Sam Schröder, born 25 September 1999, professional wheelchair tennis player. He’s known for his resilience, humility, and positive attitude.
Sam was born with split-hand/split-foot syndrome. This means he has only one finger on each hand and is missing the entire midfoot, which means he relies on a wheelchair. Between ages one and sixteen, Sam underwent thirty surgeries to optimise his functionality.
As a young kid, Sam tried all kinds of different wheelchair sports — hockey, wheelchair basketball, handbiking. Nothing stuck. Until, at the age of eleven he had his first tennis lesson, and never looked back.
In 2013 he came to the attention of the Dutch tennis association and has been part of the national team ever since. Since 2015 he has been competing internationally in the Quad category. In 2016 he claimed his first international title. The sport had found its next great champion — he just didn't know it yet.
"Quad players have a functional impairment in at least three limbs."
In September 2017, Sam began his final year of school while continuing to train and compete. At that point he was ranked number one in the world in the juniors and number six in the world in the seniors. Everything was going according to plan — until:
“In October of 2017, I got diagnosed with colon cancer. I went through a couple of weeks of intense screening, with multiple doctors working on a treatment plan for me.
It was pretty clear from the beginning that it would be a long and cumbersome journey, but I never once doubted a positive outcome.”
What followed was extremely tough. Chemotherapy tablets five days a week for five weeks. Radiation therapy. A feeding tube after he lost ten kilograms and could barely eat. And in 2018, surgery to remove his large intestine entirely, after which he would continue life with a colostomy — a permanent adaptation he would learn to manage while competing at the very highest level of professional sport.
Four weeks after that surgery, he was back on the tennis court. Fifteen minutes. But he was there.
"During the first consultation with my doctor I said: 'whatever happens, I will come through this and I will play tennis again.' That was the most important thing to me. It kept me going throughout the treatment."
He never once thought about stopping. That decision — made in a hospital room at the age of eighteen — changed everything.
Cancer-free and more focused than ever, Sam rebuilt. In 2020 he received a wildcard to his first Grand Slam — the US Open — and stunned the world by defeating two-time champion and world number one Dylan Alcott in the final.
Sam is now eight years cancer-free, and has shown his perseverance not only in his battle against cancer, but also on the tennis court. Sam has won the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open multiple times, and has claimed multiple gold and silver medals at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo (2021) and Paris (2024).
