A smile forever

Laughing, crying, cheering, competing and enjoying. Bibiane Schoofs experienced it all during her long career.

But during that week in June 2024, it was laughter that prevailed. Alongside Ingrid Neel, Schoofs won the doubles title at the Libéma Open. The duo was unbeatable in all matches and did not even lose a single set.

After reaching her first final in 2019 with Lesley Pattinama-Kerkhove, she finally won the top prize five years later.

The victory on the Brabant grass was Schoofs’ third WTA doubles title. A year earlier, she won in Lyon and in 2018 she was the best in Auckland.

Her highest ranking in the world doubles rankings was 77.

But she also reached a respectable 142nd place in the singles. In 2018, she defeated Carina Witthoeft on the grass of the Autotron ‘s-Hertogenbosch.

More than three decades after hitting her first tennis ball with her father, 37-year-old Schoofs is hanging up her rackets.

The globetrotter can look back on a wonderful career that took her to all the beautiful courts in the world. But the memory of that Saturday afternoon on 15 June 2024 and that iconic Court 1 at the Autotron ‘s-Hertogenbosch in Rosmalen will forever bring a smile to her face.

Congratulations, champion, on a wonderful career.