Wesley Koolhof Retires From Pro Tennis With A Career Full Of Great Memories

Wesley Koolhof
Wesley Koolhof (photo: Matt McNulty/Getty Images for ITF)

MALAGA/WASHINGTON, November 25, 2024 (by Michael Dickens)

When Jannik Sinner clinched Italy’s second consecutive Davis Cup title by defeating Tallon Griekspoor for a 2-0 victory over the Netherlands in the final of the team competition in Malaga, Spain, Sunday evening, it meant the end of Dutchman Wesley Koolhof‘s remarkable career.

A 35-year-old native of Zevenaar, in the Gelderland province of the Netherlands near Germany, Koolhof was a doubles specialist – and a very good one – known for his classy-style of net play. He was regarded as one of the best in the sport, as his former No. 1 ranking attained in 2022 suggests.

Koolhof announced his retirement a year ago with no regrets, then went out and played some of the best tennis of his life. Engaged to former German pro Julia Goerges, whom he will marry at the end of this year, the Dutchman finished his final season on the ATP Tour with a 48-22 win-loss record and won five titles with his longtime partner, Nikola Mektic of Croatia. Their success included winning back-to-back Masters 1000 trophies at the Shanghai and Paris Masters events this fall, as well as earlier titles at Indian Wells, Rotterdam and Auckland.

Additionally, Koolhof was a two-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2023 Wimbledon Championships men’s doubles title with Neal Skupski of Great Britain and the 2022 French Open crown in mixed doubles with Ena Shibabara of Japan. In 2022, he became the fourth Dutchman to attain the No. 1 ranking in doubles after Tom Okker, Paul Haarhuis and Jacco Eltingh, and ended the year as co-No. 1 with Skupski.

Overall, since turning pro in 2008, Koolhof achieved a career 309-195 win-loss record in doubles, won 21 titles and accumulated $5,209,208 in earnings.

In a recent My Point essay he penned for the ATP Tour website, Koolhof wrote of his experience of winning a Wimbledon title: “It was a dream of mine to play on Centre Court and it was incredible to have the opportunity to compete on such a grand stage in the championship match. To lift the trophy in front of Neal’s home fans at The Championships made it even more special.“

After playing his last ATP Tour match earlier this month at ATP Finals in Turin, Italy, where he and Mektic were eliminated in the group stage, Koolhof was honored for his outstanding play.

“Obviously mixed emotions. It’s been a pleasure to play on the Tour for the past almost 20 years. So, thank you all for taking the time to come out here on Centre Court, and especially Mekta, for playing with me in my final year,” Koolhof said. “It’s always been a dream to basically finish my career here in Turin in the ATP Finals, so very grateful and happy to finish my career here, even if we didn’t make it today.”

A fixture for the Netherlands on the international scene

Since 2019, Koolhof became been a fixture on the Netherlands Davis Cup team, and he also competed in the past two Olympic Games. At the Tokyo Games in 2021, he partnered with Jean-Julien Rojer and at the 2024 Paris Games, he teamed with Griekspoor.

“The idea was to stop on a high note,” Koolhof said, during the Dutch team’s news conference after upsetting Spain 2-1 in the quarterfinal round. “To still finish one more year very strong. In the end, [I] won five ATP titles, three Masters, and [it was an] amazing last year of my career. It’s time to focus on something else.

“I know I still have the level to continue for five to seven more years, maybe,” Koolhof added, after finishing his last year ranked No. 8. “But no, it’s time for something else. Made the decision last year at the end of the year. Never doubted it. No regrets.”

“The longer you play, the more you dream …”

The 5-foot-11, 171-pound Koolhof once said if he wasn’t a tennis player, he would probably be a football player because he grew up with both sports. In his ATP biography, he lists Chelsea FC of the English Premier League as his favorite team. Koolhof probably would have been a good footballer – his father Jurrie once played for the Dutch national team – but it’s the sport of tennis that benefited from the talent Koolhof displayed for so many years.

“There was something about the individuality of tennis I liked more,” Koolhof told the ATP Tour website. “I began taking lessons at four and pretty early on local talent scouts picked me to practice with better players.”

When Koolhof was younger, he admitted to only be thinking about singles, not doubles. “But the longer you play, the more you dream, and the more you try to challenge yourself and make it very far,” he told the ATP Tour website.

“In singles, I reached a career-high World No. 462 in 2013. Two years later, I gave up on that dream of being a great singles player and shifted my focus towards doubles, not knowing how that was going to go.

“I knew how to play it. I liked it. I thought I had a pretty good eye for it. I had some anticipation skills and knew what was happening. I always played both because I liked the doubles game, and I also thought it was good for my singles as well, to improve myself at the net.”

Koolhof finishes career at Davis Cup Final 8

Koolhof was asked during one of the Dutch news conferences if he could have imagined that he would finish his career playing for the Davis Cup title. “Well, I’m not sure if I would have ever imagined it,” he said, “but, yeah, I mean, it was one of the reasons why I wanted to play at least one more year, especially because of the Olympics and because of Davis Cup, because I knew we had an unbelievable team.

“So, yeah, it’s [an] unbelievable feeling, of course, to play your last match … But to be here in the final is, of course, a dream come true. Yeah, to be a part of a team which makes history for Holland is an amazing feeling.”

Although the Netherlands lost in their first Davis Cup final in 104 years of chasing after the most prestigious prize in team competition, the Dutch can look back on their impressive week, during which they recorded their best finish.

The Netherlands upset host Spain 2-1 in the quarterfinal round, in back of a surprising win by Botic van de Zandschulp over Rafael Nadal that sent the Spanish great into retirement, plus a doubles triumph by Koolhof and van de Zandschulp. Then, the Dutch handled Germany 2-0 in the semifinals to advance to Sunday’s championship final against Italy.

His last doubles match was a winning effort

As it happened, because the Netherlands didn’t need to play doubles in their semifinal win over Germany or during their 2-0 loss to Italy in the final, Koolhof’s last match as a pro turned out to be last Tuesday against Spain, in which he and van de Zandschulp defeated Spaniards Carlos Alcaraz and Marcel Granollers, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3). Although Koolhof doesn’t consider himself a very emotional guy, he dropped to his knees after he and van de Zandschulp secured match point, in celebration of the Dutch triumph over the host nation.

“I reached a very, very high level today, which I am very happy about,” Koolhof said afterward, during an on-court interview. “I think we, as a team, did an amazing job again. Botic told me he struggled on returns, but as long as he made it on match point, I’m happy. This was one of my best matches of the year. I’m looking forward to the next one.”

Van de Zandschulp added: “Wesley helped me a lot there, he returned unbelievably. He played amazingly, it’s a shame he is going to retire after this event. We could use him next year. It’s been an incredible day.”

Afterward, during the Dutch news conference, a reporter asked Koolhof about his mindset, knowing that each match could be his last. He replied with a touch of humor: “I actually didn’t really think about it, to be honest. … It didn’t really cross my mind at all. Yeah, it was either Rafa or me in the end. So, yeah, personally I’m happy that it was Rafa. At least I extended [retirement] for a few more days.”

Finally, during the celebration after Skinner clinched the Davis Cup tie for Italy against the Netherlands on Sunday, it wasn’t lost on the World No. 1 to pay tribute to the retiring Dutch star.

“I just want to say a couple of words for Wesley Koolhof,” Sinner expressed, during an on-court interview before the trophy ceremony. “He’s had an amazing career. I think everyone is asking why he’s retiring, because he played amazingly at the end of the year and the whole year. I wish him all the best.”

 

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