Betty Stöve

Betty Stöve (born 24 June 1945) is a Dutch former professional tennis player. She is best remembered for reaching the ladies' singles final at Wimbledon in 1977. She also won ten Grand Slam titles in women's doubles and mixed doubles.

Stove began playing tennis internationally in the mid-1960s. She made her Grand Slam debut at the 1964 Wimbledon. A virus, complicated by a malfunctioning thyroid gland, forced Stöve out of tennis for an 18-month period in the late 1960s. Despite being advised that she should never play tennis again, Stöve recovered to have her best years on the circuit.

Stöve's most notable singles match was the 1977 Wimbledon final, which she lost to Virginia Wade: 4–6, 6–3, 6–1. Queen Elizabeth II attended the final against Wade.

Stöve was also a semifinalist at the 1977 US Open, losing to Chris Evert. She also found success in the 1977 US Open by winning the women's doubles with Martina Navratilova and the mixed doubles with Frew McMillan.

Stöve had her greatest success in doubles. She won ten Grand Slam doubles championships, six in women's doubles and four in mixed doubles. She won two women's doubles championships with Billie Jean King and two with Wendy Turnbull. Her other two titles were won with Françoise Dürr and Martina Navratilova. All of her mixed doubles championships were with Frew McMillan. Stöve was the runner-up in seventeen Grand Slam doubles tournaments, eight in women's doubles and nine in mixed doubles.

During her career, Stöve won one singles title and 75 doubles titles. She reached a career-high singles rank of World No. 5 in 1977. She was also ranked World No. 1 in doubles.

Stöve competed in and lost all three finals at Wimbledon in 1977, failing to win any of them; the last player in any Grand Slam event to earn such a record.

She competed for the Netherlands Fed Cup team in 1966, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982, and 1983.

The Dutch rock band Bettie Serveert is named after her book "Bettie Serveert", meaning "Bettie serves" or "service to Bettie" in Dutch.

Stöve coached Hana Mandlíková from 1980 through 1990. She also coached Kristie Boogert.

Stöve is a former member of the ITF Committee of Management, its first female member.

She received the WTA Tour Honorary Membership Award in November 1987. She served three terms as President of WTA Tour Players Association.

In 1989, Stöve and Mandlíková wrote Total Tennis, a tennis instruction book. Stöve speaks six languages and is an accomplished photographer.

Betty Stove in 1972

Betty Stove in 1973

Grand Slam finals

Singles (1 runner-up)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1977	Wimbledon	Grass	Virginia Wade	6–4, 3–6, 1–6

Doubles: 14 (6 titles, 8 runner-ups)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Winner	1972	French Open	Clay	Billie Jean King	Winnie Shaw Nell Truman	6–1, 6–2
Winner	1972	Wimbledon	Grass	Billie Jean King	Françoise Dürr Judy Tegart Dalton	6–2, 4–6, 6–3
Winner	1972	US Open	Grass	Françoise Dürr	Margaret Court Virginia Wade	6–3, 1–6, 6–3
Runner-up	1973	French Open	Clay	Françoise Dürr	Margaret Court Virginia Wade	2–6, 3–6
Runner-up	1973	Wimbledon	Grass	Françoise Dürr	Rosie Casals Billie Jean King	1–6, 6–4, 5–7
Runner-up	1974	US Open	Grass	Françoise Dürr	Rosie Casals Billie Jean King	6–7, 7–6, 4–6
Runner-up	1975	Wimbledon	Grass	Françoise Dürr	Ann Kiyomura Kazuko Sawamatsu	5–7, 6–1, 5–7
Runner-up	1976	Wimbledon	Grass	Billie Jean King	Chris Evert Martina Navratilova	1–6, 6–3, 5–7
Runner-up	1977	Wimbledon	Grass	Martina Navratilova	Helen Gourlay JoAnne Russell	3–6, 3–6
Winner	1977	US Open (2)	Clay	Martina Navratilova	Renée Richards Betty-Ann Stuart	6–1, 7–6
Winner	1979	French Open (2)	Clay	Wendy Turnbull	Françoise Dürr Virginia Wade	3–6, 7–5, 6–4
Runner-up	1979	Wimbledon	Grass	Wendy Turnbull	Billie Jean King Martina Navratilova	7–5, 3–6, 2–6
Winner	1979	US Open (3)	Hard	Wendy Turnbull	Billie Jean King Martina Navratilova	6–4, 6–3
Runner-up	1980	US Open	Hard	Pam Shriver	Billie Jean King Martina Navratilova	6–7, 5–7

Mixed doubles: 13 (4 titles, 9 runners-up)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1971	US Open	Grass	Bob Maud	Billie Jean King Owen Davidson	3–6, 5–7
Runner-up	1973	French Open	Clay	Patrice Dominguez	Françoise Dürr Jean-Claude Barclay	1–6, 4–6
Runner-up	1975	Wimbledon	Grass	Allan Stone	Margaret Court Marty Riessen	4–6, 5–7
Runner-up	1976	US Open	Clay	Frew McMillan	Billie Jean King Phil Dent	6–3, 2–6, 5–7
Runner-up	1977	Wimbledon	Grass	Frew McMillan	Greer Stevens Bob Hewitt	6–3, 5–7, 4–6
Winner	1977	US Open	Clay	Frew McMillan	Billie Jean King Vitas Gerulaitis	6–2, 3–6, 6–3
Winner	1978	Wimbledon	Grass	Frew McMillan	Billie Jean King Ray Ruffels	6–2, 6–2
Winner	1978	US Open (2)	Hard	Frew McMillan	Billie Jean King Ray Ruffels	6–3, 7–6
Runner-up	1979	Wimbledon	Grass	Frew McMillan	Greer Stevens Bob Hewitt	5–7, 6–7
Runner-up	1979	US Open	Hard	Frew McMillan	Greer Stevens Bob Hewitt	3–6, 5–7
Runner-up	1980	US Open	Hard	Frew McMillan	Wendy Turnbull Marty Riessen	5–7, 2–6
Runner-up	1981	French Open	Clay	Fred McNair	Andrea Jaeger Jimmy Arias	6–7, 4–6
Winner	1981	Wimbledon (2)	Grass	Frew McMillan	Tracy Austin John Austin	4–6, 7–6, 6–3

Year-End Championships finals

Doubles: 3 (1 title, 2 runners-up)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1973	New York City	Carpet (i)	Françoise Dürr	Rosie Casals Margaret Court	2–6, 4–6
Runner-up	1974	Los Angeles	Carpet (i)	Françoise Dürr	Rosie Casals Billie Jean King	1–6, 7–6, 5–7
Winner	1979	New York City	Carpet (i)	Françoise Dürr	Sue Barker Ann Kiyomura	7–6, 7–6

Singles (1)

No.	Date	Location	Surface	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1.	27 September 1976	Tokyo, Japan (Sillook Open)	Hard (I)	Margaret Court	1–6, 6–4, 6–3

Doubles (75)

Grand slam events in boldface.

A = did not participate in the tournament.

SR = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.

Note: The Australian Open was held twice in 1977, in January and December.