Kalkman-van den Bosch inducted to Hall of Fame

The Netherlands’ three-time Paralympic gold medallist Monique Kalkman-van den Bosch has been announced as the latest wheelchair tennis player to be elected for induction to the International Tennis Hall of Fame (ITHF).

She is joined in the Class of 2017 by former men’s and women’s tennis world No.1s Andy Roddick of the USA and Kim Clijsters of Belgium. Tennis historian and journalist Steve Flink and groundbreaking tennis instructor Vic Braden will also be inducted in the Contributor Category.

More than 20 Hall of Fame tennis legends gathered at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne on 24 January to officially welcome them, including Rod Laver, Margaret Court, Ken Rosewall, Roy Emerson, Stan Smith, Lindsay Davenport, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova and former ITF President Brian Tobin.

Kalkman-van den Bosch reached the women’s wheelchair tennis world No.1 in both singles and doubles, spending a total of 126 weeks as the top-ranked player in singles and a collective 264 weeks in the world top 5.

Prior to being diagnosed with cancer at 14 years old, she was a competitive junior tennis player in the Netherlands. Her illness left her paralysed from the waist down but that did not stop her from achieving her dreams.

She became the first of many Dutch wheelchair tennis players to have won a Paralympic gold when she sealed the singles and doubles titles at Barcelona 1992. She went on to claim gold in doubles and silver in singles at Atlanta 1996.

In addition to her success at the Paralympics, Kalkman-van den Bosch was the ITF Wheelchair Tennis World Champion four times from 1992-1995 and an eight-time singles champion in Super Series events.

ITHF President Stan Smith said: “It is a real pleasure to welcome these five remarkable individuals into the Hall of Fame.

“Kim, Andy and Monique compiled outstanding careers, winning the game’s biggest titles and ascending to the world No. 1 ranking.

“Steve’s lifelong dedication to chronicling the sport’s happenings and history has engaged and educated fans around the world. And, of course, we remember Vic Braden, who transformed how tennis is taught and how athletes are developed.”

The Class of 2017 will be officially inducted on 22 July, at a ceremony in Newport, USA.

Kalkman-van den Bosch is the fifth wheelchair tennis player elected to be inducted into the Hall of Fame following the induction of USA’s Brad Parks and Randy Snow, the Netherlands’ Chantal Vandierendock and Australia’s David Hall.

More information is available on the International Tennis Federation’s website.