Esther Vergeer is a Dutch wheelchair tennis player. She won multiple titles at the Paralympics and the Grand Slam tournaments in single and doubles competitions. She has been the world's top ranked player for over ten years. In 2002 and 2008 she won the Laureus Award for Sportsperson with a Disability of the Year.

Born in 1981, she became paraplegic when she was 8 years old due to a risky surgery concerning haemorrhaging blood vessels around her spinal cord. In her left thigh is some strength left but not in the lower part of the leg. She had surgery to immobilize her left ankle permanently so she has the chance to stand on the leg and to use crutches. The photos show her in hospital after surgery with a cast.