She is a living legend of international Paralympic sport. Invincible for a decade – she was last defeated on 30 January 2003 in Sydney by Australian Daniele di Toro – Dutch Tennis player Esther Vergeer collects no less than seven Paralympic golds and one silver, besides the impressive record winning streak of 470 matches in Wheelchair Tennis.

Even after announcing her retirement from the Tennis courts in February this year, Esther’s trajectory in the sport is far from over. Besides leading a foundation for children with disabilities, Esther, who is number 1 in the ranking since 1999, is certain she still wants to be active in the world of sports. A member of the National Paralympic Committee of the Netherlands, the Tennis player visited the Rio 2016 headquarters to get to know the project and share her extensive experience with the Games organisers.

Rio 2016: After ending your career as a player, what are your next steps?

Esther Vergeer: Since I retired last February, I am still deciding what my next steps are. I know for sure that I still want to be involved with disabled sports and so I’m currently working with the Dutch Paralympic Committee and we’ve come to an agreement that we’ll work together to have the ultimate environment for the athletes to prepare as well as possible for the Games in Rio. That’s why I am here, to see how I can help with my experience in past editions of the Games and give some practical tips and tricks. We’ll see.

Rio 2016: How different is it to get to know the Games organisation?

EV: It’s very interesting! As an athlete you only get involved in the competitions and your own process to get there and give your best performance. But you don’t get to know about all the other things that are involved, like transportation, accommodation and all the venues. So it’s very impressive to hear how big the event is and how you can come up with some ideas to help prepare everything and solve all those issues at an early stage.

Rio 2016: What about the Rio 2016 project? What are your impressions?

EV: They showed us everything and I am very impressed with what I’ve seen so far, the Paralympic Village, for instance, is going to be awesome, very comfortable for the athletes, but also very practical for training facilities and competitions venues. It’s still so far and there is so much to do that you can see that the Organising Committee is very structured and of course there is a lot of experience from past editions of the Games, so yes, I think it’s going to be a long process, there are some challenges, but everybody here is open and willing to discuss and get ideas from everybody.

Rio 2016: Did you get a chance to visit the city?

EV: Oh, yes! This is my first time in Rio and we arrived on Sunday night. So far, we went to the Sugarloaf, saw a “favela” and I am staying right at Copacabana beach too. That is great! It’s very impressive and I really liked the city. My brother and all my friends that have been here loved it and now I can see what everyone was talking about.

Rio 2016: How did you discover Paralympic sport?

EV: I became disabled when I was 8 years old. At my recovery centre, I started playing sports as part of my treatment programme and I just loved being active. I was really young and I didn’t want to be confronted with my disability all the time, so playing sports, being active and being around friends was the best feeling. That’s how I got introduced to Tennis and I just fell in love with the sport right away.

Rio 2016: Did you try any other sports?

EV: I did try many different sports and I think this is very important for people with disabilities; to try as many sports as they can. And then find out what you love and what you are good at and see if there are facilities near your home to train more and be more active.

Rio 2016: When did you decide you were good enough to compete?

EV: I don’t think it’s a decision, I think you get introduced to the sport and then you find ways so you can train and be active. Then you start training once a week and once every two weeks, but when you do it more often then, all of a sudden, you get introduced to this whole world of sport – like the world of Tennis, for me. And then you start hearing about state tournaments, then national tournaments and then international tournaments and so on. The thing is: once you start playing you will know if you are good enough and especially you’ll know if you are ready for it.

Rio 2016: Did you ever think you would become this big?

EV: No, not at all. Especially not in the beginning. You just start playing a sport because you like it and you enjoy it. It wasn’t a main goal for me to become number one or two or even to become a Paralympian. I started competing in national and international matches four years after I got introduced to the sport and that’s when I started to realise that I might become a good player and that I might get a chance to be in the Paralympic Games. But once you have that insight, that’s one of the biggest motivations you can get: to be at the Paralympic Games, because that was one of the most wonderful experiences I’ve ever had.

Rio 2016: Do you remember your first gold medal at the Games?

EV: Oh, yes. And all the other editions of the Games as well. Sydney 2000 was the first one, but they are all so different. Athens was different from Sydney and Beijing was different from all the others. London was extra special because now I can tell that it was the last one. But I do remember the first one, of course. The feeling of winning the first gold medal and not even realising what’s going to come next. This is very special. And so is to witness the whole world embracing Paralympic sport. It’s amazing.

Rio 2016: Unfortunately for all of us who are fans of yours, you retired from competition. Could you give us a hint of who can be the next Esther?

EV: I really don’t know. I don’t even think it’s going to be just one person. I think all individual athletes have their own strengths and weaknesses. I don’t even know if Wheelchair Tennis or maybe another sport will have very good performances. Hopefully it’s going to be a Dutch athlete, and hopefully this athlete will be someone that loves the sport as much as I do.

Rio 2016: What are your expectations for Wheelchair Tennis in Rio 2016?

EV: It’s hard to say how different Rio will be from past editions of the Games but I am sure it will be. I know that Wheelchair Tennis is developing itself every year, and it’s growing a lot in Brazil. I know that Brazilian athletes in Wheelchair Tennis are also quite big. There are high expectations for this one girl from Brazil [young Natália Mayara,  who has already faced Esther and says the Dutch player is her source of inspiration in sport]. But all I know is that it’s a great sport and I have good hopes that it’s going to be an awesome event in Rio 2016.