Dominique Monami


Dominique Monami is a Belgian former professional tennis player. She is her country's first ever top 10 tennis professional.
Monami was born in Verviers. In 1995, she married her coach Bart Van Roost, with whom she has a daughter, and played under the name Dominique Van Roost until their divorce in 2003.

Career

Monami won her first WTA tournament in 1996 in Cardiff. Before this win, she had been on the ITF circuit where she won seven ITF events, five of which in 1990. In 1997, she reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. The following year, Van Roost became the first ever Belgian tennis player to reach the top 10 in WTA rankings.
Monami won a total of four WTA singles titles and reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 9 in October 1998. In total, she participated in 36 Grand Slam tournaments during her professional career.
Another achievement for Van Roost came during the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney where she won the bronze medal in doubles, partnering Els Callens. Also in doubles, she reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open in 1999 and 2000, and the semifinals of the 2000 US Open.
In November 2000, Monami ended her professional tennis career when she became pregnant by Bart van Roost, whom she divorced later in 2003. She became embroiled in political controversy in Belgium because of her name change. She had been criticized in the country for abandoning her Walloon surname and adopting that of her Flemish husband. After her divorce, she reverted to her original last name. Subsequently, in 2006, she married Erik Vink, a manager in Sony BMG.
After retiring from playing, Monami became involved in Belgian tennis in various capacities, including as a tournament director and as the Belgian Fed Cup captain. She also wrote a book titled Een Kwestie van Karakter . Monami was awarded Belgian Sports Personality of the Year in 1998.

Significant finals

Olympics

Doubles: 1 bronze medal

WTA career finals

Singles: 16 (4 wins, 12 losses)

Doubles: 9 (4 wins, 5 losses)

ITF finals

Singles (7–1)

OutcomeNo.YearTournamentSurfaceOpponentScore
Winner1.6 August 1990Koksijde, BelgiumClay Magdalena Feistel6–2, 6–1
Winner2.17 September 1990Napoli, ItalyClay Klára Bláhová6–3, 6–2
Winner3.24 September 1990Napoli, ItalyClay Catarina Bernstein4–6, 6–4, 6–2
Winner4.15 October 1990Burgdorf, SwitzerlandCarpet Sabine Lohmann5–7, 6–2, 6–4
Winner5.22 October 1990Lyss, SwitzerlandClay Katja Meichelbock6–2, 6–2
Runner-up1.12 November 1990Swindon, Great BritainCarpet Sandrine Testud4–6, 4–6
Winner6.27 February 1995Southampton, Great BritainCarpet Angela Kerek0–6, 6–4, 6–3
Winner7.29 September 1996Limoges, FranceHard Åsa Carlsson2–6, 7–6, 6–1

Doubles (1–1)

Singles performance timeline

Statistics