The Most Famous

TENNIS PLAYERS from Netherlands

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This page contains a list of the greatest Dutch Tennis Players. The pantheon dataset contains 1,569 Tennis Players, 24 of which were born in Netherlands. This makes Netherlands the birth place of the 15th most number of Tennis Players behind Ukraine, and Slovakia.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Dutch Tennis Players of all time. This list of famous Dutch Tennis Players is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Dutch Tennis Players.

Photo of Tom Okker

1. Tom Okker (b. 1944)

With an HPI of 55.52, Tom Okker is the most famous Dutch Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 25 different languages on wikipedia.

Thomas Samuel Okker (nicknamed "the Flying Dutchman"; born 22 February 1944) is a Dutch former tennis player who was active from the mid-1960s until 1980. He won the 1973 French Open Doubles, the 1976 US Open Doubles, and two gold medals at the 1965 Maccabiah Games in Israel. He was ranked among the world's top-ten singles players for seven consecutive years, 1968–74, reaching a career high of world No. 3 in 1974. He also was ranked world No. 1 in doubles in 1979.

Photo of Kea Bouman

2. Kea Bouman (1903 - 1998)

With an HPI of 55.37, Kea Bouman is the 2nd most famous Dutch Tennis Player.  Her biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Cornelia "Kea" Tiedemann-Bouman (23 November 1903 – 17 November 1998) was a female tennis player from the Netherlands. She won the singles title at the 1927 French Championships, beating Irene Bowder Peacock of South Africa in the final. Bouman was the first and, to this date, the only Dutch woman who has won a Grand Slam singles title. Bouman additionally won the 1923, 1924, 1925 and 1926 Dutch national tennis championship (singles). Born in Almelo, Bouman is also the first female Dutch athlete to win an Olympic medal in any sport, when she teamed with Hendrik Timmer to win bronze in mixed doubles at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. In October 1927 Bouman won the singles title of the inaugural edition of the Pacific Southwest Tennis Championship, defeating Molla Mallory in the final in three sets. In 1929, Bouman teamed with Spain's Lilí Álvarez to win the women's doubles title at the French Championships, precursor of the French Open. According to A. Wallis Myers of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail, Bouman was ranked in the world top 10 in 1927 and 1928, reaching a career high of world no. 8 in those rankings in 1928. Bouman was successful in other sports as well. She became the Dutch national champion in golf and played for the national field hockey team. On 27 January 1931 she married Ir. Wilhelm Tiedemann in Almelo, and shortly afterwards the couple emigrated to Dutch East Indies where they would live for nine years and where Tiedemann worked as a geologist. She had also lived in the United States. Bouman died in Delden, Netherlands, four days after her doubles partner Henk Timmer.

Photo of Richard Krajicek

3. Richard Krajicek (b. 1971)

With an HPI of 49.13, Richard Krajicek is the 3rd most famous Dutch Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 35 different languages.

Richard Peter Stanislav Krajicek (Czech: Krajíček; born 6 December 1971) is a Dutch former professional tennis player. In 1996, he won the men's singles title at Wimbledon, and remains the only Dutch male player to have won a major singles title. In the quarterfinals of that tournament, he delivered Pete Sampras's only defeat at Wimbledon between 1993 and 2000. Krajicek reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 4 in March 1999. Since 2004, he has been the tournament director of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam. He is also the author of various sports books.

Photo of Betty Stöve

4. Betty Stöve (b. 1945)

With an HPI of 46.88, Betty Stöve is the 4th most famous Dutch Tennis Player.  Her biography has been translated into 24 different languages.

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

Photo of Paul Haarhuis

5. Paul Haarhuis (b. 1966)

With an HPI of 45.93, Paul Haarhuis is the 5th most famous Dutch Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 25 different languages.

