Career

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.

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 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.

Major finals

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 (0 titles, 1 runner-up)

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

Women's doubles: 14 (6 titles, 8 runners-up)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score in the final
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	6-2, 6-3
Runner-up	1973	Wimbledon	Grass	Françoise Dürr	Rosie Casals Billie Jean King	6-1, 4-6, 7-5
Runner-up	1974	US Open	Grass	Françoise Dürr	Rosie Casals Billie Jean King	7-6, 6-7, 6-4
Runner-up	1975	Wimbledon	Grass	Françoise Dürr	Ann Kiyomura Kazuko Sawamatsu	7-5, 1-6, 7-5
Runner-up	1976	Wimbledon	Grass	Billie Jean King	Chris Evert Martina Navratilova	6-1, 3-6, 7-5
Runner-up	1977	Wimbledon	Grass	Martina Navratilova	Helen Gourlay JoAnne Russell	6-3, 6-3
Winner	1977	US Open	Clay	Martina Navratilova	Renée Richards Betty-Ann Stuart	6-1, 7-6
Winner	1979	French Open	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	5-7, 6-3, 6-2
Winner	1979	US Open	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	7-6, 7-5

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

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	1971	US Open	Grass	Bob Maud	Billie Jean King Owen Davidson	6-3, 7-5
Runner-up	1973	French Open	Clay	Patrice Dominguez	Françoise Dürr Jean-Claude Barclay	6-1, 6-4
Runner-up	1975	Wimbledon	Grass	Allan Stone	Margaret Court Marty Riessen	6-4, 7-5
Runner-up	1976	US Open	Clay	Frew McMillan	Billie Jean King Phil Dent	3-6, 6-2, 7-5
Runner-up	1977	Wimbledon	Grass	Frew McMillan	Greer Stevens Bob Hewitt	3-6, 7-5, 6-4
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	Hard	Frew McMillan	Billie Jean King Ray Ruffels	6-3, 7-6
Runner-up	1979	Wimbledon	Grass	Frew McMillan	Greer Stevens Bob Hewitt	7-5, 7-6
Runner-up	1979	US Open	Hard	Frew McMillan	Greer Stevens Bob Hewitt	6-3, 7-5
Runner-up	1980	US Open	Hard	Frew McMillan	Wendy Turnbull Marty Riessen	7-5, 6-2
Runner-up	1981	French Open	Clay	Fred McNair	Andrea Jaeger Jimmy Arias	7-6, 6-4
Winner	1981	Wimbledon	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	Location	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	1973	New York City	Carpet (i)	Françoise Dürr	Rosie Casals Margaret Court	6-2, 6-4
Runner-up	1974	Los Angeles	Carpet (i)	Françoise Dürr	Rosie Casals Billie Jean King	6-1, 6-7, 7-5
Winner	1979	New York City	Carpet (i)	Françoise Dürr	Sue Barker Ann Kiyomura	7-6, 7-6

Titles (75)

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)

1971: Monte Carlo (with Katja Ebbinghaus) 1971: Buenos Aires (with Olga Morozova) 1971: Dublin (with Lesley Turner Bowrey) 1971: Hilversum (with Christina Sandberg) 1972: French Open (with Billie Jean King) 1972: Wimbledon (with Billie Jean King) 1972: Newport (with Judy Tegart Dalton) 1972: US Open (with Françoise Dürr) 1973: Miami (with Françoise Dürr) 1973: Hilton Head Island (with Françoise Dürr) 1973: Nashville (with Françoise Dürr) 1973: Allaire (with Françoise Dürr) 1973: Newport (with Françoise Dürr) 1973: Colombus (with Françoise Dürr) 1974: Washington, D.C. (with Billie Jean King) 1974: Fort Lauderdale (with Françoise Dürr) 1974: St. Petersburg (with Olga Morozova) 1974: Orlando (with Françoise Dürr) 1974: Denver (with Françoise Dürr) 1974: Phoenix (with Françoise Dürr) 1975: Washington, D.C. (with Françoise Dürr) 1975: Akron (with Françoise Dürr) 1975: Houston (with Françoise Dürr) 1975: Dallas (with Françoise Dürr) 1975: Philadelphia (with Evonne Goolagong) 1975: Denver (with Françoise Dürr) 1975: Phoenix (with Françoise Dürr) 1975: Stockholm (with Françoise Dürr) 1975: Paris (with Françoise Dürr) 1975: London (with Françoise Dürr) 1976: Sarasota (with Martina Navratilova) 1976: San Francisco (with Billie Jean King) 1976: Philadelphia (with Billie Jean King) 1976: Phoenix (with Billie Jean King) 1976: London (with Virginia Wade) 1976: Sydney (with Martina Navratilova) 1976: Melbourne (with Margaret Court) 1977: Washington, D.C. (with Martina Navratilova)

1977: Hollywood (with Martina Navratilova) 1977: Houston (with Martina Navratilova) 1977: Detroit (with Martina Navratilova) 1977: Dallas (with Martina Navratilova) 1977: New York City, Virginia Slims Champ's (with Martina Navratilova) 1977: Tokyo, Bridgestone Doubles (with Martina Navratilova) 1977: Charlotte (with Martina Navratilova) 1977: US Open (with Martina Navratilova) 1977: Atlanta (with Martina Navratilova) 1977: Melbourne (with Evonne Goolagong) 1978: Los Angeles (with Virginia Wade) 1978: Chicago (with Evonne Goolagong) 1978: Eastbourne (with Chris Evert) 1978: Phoenix (with Tracy Austin) 1978: Brighton (with Virginia Wade) 1978: Filderstadt (with Tracy Austin) 1978: Tokyo, Gunze World (with Martina Navratilova) 1979: Hollywood (with Tracy Austin) 1979: Seattle (with Françoise Dürr) 1979: Detroit (with Wendy Turnbull) 1979: Philadelphia (with Françoise Dürr) 1979: New York City, Avon Champ's (with Françoise Dürr) 1979: Tokyo, Bridgestone Doubles (with Françoise Dürr) 1979: Rome (with Wendy Turnbull) 1979: French Open (with Wendy Turnbull) 1979: Eastbourne (with Wendy Turnbull) 1979: Richmond (with Wendy Turnbull) 1979: Mahwah (with Tracy Austin) 1979: US Open (with Wendy Turnbull) 1979: Atlanta (with Wendy Turnbull) 1979: Phoenix (with Wendy Turnbull) 1979: Stockholm (with Wendy Turnbull) 1980: Chichester (with Pam Shriver) 1980: Filderstadt (with Hana Mandlíková) 1980: Amsterdam (with Hana Mandlíková) 1980: Sydney (with Pam Shriver) 1980: Adelaide (with Pam Shriver)

Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

Tournament	1964	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977		1978	1979	1980	1981	1982	Career SR
Australia	A	A	A	3R	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	3R	2R	2R	0 / 4
France	A	3R	A	2R	A	A	1R	3R	3R	3R	A	A	A	A		A	3R	2R	1R	2R	0 / 10
Wimbledon	2R	1R	3R	2R	A	2R	2R	2R	4R	1R	1R	QF	4R	F		4R	4R	3R	2R	A	0 / 17
United States	1R	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	3R	2R	2R	2R	1R	SF		4R	2R	1R	1R	1R	0 / 13
SR	0 / 2	0 / 2	0 / 1	0 / 3	0 / 0	0 / 1	0 / 2	0 / 3	0 / 3	0 / 3	0 / 2	0 / 2	0 / 2	0 / 2		0 / 2	0 / 3	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 3	0 / 44
Career statistics
Year End Ranking												22	7	7		8	22	28	123	47

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.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]