginning that it was going to be a tough and long journey but Sam always kept faith that it would work out in the end."
Despite his illness, Sam was nominated for athlete with a disability of the year by the province of Limburg in December 2018. Despite Sam not winning that year, it was clear from the public's reaction that Sam was the moral winner.
"After chemo and radiation, Sam had to wait 10 weeks for a scan. In late February, I was given the green light for surgery, which involved removing his entire colon and placing a stoma in March. The place where the stoma was placed was carefully chosen. So that it would not interfere while playing tennis and training. The surgery was tough, but four weeks later Sam was back on the court for 15 minutes."
Sam has now been cancer-free for 6 years and has not only shown his perseverance in the fight against cancer but also on the tennis court. For example, Sam has not only won the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open several times. Gold and silver are in his trophy case as far as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games are concerned. Respectively silver in the Singles and gold in the doubles. Sam is currently ranked No. 1 in the world in the singles rankings.
His goal for the near future is to win Roland Garros in singles, the only Grand Slam still missing, and to win gold in singles at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