Paul Vincent Nicholas Haarhuis (born 19 February 1966) is a Dutch tennis coach and a former professional player. He is a former world No. 1 doubles player, having reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 18 in November 1995. He has won 54 doubles titles, including six Grand Slam titles, five with Jacco Eltingh, and one with Yevgeny Kafelnikov.

Photo of Hendrik Timmer

6. Hendrik Timmer (1904 - 1998)

With an HPI of 42.42, Hendrik Timmer is the 6th most famous Dutch Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Hendrik "Henk" Timmer (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɦɛndrɪk ˈtɪmər]; 8 February 1904 – 13 November 1998) was a Dutch sportsman, who primarily played tennis. Born in Utrecht, Timmer also won golf tournaments, became Dutch squash champion, played badminton and hockey. He died aged 94 in Bilthoven, four days before his former doubles partner Kea Bouman. Apart from being a Dutch tennis champion, he was Swiss, Welsh and Scottish indoors champion as well.

Photo of Kiki Bertens

7. Kiki Bertens (b. 1991)

With an HPI of 39.33, Kiki Bertens is the 7th most famous Dutch Tennis Player.  Her biography has been translated into 39 different languages.

Kiki Bertens (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈkiki ˈbɛrtəns]; born 10 December 1991) is a Dutch former professional tennis player. Her career-high singles ranking was world No. 4, which she reached on 13 May 2019, becoming the highest-ranked Dutch female player ever. Her career-high doubles ranking of world No. 16, she achieved in April 2018. She won ten singles and ten doubles titles on the WTA Tour, including 2018 Cincinnati Open and 2019 Madrid Open. Bertens was widely regarded as a clay court specialist, but also was successful on hardcourt.

Photo of Jacco Eltingh

8. Jacco Eltingh (b. 1970)

With an HPI of 38.79, Jacco Eltingh is the 8th most famous Dutch Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.

Jacco Folkert Eltingh (born 29 August 1970) is a former professional male tennis player and former world No. 1 doubles player from the Netherlands. He is best known for his success in doubles with fellow countryman Paul Haarhuis. Together they won all four Grand Slam doubles titles at least once. Eltingh is the youngest player in the Open Era to achieve the career Grand Slam in men's doubles. Eltingh reached his career-high singles ranking in February 1995, when he climbed to world No. 19, notably reaching the quarterfinals of both the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 1995. In his professional career he has won four singles and 44 doubles titles. In November 2005, Eltingh was elected to the ATP Board as the player representative for Europe.

Photo of Martin Verkerk

9. Martin Verkerk (b. 1978)

With an HPI of 38.72, Martin Verkerk is the 9th most famous Dutch Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 24 different languages.

Martin Willem Verkerk (born 31 October 1978) is a retired professional Dutch tennis player. He reached the final of the French Open in 2003 and achieved a career-high singles ranking of No. 14 in September 2003. During his career, he won two ATP singles titles.

Photo of Manon Bollegraf

10. Manon Bollegraf (b. 1964)

With an HPI of 38.33, Manon Bollegraf is the 10th most famous Dutch Tennis Player.  Her biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Manon Maria Bollegraf (born 10 April 1964) is a former professional tennis player from the Netherlands, who was a quarterfinalist at the singles event of the 1992 French Open, a finalist in doubles at the 1997 Wimbledon Championships, and a four-time mixed doubles Grand Slam champion. She also finished fourth in women's doubles at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

People

Pantheon has 29 people classified as Dutch tennis players born between 1903 and 1996. Of these 29, 27 (93.10%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Dutch tennis players include Tom Okker, Richard Krajicek, and Betty Stöve. The most famous deceased Dutch tennis players include Kea Bouman, and Hendrik Timmer. As of April 2024, 5 new Dutch tennis players have been added to Pantheon including Tallon Griekspoor, Botic van de Zandschulp, and Rogier Wassen.

Living Dutch Tennis Players

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Deceased Dutch Tennis Players

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Newly Added Dutch Tennis Players (2024)

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