Our Guy: Israeli wheelchair tennis star aims for Grand Slam sweep

Israeli tennis player Guy Sasson is on the cusp of one of Israel’s greatest sporting milestones.

At the upcoming Australian Open, the 45-year-old Sasson and his 23-year-old Dutch partner, Niels Vink, will be playing for their fourth straight quad Grand Slam doubles title, after capturing the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2025.

The Australian Open, from Jan. 12 to Feb. 1, in Melbourne, is the first Grand Slam of the tennis calendar. Quad tennis is a wheelchair category for athletes with three or more impaired limbs.

A win in Melbourne would mean that the pair holds all four major titles simultaneously. Yet Sasson sounds not like an athlete savouring a historic summit, but rather as a player already looking ahead.

“If Niels and I win in Melbourne, yes, it means we hold all four titles at once, but it also gives us the chance to achieve the calendar slam in 2026,” Sasson told JNS in a recent interview. “Only the pair who wins in Melbourne can do that, and no quad doubles pair has ever done it before. I’d love for us to be the first.”

A partnership built over time

Sasson and Vink teamed up at the start of last season, a decision rooted as much in chemistry as ambition.

“The idea was a result of our training a lot together and also having a good relationship outside the court,” Vink said. “When we started to play doubles, we had almost no expectations. We just wanted to win a lot and have fun.”

Their partnership showed promise quickly, reaching the final at last year’s Australian Open, though they lost in straight sets.

“It was our first tournament together and we were both nervous. Our game plan just didn’t work,” Sasson recalled.

The response was enthusiastic. In 2025, Sasson enjoyed a surreal season: singles and doubles titles at the French Open—beating Vink in the singles final and partnering him in the doubles—followed by further doubles triumphs together at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.

“It was great to rebound and win the doubles in Paris, and winning the singles was also a successful defense of my 2024 French Open singles title,” Sasson said.

Carrying more than a racket

Sasson is acutely aware of what his success represents.

“For Jews and Israelis to see one represent them at the highest level means a lot to them,” he said.

Wheelchair tennis is unique in that its athletes compete at the same venues and during the same events as their able-bodied counterparts. Since the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, the crowds backing Sasson have grown noticeably—a phenomenon that initially surprised his partner.

“The first time I played with Guy, the support for him was crazy and it took me by surprise,” Vink said. “I really didn’t expect that he would receive so much support, and it’s so much better being his partner and receiving that support than being on the other side!”

With relatively few Israeli or Jewish players appearing regularly at Grand Slams, Sasson has become a focal point for fans around the world—an outcome rooted in a life-altering moment far from the tennis court.

From trauma to triumph

In 2015, Sasson suffered a devastating snowboarding accident in the French Alps. Doctors told him he would never walk again. After a year of rehabilitation, he left with the help of a cane. Tennis began as physical and mental therapy before evolving into a competitive calling.

“I was living a great life before the accident and I’m living a great one today,” he said. “All I do is what anybody can do, which is play the cards you’re dealt as best as you can and get the most out of every single day of life.”

Sasson only began playing wheelchair tennis in 2018. Now one of the tour’s elder statesmen, he shows no signs of slowing down.

“I feel good both physically and mentally. I have a lot of great support and enjoy what I’m doing,” he said. “As long as I can continue to compete for the titles, I’m going to do so, especially as I have so many goals I want to achieve!”

One of those goals is the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics.

“Winning bronze at Paris in the last Games was wonderful, but I’d love to improve on that,” Sasson said.

For now, though, his focus is on Melbourne. Much of Sasson’s Grand Slam success has come since the Oct. 7 massacre, and whenever handed a microphone, he has used the platform to highlight issues far larger than tennis.

With the Australian Open taking place a month after the Bondi Beach shooting at a Dec. 14 Chanukah event, if Sasson finds himself speaking on court again, it won’t be a routine victory speech.

Story: David Wiseman/JNS