Samantha Smith (born 27 November 1971) is an English former professional tennis player, who was the British ladies' No. 1 from 1996 to 1999. She now commentates on the game, predominantly for the BBC,

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, Sky Sports, BT Sport and Eurosport and

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Sam Smith
Biography and Image, Celebrity Tennis as well as in Australia on the

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which she has been a part of for 11 years with the Seven Network and as of 2019 the

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Early life

Smith was born in

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, Essex and was educated at Bancroft's School. She took three years out of tennis to attend the University of Exeter where she attained an upper second class Honours degree in history.

Tennis career

Smith competed on the WTA Tour from 1990 to 1992 and from 1995 to 2000. Her highest achievement was in reaching the fourth round at the Wimbledon Championships in 1998, when she beat

Anne-Gaëlle Sidot Anne-Gaëlle Sidot (born 24 July 1979) is a former professional tennis player from France. Career Sidot turned professional in 1994. Her best Grand Slam singles performances were reaching the third round exactly once in each of the four Grand S ...

, Mariana Díaz Oliva and former champion

Conchita Martínez "Conchita" Martínez Bernat (born 16 April 1972) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. She was the first Spaniard to win the women's singles title at The Championships, Wimbledon, Wimbledon, doing so in 1994 Wimbledon Championships � ...

before losing to eventual runner up

Nathalie Tauziat Nathalie Tauziat (born 17 October 1967) is a French former professional tennis player. She was the runner-up in women's singles at the 1998 Wimbledon Championships and runner-up in the women's doubles at the 2001 US Open partnering Kimberl ...

. In so doing she picked up an ankle injury that required her to have two operations and spend four months in plaster; this effectively ended her career. She peaked at No. 55 in the WTA rankings before the injury curtailed her climb up the rankings. At the

, she competed in the first round of the women's doubles competition in 1992 (with Ilana Berger), and reached the second round in 1999. At the

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...

at Roland Garros, she competed in the first round in 1991 and 1999. At

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, she competed eight times and reached the fourth round in 1998.
At the US Open, she competed in the first round in 1998 and reached the second round in 1997.
At the 1992 Barcelona Olympics she reached the second round. Smith won a

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

in the mixed doubles at the 1995 Universiade (

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) in Fukuoka, Japan, partnering Paul Robinson. She also reached the quarterfinals in the singles. She won the ITF tournaments at Nottingham in 1995 (singles and doubles) and Frinton-on-Sea in 2000. She represented Britain in the Fed Cup and European Cup in 1991 and from 1996 to 1999. She was unbeaten in her five singles matches in the 1997 Fed Cup.

ITF finals

Singles (3–4)

Doubles (5–2)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Samantha 1971 births Living people Alumni of the University of Exeter BBC people British female tennis players English sports broadcasters Olympic tennis players of Great Britain People from Loughton People from Westcliff-on-Sea Tennis commentators Tennis players at the 1992 Summer Olympics Universiade medalists in tennis English female tennis players Tennis people from Essex Universiade silver medalists for Great Britain Universiade bronze medalists for Great Britain People educated at Bancroft's School Medalists at the 1995 Summer Universiade