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Netherlands · born de Wijk, 1986 · Wimbledon doubles champion 2009 · Paralympic doubles gold, Beijing 2008
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2009
First Wimbledon ladies' wheelchair doubles champion
1
World ranking in doubles, July 2009
2
Highest singles ranking, November 2007
1
Major singles title, Australian Open 2010
Born in de Wijk in 1986, Homan took up wheelchair tennis in May 2000, after watching an exhibition by Esther Vergeer and talking with the coach Aad Zwaan, and began playing junior events the following year. She turned professional in 2003 and reached world No. 2 in singles in 2007, but lost six major singles finals to Vergeer. At the 2008 Beijing Paralympics she took singles silver and, with Sharon Walraven, doubles gold. In 2009, partnering Vergeer, she won the Australian, French and Wimbledon doubles titles, became world No. 1 in doubles and was named female player of the year. She won her only major singles title at the 2010 Australian Open, beating Florence Gravellier 6-2, 6-2, but a wrist injury from late 2009 kept her off the tour, and in 2011, at 25, her retirement was announced.
| Major doubles titles | 1: Wimbledon (2009) |
|---|---|
| Wimbledon doubles | 2009 with Esther Vergeer, in the first ladies' wheelchair doubles at the Championships: beat Daniela di Toro and Lucy Shuker 6-1, 6-3 in the final |
| Wimbledon singles | No event during her career; the wheelchair singles began in 2016 |
| Wimbledon | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Women's wheelchair doubles | with Esther Vergeer |
Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. †single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions
"Today I cried again, but that was because I was so happy."
The person behind the player.
Netherlands, 2000
Homan began playing wheelchair tennis in May 2000, at 13, after watching an exhibition by Esther Vergeer and talking to the coach Aad Zwaan. Within a year she was entering junior tournaments, and in 2004 she helped the Netherlands win the junior world team cup. Nine years after that exhibition she and Vergeer were Wimbledon champions together.
Source: WikipediaBeijing 2008 · Singles final
Against Vergeer, unbeaten in singles for some five and a half years, Homan held match point in the Paralympic final and lost 2-6, 6-4, 6-7. "I was really disappointed because I had match point against the player who hadn't lost in a long, long time," she said afterwards.
Source: The NationalBeijing 2008 · Doubles final
The next day she and Sharon Walraven met Vergeer and Jiske Griffioen for doubles gold and won 2-6, 7-6, 6-4. "When we started in the warm-up, I had to switch a button and go for doubles," Homan said. She had cried after the singles; this time, she said, it was because she was so happy.
Source: The NationalWimbledon 2009
Partnered with Vergeer, the player who had beaten her in Beijing, she won the first Wimbledon ladies' wheelchair doubles, 6-1, 6-3 against Daniela di Toro and Lucy Shuker. It was the pair's third major doubles title of the season, and later that year they also won the Doubles Masters in Palazzolo, Italy.
Source: International Paralympic CommitteeMelbourne 2010
After six major singles finals lost to Vergeer, Homan won the 2010 Australian Open, beating Florence Gravellier 6-2, 6-2. It proved to be her last tournament: she did not play on the tour again, and her retirement was announced the following year. By late 2010 she held a degree in biomedical science and was studying veterinary medicine.
Source: WikipediaFree membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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