wheelchair tennis and table tennis
Monique is the only Paralympic (ex) athlete with gold medals in two individual sports worldwide.
At the age of nineteen, and holder of two Paralympic medals and a world championship table tennis, Monique returned to her former passion in sports: tennis. This time wheelchair tennis, at that time a new wheelchair sport, originating from the United States. Thanks to her eight years of experience in 'walking tennis' as a young child, she picked up her skilfulness together with coach Peter Seegers, the coach who motivated her to play tennis again. The mobility in the wheelchair at the tennis court had to be learned, and this was a new dimension and challenge

to the existing tennis game for Monique. The results came quickly, but in 1990 the techniques and tactics changed.

Together with her coach Marc Kalkman, she was working towards her real great breakthrough: the Paralympics in Barcelona 1992 where she won two gold medals. In the four years after she was the fool-proof number one in world wheelchair tennis and forerunner of the recent absolute number one in the world: Esther Vergeer.

After the Paralympics in Atlanta 1996, where Monique was the cornet for the Dutch tricolor and won a gold and silver plaque, she decided to make an ending to her sporting career to focus on a civil future after she was using 1997 to slowly decrease tennis.

A period of top sports, glorious victories, decorations, exploring the world, living out of suitcases, twenty hours of training weekly, a very demanding job, blood, sweat and tears, came to an end.

Monique's Results tennis:
Highest world ranking: 1
Paralympics 1988 Seoul: silver (singles, demonstration)
Paralympics 1992 Barcelona: 2x gold (singles and doubles)
Paralympics 1996 Atlanta: silver (singles) and gold (doubles)
IWTF World Champion 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1995



Monique has won the following  tournaments:
4 x US Open
6 x British Open
5 x French Open
3 x Swiss Open
2 x Dutch Open
2 x Australian Open
1 x Japan Open
4 x Austrian Open
4 x Atlanta US Outdoor Open
3 x Belgian Open
8 x World Team Cup with Dutch  ladies team

Monique's results table tennis:
Highest world ranking: 1
Paralympics 1984 Stoke Mandeville (GB):
gold in her category, bronze in category open

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