Lilian Drescher Kelaidis (born 23 May 1965) is a former professional

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player from Switzerland.

Biography

Tennis career

Born in Venezuela, Drescher was the

Junior Orange Bowl The Junior Orange Bowl is a non-profit organization based in Coral Gables, Florida Coral Gables, officially City of Coral Gables, is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The city is located southwest of Downtown Miami. As of the 2020 U.S. c ...

(14 & Under) champion in 1979, representing her native country. In the 1980s she played for several years on the professional circuit, based in Switzerland. Drescher represented Switzerland in the women's singles at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...

in Los Angeles, which was a demonstration event. The only Swiss player in the draw, she had wins over

Elizabeth Minter Elizabeth Minter (born 23 August 1965) is an Australian former professional tennis player. She was born on 23 August 1965 in Australia and played on the WTA tour from 1980 to 1990. She now helps train young children. Tennis career In 1983 Min ...

and

Renata Šašak Renata Šašak-Ružir (born 14 June 1964) is a former Yugoslavian professional tennis player. Biography Born in Zagreb, Šašak debuted for the Yugoslavia Federation Cup team in 1979. One of her Federation Cup doubles teammates was Mima Jaušov ...

, before being eliminated in the quarterfinals by sixth seeded Italian

Raffaella Reggi Raffaella Reggi (; born 27 November 1965) is a former professional tennis player from Italy. Career As a junior, Reggi won the Orange Bowl 16 and under in 1981. She was a member of the Continental Players Cup Team in 1982. Reggi won the mixe ...

. She also played Federation Cup tennis for Switzerland, in 1984 and 1985, featuring in the second round both years. In 1985 she won a

Federation Cup Federation Cup or Fed Cup is the former name of the premier world team competition in women's tennis. Federation Cup may also refer to: * Capital Football Federation Cup, an Australian territory-based association football tournament *Federation Cup ...

singles match against Czechoslovakia's

Helena Suková Helena Suková () (born 23 February 1965) is a Czech former professional tennis player. During her career, she won 14 major doubles titles, nine in women's doubles and five in mixed doubles. She is also a two-time Olympic silver medalist in doub ...

, but Switzerland lost the tie to the reigning champions. On the

WTA Tour The WTA Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125K series, and third-tier is the ITF Women's Circuit. The men's equivalent is the ATP Tour. WTA Tour tourna ...

she won one title, the 1984 Japan Open, which she managed to do without dropping a set all tournament, including a win over a young

Gabriela Sabatini Gabriela Beatriz Sabatini (; born 16 May 1970) is an Argentine-Italian former professional tennis player. A former world No. 3 in both singles and doubles, Sabatini was one of the leading players from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, amassing 41 ...

in the fourth round. She defeated American

Shawn Foltz Shawn Foltz-Emmons (born 21 December 1967) is an American former professional tennis player. Tennis career A right-handed player from Indianapolis, Foltz was a rising star in junior tennis who was unable to fulfil her promise on the professiona ...

in the final. Early in 1985 she made the round of 16 at the

Lipton International Players Championships The Miami Open (also known as the Miami Masters, and currently branded as the Miami Open presented by Itaú for sponsorship reasons) is a tennis tournament held at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. It is part of the men's ATP Tour Mas ...

in Delray Beach, the only tournament of the season outside of Grand Slams to feature a 128 player draw. This performance took her into the top 50 of the world rankings. She competed in the main draw of all four Grand Slams during her career and reached the second round on three occasions. One of her wins was against future Wimbledon champion

Jana Novotna Jana may refer to: Entertainment * ''Jana'' (film), a 2004 Tamil film by Shaji Kailas * Jana (singer) (born 1974), Serbian singer * Jana (Native American singer), née Jana Mashonee * ''Jana of the Jungle'', animated series created by Doug Wild ...

, who was making her Grand Slam debut, at the

1986 French Open The 1986 French Open was a tennis tournament that took place on the outdoor clay courts at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. The tournament was held from 26 May until 8 June. It was the 90th staging of the French Open, and the first Gran ...

Personal life

She married Nicolas Kelaidis, a former Greek Davis Cup representative who had been a national coach in Switzerland in the 1980s. Their son, Carlos, plays collegiate tennis at

Clemson University Clemson University () is a public land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university in the student population in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enro ...

as of 2017 and has been a top 200 ranked junior on the international tour.

WTA Tour finals

Singles (1-0)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Drescher, Lilian 1965 births Living people Swiss female tennis players Immigrants to Switzerland Venezuelan emigrants Tennis players at the 1984 Summer Olympics Olympic tennis players for Switzerland