Elizabeth Smylie (née Sayers, born 11 April 1963), sometimes known as Liz Smylie, is a retired Australian tennis player. During her career, she won four
Grand Slam titles, one of them in women's doubles and three in mixed doubles. She also won three singles titles and 36 doubles titles on the tour.
Career
Smylie turned professional in 1982. She won the women's doubles title at
Wimbledon in 1985 with
Kathy Jordan. In mixed doubles, she teamed with
John Fitzgerald to win the 1983
US Open and 1991 Wimbledon titles and with
Todd Woodbridge to win the 1990 US Open. She won the
Virginia Slims Championships
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...
with Jordan in 1990. Her best Grand Slam performance in singles came at the Australian Open in 1987, when she reached the quarterfinals. Her highest ever singles ranking was World No. 20 and her highest in doubles was World No. 5.
She played
Federation Cup from 1984 to 1994, and won a bronze medal in women's doubles with
Wendy Turnbull at the
1988 Summer Olympics
The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...
in
Seoul
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the Capital city, capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the North Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea ...
.
Over her career, Smylie won three singles titles and 36 doubles titles. She won the
Western Australian Sports Star of the Year
The Western Australian Sports Star Award, currently known as ''The West Australian'RACSports Star Award, is an annual award for sportspeople from the Australian state of Western Australia and/or playing for teams based in Western Australia. It has ...
award in 1985 and the
Comeback Player of the Year award in 1990 and 1993.
Personal life
She is married to player-manager
Peter Smylie and they have three children, Laura, Jordan and Elvis. She was the long-time tournament director of the Australian Women's Hardcourts and also works as a sports television commentator. Her brother
Mervyn Sayers played one
first-class cricket
First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...
game for
Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to t ...
in 1979.
Major finals
Grand Slam tournaments
Doubles: 5 (1 title, 4 runner-ups)
Mixed doubles: 8 (3 titles, 5 runner-ups)
Olympics
Doubles: 1 (bronze medal)
Smylie and Turnbull lost their semifinal match to
Zina Garrison and
Pam Shriver 6–7
(5), 4–6. In 1988, there was no bronze medal play-off match, both beaten semifinal pairs received bronze medals.
Year-end championships
Doubles: 1 (1 title)
WTA career finals
Singles: 6 (3–3)
Doubles: 69 (36–33)
Grand Slam performance timelines
Singles
Doubles
*NR = not ranked
Mixed doubles
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Smylie, Elizabeth
1963 births
Living people
Australian female tennis players
Hopman Cup competitors
Olympic bronze medalists for Australia
Olympic medalists in tennis
Olympic tennis players of Australia
Sportswomen from Western Australia
Tennis players from Perth, Western Australia
Tennis players at the 1988 Summer Olympics
US Open (tennis) champions
Wimbledon champions
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's doubles
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles
Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics