Betty Flippina Stöve (born 24 June 1945) is a Dutch former professional tennis player. She is best known for reaching the ladies' singles final, the ladies' doubles final and the mixed doubles final during the same year at Wimbledon in 1977, but she lost in all three. She won ten Grand Slam titles in women's doubles and mixed doubles.
Career Stöve 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 was an accomplished singles player reaching several finals on tour and attaining a singles ranking of world No. 5 in July 1977. Stöve's best grand slam singles performance was at the 1977 Wimbledon where she reached the final beating fellow doubles partner Martina Navratilova en route in the quarterfinals, and Sue Barker in the semi-finals preventing an all-England final. She lost the final in three sets to third-seeded Virginia Wade. Queen Elizabeth II attended the final. In addition she also reached the final of the doubles (with Navratilova) and the mixed doubles with Frew McMillan, but won neither of them. She is notably the last player in any Grand Slam event to earn such a record. Later that year Stöve was also a semifinalist at the 1977 US Open, losing to eventual champion Chris Evert. This time she won the women's doubles with Navratilova and the mixed doubles with McMillan. In 1978 Stove reached the semi-finals or better at 9 of the singles events she contested reaching 5 finals but failing to win any of them. Notable players she beat in singles include Martina Navratilova, Evonne Goolagong, Sue Barker, Maria Bueno, Virginia Ruzici, Tracy Austin, Kerry Reid, Billie Jean King, and Claudia Kohde-Kilsch. One notable player she was never able to beat was Chris Evert, to whom she lost on every one of the 10 occasions they played.
Stöve had her greatest success in doubles. She won 10 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 17 Grand Slam doubles tournaments, eight in women's doubles and nine in mixed doubles. She won a total of 78 doubles titles on tour and ranked World No. 1 in doubles.
She competed for the Netherlands Fed Cup team in 1966, 1969, 1970–1972, and 1976–1983.
Stöve was elected treasurer at the founding meeting of the Women's Tennis Association on June 21, 1973. At that meeting Stöve was asked by Billy Jean King to block the exit, saying: 'don't let anybody out until we have an association'.
Post-retirement activity 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 served three terms as president of WTA Tour Players Association and received the WTA Tour Honorary Membership Award in November 1987.
In 1989, Stöve and Mandlíková wrote Total Tennis, a tennis instruction book. Stöve speaks six languages, and she is an accomplished photographer.Betty Stove Biography. wtatennis.com
Significant finals
Grand Slam finals
Singles (1 runner-up) ResultYearChampionshipSurfaceOpponentScore Loss 1977 Wimbledon Grass Virginia Wade 6–4, 3–6, 2–6
Doubles: 14 (6 titles, 8 runner-ups) ResultYearChampionship SurfacePartnerOpponentsScore Win 1972 French Open Clay Billie Jean King Winnie Shaw Nell Truman 6–1, 6–2 Win 1972 Wimbledon Grass Billie Jean King Françoise Dürr Judy Tegart Dalton 6–2, 4–6, 6–3 Win 1972 US Open Grass Françoise Dürr Margaret Court Virginia Wade 6–3, 1–6, 6–3 Loss 1973 French Open Clay Françoise Dürr Margaret Court Virginia Wade 2–6, 3–6 Loss 1973Wimbledon Grass Françoise Dürr Rosie Casals Billie Jean King 1–6, 6–4, 5–7 Loss 1974 US Open Grass Françoise Dürr Rosie Casals Billie Jean King 6–7, 7–6, 4–6 Loss 1975 Wimbledon Grass Françoise Dürr Ann Kiyomura Kazuko Sawamatsu 5–7, 6–1, 5–7 Loss 1976 Wimbledon Grass Billie Jean King Chris Evert Martina Navratilova 1–6, 6–3, 5–7 Loss 1977 Wimbledon Grass Martina Navratilova Helen Gourlay JoAnne Russell 3–6, 3–6 Win 1977 US Open (2) Clay Martina Navratilova Renée Richards Betty-Ann Stuart 6–1, 7–6 Win 1979French Open (2) Clay Wendy Turnbull Françoise Dürr Virginia Wade 3–6, 7–5, 6–4 Loss 1979 Wimbledon Grass Wendy Turnbull Billie Jean King Martina Navratilova 7–5, 3–6, 2–6 Win 1979 US Open (3) Hard Wendy Turnbull Billie Jean King Martina Navratilova 6–4, 6–3 Loss 1980 US Open Hard Pam Shriver Billie Jean King Martina Navratilova 6–7, 5–7
Mixed doubles: 13 (4 titles, 9 runners-up) ResultYearChampionship SurfacePartnerOpponentsScore Loss 1971 US Open Grass Bob Maud Billie Jean King Owen Davidson 3–6, 5–7 Loss 1973 French Open Clay Patrice Dominguez Françoise Dürr Jean-Claude Barclay 1–6, 4–6 Loss 1975 Wimbledon Grass Allan Stone Margaret Court Marty Riessen 4–6, 5–7 Loss 1976 US Open Clay Frew McMillan Billie Jean King Phil Dent 6–3, 2–6, 5–7 Loss 1977 Wimbledon Grass Frew McMillan Greer Stevens Bob Hewitt 6–3, 5–7, 4–6 Win 1977 US Open Clay Frew McMillan Billie Jean King Vitas Gerulaitis 6–2, 3–6, 6–3 Win 1978 Wimbledon Grass Frew McMillan Billie Jean King Ray Ruffels 6–2, 6–2 Win 1978 US Open Hard Frew McMillan Billie Jean King Ray Ruffels 6–3, 7–6 Loss 1979 Wimbledon Grass Frew McMillan Greer Stevens Bob Hewitt 5–7, 6–7 Loss 1979 US Open Hard Frew McMillan Greer Stevens Bob Hewitt 3–6, 5–7 Loss 1980 US Open Hard Frew McMillan Wendy Turnbull Marty Riessen 5–7, 2–6 Loss 1981 French Open Clay Fred McNair Andrea Jaeger Jimmy Arias 6–7, 4–6 Win 1981 Wimbledon Grass Frew McMillan Tracy Austin John Austin 4–6, 7–6, 6–3
Year-End Championships finals
Doubles: 3 (1 title, 2 runner-ups) ResultYearChampionship SurfacePartnerOpponentsScore Loss 1973 New York City Carpet (i) Françoise Dürr Rosie Casals Margaret Court 2–6, 4–6 Loss 1974 Los Angeles Carpet (i) Françoise Dürr Rosie Casals Billie Jean King 1–6, 7–6, 5–7 Win 1979 New York City Carpet (i) Françoise Dürr Sue Barker Ann Kiyomura 7–6, 7–6
Career finals
Singles 16 (4 titles, 12 runner-ups)
ResultW/L DateTournamentSurfaceOpponentScoreWin 1–0 Jul 1966 Bristol, UK Grass Norma Baylon 6–3, 7–5Loss 1–1 Feb 1971 Christchurch, New Zealand Grass Evonne Goolagong 1–6, 4–6Win 2–1 Jul 1972 Hilversum, Netherlands Clay Marijke Schaar 7–5, 6–3Win 3–1 Jul 1973 Hilversum, Netherlands Clay Helga Masthoff 7–5, 6–2Loss 3–2 Aug 1973 Denver, US Hard Billie Jean King 4–6, 2–6Loss 3–3 Sep 1976 Atlanta, US Carpet (i) Virginia Wade 7–5, 5–7, 5–7Win 4–3 Oct 1976 Tokyo, Japan Carpet (i) Margaret Court 1–6, 6–4, 6–3Loss 4–4 Dec 1976 Sydney, Australia Grass Martina Navratilova 5–7, 2–6Loss 4–5 July 1977 Wimbledon Grass Virginia Wade 6–4, 3–6, 1–6Loss 4–6 Oct 1977 São Paulo, Brazil Hard Billie Jean King 6–1, 6–4Loss 4–7 Jan 1978 Washington, US Carpet (i) Martina Navratilova 5–7, 4–6Loss 4–8 Feb 1978 Seattle, US Carpet (i) Martina Navratilova 1–6, 6–1, 1–6Loss 4–9 Sept 1978 Tokyo, Japan Carpet (i) Virginia Wade 4–6, 6–7Loss 4–10 Oct 1978 Brighton, UK Carpet (i) Virginia Ruzici 7–5, 2–6, 5–7Loss 4–11 Oct 1978 Stuttgart, West Germany Hard Tracy Austin 3–6, 3–6Loss 4–12 Nov 1979 Stockholm, Sweden Hard Billie Jean King 3–6, 7–6, 5–7
(*) Note: Tokyo was a non-tour event in 1976, and some events listed above are before the inception of the WTA in June 1973.
Doubles 138 (78 titles, 60 runner-ups)