50 years of wheelchair tennis: Monique Kalkman-van den Bosch, the tenacious champion and advocate
Monique Kalkman-van den Bosch fixated on tennis at a young age. As an able-bodied child, she loved sports, but quit all other ventures to focus on tennis at 13. She started working with a professional coach and became a competitive junior tennis player in the Netherlands. However, tragedy struck a year later, when she was diagnosed with cancer. Though treatment cured her of the disease, she was left her paralyzed from the waist down.
Searching for a sport after recovery, Kalkman-van den Bosch turned to table tennis. She quickly excelled, becoming a Paralympic champion in the sport in 1984. While she enjoyed table tennis, she missed having a racquet in her hand—unaware that wheelchair tennis was in its nascence in the United States.
Everything changed in 1986, when her coach Peter Seegers took her to a wheelchair demonstration in Europe, which featured wheelchair pioneers Brad Parks, Randy Snow and more. Watching the legends in action was a turning point for her.
“We were so impressed by these guys. That made me realize that tennis was possible again,” Kalkman-van den Bosch told USTA.com. “I was back to my passion and back to a dream again, because table tennis was for me the next best thing.”
She poured herself into wheelchair tennis, upgrading to a lighter, sport chair and training her mobility. As an able-bodied player, Kalkman-van den Bosch recalls idolizing Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova. Once she was introduced to wheelchair tennis, those dreams returned. For her, being in a chair didn’t matter.
Monique Kalkman-van den Bosch in action. Photo courtesy of World Tennis, Newport Daily News.
“I wanted to get to the top,” Kalkman-van den Bosch said. And that, she did.
Kalkman-van den Bosch claimed the silver medal in women’s singles at the 1988 Summer Paralympics, where wheelchair tennis was a demonstration sport. After her win, she set her sights on the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, where wheelchair tennis would become an official competition. With a new coach, tweaked techniques and grueling training, she left it all on the court in Barcelona—and came away with gold medals in singles and doubles with compatriot Chantal Vandierendonck.
“That was the first confirmation of my dream,” Kalkman-van den Bosch said. “But then you realize when you have that medal, that it's not about the medal, it's about the road towards the medal.”
International Tennis Hall of Fame 2017 inductees Kim Clijsters, Monique Kalkman-van den Bosch, Andy Roddick and Steve Flink. Photo by Getty Images, Adam Glanzman.
Kalkman-van den Bosch would go on to become an ITF Wheelchair Tennis World Champion for four consecutive years (1992-1995). She won eight singles championships in Super Series events and claimed two NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters.
All of those victories required a fight, on and off the court. Throughout those years, Kalkman-van den Bosch and her peers fought for more representation and benefits for wheelchair players.
“If you look at Billie Jean King, the roads that she had to travel to pave the way for the athletes that came after her. That's probably similar to what we had to do,” Kalkman-van den Bosch recalled. “We had to stand up for prize money, for sponsorships, for demonstrations at able-bodied tournaments. We did a lot of that pioneering work.”
After her retirement in 1997, Kalkman-van den Bosch continued working for the sport, helping develop more advanced sport wheelchairs and mentoring the up-and-comers, including a young Esther Vergeer.
“The impact that Monique has had within the sport of wheelchair tennis is incalculable. She was at the forefront of the first generation of ‘superstar’ players that were rising out of the pioneer generation,” said Jason Harnett, USTA Director of Wheelchair Tennis. “Having had previous success as a junior able-bodied player, her strong tennis foundation allowed her to rise to the top of the game, which inspired the next generation of Dutch greats, in Maaike Smit, and the legend, Esther Vergeer, along with other women wheelchair athletes across the world.”
Kalkman-van den Bosch was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2017. This year, she plans to travel to the 2026 US Open to participate in celebrations for the 50th anniversary of wheelchair tennis. She’ll be joined by fellow wheelchair tennis legends, including Parks, Vandierendonck and more.
“Brad found the way, and we just followed him, that's all we did,” Kalkman-van den Bosch said. “We just followed our passion, we just did what we love to do.”
But the road is still long. Looking ahead at the next 50 years, Kalkman-van den Bosch hopes the sport only continues on its upward trajectory.
“We need more players, more access to materials, more access to the sport in more countries,” she said. “There's more development work to be done.”
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