Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, will remain a day he will never forget for the rest of Niels' life. On that day his boyhood dream came true; he won paralympic gold on the center court of Roland Garros in Paris. Niels takes us through his golden day. The day when, he says, he played his best match ever.
9:30 a.m. - wake up!
At 9:30 a.m. the alarm clock rings. "I slept fine in my room in the Olympic Village. There was a lot to do about the quality of the cardboard beds, but I have no complaints. I sleep anywhere anyway."
10 a.m. - a generous breakfast
Niels adjourns to the Team NL lounge for breakfast. "Most athletes have breakfast in the main dining area, but I don't like the food there very much. My breakfast consists of a bowl of cottage cheese. From Campina, write it down. Maybe we'll keep a nice sponsorship deal from that, haha."
10:30 a.m. - boarding the bus
Time to head for Roland Garros. "After arriving, I put my bag in the locker room because it's a little awkward to lug it around all day. Then I go to the Team NL physio for treatment."
11:30 a.m. - killing time
What do most people do when they have to wait? Right, pick up the phone. Niels, too. "I scroll around on Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube. Music I don't listen to."
1:30 p.m. - the waiting begins
After a light lunch, the big wait begins. What Niels - and his opponent Sam Schröder - know: they will play the third game after 1:30 p.m. What they don't know is that the first match is a marathon match. The doubles final of Diede de Groot and Aniek van Koot against their Japanese opponents takes 2.5 hours. Niels follows the game from the dressing room.
5 p.m. - rice and something else
Niels previously expected to have to play around 5:30 pm. But, as is often the case in France, it ran out considerably. "I counted on about 8 p.m. after that. That did allow me to have dinner on Dutch time. What was on the menu? Rice anyway, the rest I honestly don't remember."
7:45 p.m. - a noise the French say 'vous' to
Finally the time comes. Niels drives onto the track, with Sam in his slipstream. "When I was announced, there were loud cheers in the stands. There were really a lot of fans. They can make a fuss, those people from Helmond. I felt good right away."
7:50 p.m. - take a break
There is still time for a brief warm-up. Niels feels strong. "I felt much more confident than three years ago, when I played the semifinals against favorite Dylan Alcott in Tokyo," he said. Through the stadium speakers, Fatboy Slim's rousing chanson Right Here, Right Now thumps across center court. Not a word of that is true.
8 p.m. - the moment
The match begins. Niels starts off nicely: he immediately breaks Sam's serve. "I thought: if I can keep this level, tonight is going to be very nice," he said.
8:30 p.m. - Niels is halfway through
It also becomes quite fun. After half an hour, the first set is over. Sam really doesn't play badly, but Niels is a class better. The numbers on the scoreboard in the corner tell a clear story: 6-0 for Niels.
8:40 p.m. - still a little tense
At 1-1 in the second set, Sam gets two break points. Niels' fans in the stands bite their nails. And Niels? Who stays calm and brushes away the break points, then "just" wins the game. "I wasn't nervous or anything."
8:50 p.m. - the prelude to the win
It becomes 3-1 and that is the moment of no return. Figuratively - not only aces follow. "From that moment on, I knew it was going to work! Sam's resistance seemed broken and I got wings."
9 p.m. - everything turns to gold
The screens on the center court turn gold and the crowd goes crazy. That means only one thing: it's Gold Medal Point: Niels is coming in at 15-40. "I laughed a little bit and thought: get a grip and get that gold off those screens! But that didn't happen." Niels knocks the ball out. 30-40: one more chance.
9:10 p.m. - hit!
Sam serves. Niels lets the ball bounce twice before hitting it close to Sam's feet. "In hindsight, letting it bounce once would have been better, but fortunately I got away with it," he says. The Limburger doesn't know what to do with it and slams the ball into the net. The cheers from the stadium can be heard as far away as the Parisian banlieues. Niels drops his racket and puts his hands before his eyes. He has GOLD!
9:15 p.m. - hugs and tears
A nice embrace between Niels and Sam follows. He then rides over to his coach Hans-Jurgen Striek. Both have tears in their eyes and an emotional embrace follows. This is especially understandable: 'HJ' is fighting a terrible illness and has often been unable to assist Niels in recent months. The fact that he is here now means everything to Niels.
9:20 p.m. - Messi, Ronaldo, Verstappen and Finch
Niels is just not ready. He drives to the stands for an embrace with his parents, Nicole and Robin. "What did they say? Mom couldn't say much more anyway. Dad was super proud. My little brother Joep and sister Roos were just jumping around. Roos has nothing to do with tennis, but was still very happy. Joep is totally tennis crazy. The other day in his class we were talking about idols. His classmates mentioned Messi, Ronaldo and Max Verstappen. Joep mentioned my name. Nice huh!"
9:35 p.m. - the national anthem and the medal
After a short break, Guy Sasson (the number three), Sam and Niels rode onto the track for the medal ceremony. "I couldn't take my eyes off that medal. I thought: that's mine. It's heavy though; it rubs my neck a bit. I quickly put it in the pocket of my vest. Zipper closed to be sure. The national anthem was also a beautiful moment. I don't know what all I felt. A mix of joy, pride and fatigue I guess."
9:45 p.m. - off the job
Niels had to go to the doping control. "That didn't take long. Then I was allowed to go to the media. HJ called in the meantime that everyone had been bounced out of the stadium by security. They were waiting for me outside the stadium. That's when the party started!"
10:20 p.m. - beer
"We dove into another French pub nearby, because we had something to celebrate. It was very small and we had to stand and sit outside. Some French people came by who recognized me and wanted to take a picture with me. That was fun! After a while, only we were left. I had two beers. Normally I never drink alcohol. So they came pretty hard." Niels also had to drive, of course.
1:00 a.m. - shoarma
Working out and drinking makes one hungry. Niels and his entourage dove into the local shoarma joint for a nutritious night's meal. "I had ordered a shoarma sandwich, but got a dürüm. It wasn't really tasty either, but I wasn't too bothered about that otherwise."
2:00 a.m. - at the campsite
Niels sleeps at the campsite where his family and friends are also staying. Outside on the porch of a friends' mobile home, he plays cards with fans. At 4 a.m. he dives into his bunk bed. His medal lies next to him. Where he sleeps? "Upstairs." Rightfully so, of course. That spot belongs to his achievement of the highest level.