GERARD Joachim

Classification
Open (itftennis.com, 08 Aug 2021)

Type of Impairment
Impaired muscle power (Athlete, 11 Aug 2015)

Origin of Impairment
Acquired (Athlete, 11 Aug 2015)

Impairment Details
His impairment is a result of the effects of polio, contracted at nine months old. (itftennis.com, 07 Jan 2020; partenamut.be, 01 Mar 2021)

General
PASSING OF A MENTOR
His longtime coach and mentor Marc Grandjean passed away in 2019 due to a neurodegenerative condition. "We started to work together in 2006 and it was a good time for him to arrive in my life. It was more than just tennis; he became like a dad to me. It was very hard to learn about his illness, first of all, and then when he passed away, after 13 years together, it was heartbreaking. For quite a while I was not ready to play. My head was not on the court, but somewhere else and I could not keep my focus. It took me a few months to accept it, but I learned to keep all the good things from him in my heart and in my head and then I could move forward." (paralympic.org, 28 Jan 2020)

He became the first Belgian athlete to win a medal in wheelchair tennis at the Paralympic Games when he won bronze at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. (SportsDeskOnline, 19 Mar 2020)