Richèl Hogenkamp, who has temporarily suspended his career as a professional tennis player, will start as team manager of De Graafschap. The Dutchman is struggling with a persistent foot injury and therefore has time for other things.
In early July, Hogenkamp said Gelderland who has to rest for months and therefore has overshadowed his career. Doetinchemse hasn’t wanted to talk about a final goodbye, but with her new job as a team manager it’s starting to look like that.
Hogenkamp played his last official match in June. She also competed in the Australian Open and Roland Garros qualifiers this year, but she failed to make the main program in either Melbourne or Paris.
At the peak of her career, Hogenkamp was number 94 in the world. She reached that position in July 2017. The current WTA No. 304 has played nine Grand Slam tournaments and has reached the second round three times: at Roland Garros (2017), Wimbledon (2015) and US Open (2016) .
Richèl Hogenkamp has (for the moment) finished a tennis player and will start working for De Graafschap.
Richèl Hogenkamp has (for the moment) finished a tennis player and will start working for De Graafschap. Photo: Getty Images
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‘Richèl has an affinity with the club and with football’
Hogenkamp, who has won sixteen ITF titles but never a WTA tournament, has also been a part of the Dutch team multiple times. The multiple Dutch champion was not in the selection of captain Elise Tamaëla this year for the meeting with Spain in the Billie Jean King Cup.
At De Graafschap, Hogenkamp is the successor of Marc Teloh, who has been associated with “Superboeren” for more than fifteen years. “Richèl obviously knows the basics as a top-level sports star, he comes from Doetinchem and has a subscription with De Graafschap. He therefore has an affinity with the club and also with football,” says technical director Peter Bijvelds.
De Graafschap has been playing in the Kitchen Champion Division for several seasons. Doetinchem’s line-up had a disappointing start to the season and currently occupy seventeenth place, with five points.
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