Jiske Griffioen: I just really enjoy being out there
While the world’s leading wheelchair tennis players continue to strive for qualification and seeding places at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, one player who is content to be merely back competing without any Paralympic aspirations this time around is double Rio 2016 gold medallist Jiske Griffioen.
Griffioen became the fourth and latest in an unbroken line of Dutch players to be crowned Paralympic women’s singles champion in seven Paralympic Tennis Events before announcing her retirement towards the end of 2017. However, a little over nine months later she was back on the tennis courts, proving that tennis is, indeed, a game for life.
“I decided to go back on the tennis court in 2018, when I watched Wimbledon. It’s my favourite game to play so I thought, why not go out there and practice a little bit, with no intentions to play competition,” says the five-time Paralympic medallist and 14-time singles and doubles Grand Slam champion, who won the inaugural Wimbledon women’s singles event in 2016 before making the 2017 event her last tournament before retiring.
“I had a lot of fun, so I decided to practice with the Dutch Tens Federation again. So, you’re practicing with the guys and the girls again. And when you notice you can still keep up with them you kind of want to play some competitive tennis as well.”
The two-time ITF World Champion, now 34, committed to making the 2019 French Riviera Open, part-organised by her close friend and fellow Paralympic gold medallist Michael Jeremiasz, her comeback tournament last October. She currently finds herself at No. 54 in singles on the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Rankings, having played four tournaments in the last five months, including two in Australia in January.
“Playing the French Rivera Open, my first tournament back, I really enjoyed it, but then you decide you want to play some more matches” says Griffioen. “The French Riviera was more like a holiday for me. I had a lot of fun there, but the combination of holiday and tennis doesn’t work for me, because then I’m going to be frustrated with my level. After that I played Sardinia and my mum was there, so that was more like a holiday for me, too,” she adds.
“So then I decided that if I’m going to play some more tournaments I want to do it well and I really want to be prepared. I played Nationals at the end of 2019 and it felt good.”
After an initial 18-year career during which she achieved so much, including spending 106 weeks as world No. 1 and winning a total of 59 singles titles and 106 doubles titles, Griffioen is content to just enjoy tennis and focus on improving her current level.
“I don’t really have specific goals and that’s something I’ve had to get used to that, as well, as I had them for so long. So to work on the tennis court without goals felt a bit strange in the beginning,” she says. “Of course, when I’m on the court I want to win and one of my motivations to play is that I still want to become a better tennis player. So that’s more of a goal for me now than any performance goals like Top 8, or any goal you can set.”
When Griffioen first announced her retirement in 2017, her career head-to-head against Japan’s Yui Kamiji stood at 14 wins. Since returning to competition last September she has met the world No. 2 in three second round main draw matches at her latest four tournaments, with Kamiji winning each match comfortably.
But it’s not a trend that Griffioen is concerned with, as Kamiji heads towards her home Games and the opportunity of trying to break the sequence of Dutch women’s singles gold medallists.
“I just really enjoy being out there,” says Griffioen, who also has plenty to focus on off-court, including mentoring a new generation of potential Dutch champions.
“I’m working for two foundations, doing some fundraising, some events and some communications. I really enjoy that. I like the variety in my life. I’m also working with the Dutch junior wheelchair tennis players and that’s something I really enjoy – coaching then, tutoring them and I’m hoping to help them out a little bit with everything about tennis. I like the combination I have now.”