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, ITV, Sky Sports, BT Sport, Eurosport & Amazon Prime and for 17 consecutive years since 2009 in Australia on the Australian Open for the Seven Network and since 2019 the Nine Network.
Early life
Smith was born in Epping, Essex and was educated at Bancroft's School. She took three years out of tennis (1992–1995) to attend the University of Exeter where she attained an upper second class Honours degree in history. At the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Olympics, Smith not only commentated on tennis matches but also on badminton and table tennis.
ITF finals
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:85%;" width=14%
|- bgcolor="#F7E98E"
| $75,000 tournaments
|- bgcolor="#ADDFAD"
| $50,000 tournaments
|- bgcolor="lightblue"
| $25,000 tournaments
|- bgcolor="#f0f8ff"
| $10,000 tournaments
|}
Singles (3–4)
{|class="sortable wikitable"
|-
!Result
!No.
!Date
!Tournament
!Surface
!Opponent
!class="unsortable"|Score
|-
| style="background:#ffa07a;"|Loss
| 1.
| 24 April 1989
| Sutton, United Kingdom
| Clay
| Kimiko Date
| 2–6, 1–6
|- bgcolor="#ADDFAD"
| style="background:#ffa07a;"|Loss
| 2.
| 2 September 1991
| Arzachena, Italy
| Hard
| Katia Piccolini
| 2–6, 7–6, 4–6
|- style="background:lightblue;"
| style="background:#ffa07a;"|Loss
| 3.
| 4 November 1991
| Manchester, UK
| Carpet (i)
| Amanda Grunfeld
| 6–4, 4–6, 2–6
|-
| style="background:#98fb98;"|Win
| 1.
| 2 October 1995
| Nottingham, UK
| Hard (i)
| Abigail Tordoff
| 6–4, 6–2
|- bgcolor="#f0f8ff"
| style="background:#ffa07a;"|Loss
| 4.
| 10 February 1996
| Sunderland, UK
| Hard (i)
| Raluca Sandu
| 6–4, 5–7, 4–6
|- bgcolor="lightblue"
| style="background:#98fb98;"|Win
| 2.
| 8 February 1999
| Rockford, United States
| Hard (i)
| Miroslava Vavrinec
| 6–4, 6–4
|- style="background:#f0f8ff;"
| style="background:#98fb98;"|Win
| 3.
| 23 July 2000
| Frinton-on-Sea, UK
| Grass
| Helen Crook
| 6–3, 6–0
|}
Doubles (5–2)
{|class="sortable wikitable"
|-
!Result
!No.
!Date
!Tournament
!Surface
!Partner
!Opponents
!class="unsortable"|Score
|- style="background:lightblue;"
| style="background:#98fb98;"|Win
| 1.
| 13 August 1990
| Brasília, Brazil
| Clay
| Sofie Albinus
| Luciana Tella <br /> Andrea Vieira
| 7–6<sup>(7–2)</sup>, 4–6, 6–3
|- style="background:lightblue;"
| style="background:#98fb98;"|Win
| 2.
| 11 February 1991
| Key Biscayne, US
| Hard
| Penny Barg
| Rene Simpson <br /> Hellas ter Riet
| 7–5, 6–2
|- style="background:#f0f8ff;"
| style="background:#98fb98;"|Win
| 3.
| 25 September 1995
| Telford, UK
| Hard (i)
| Jane Wood
| Kaye Hand <br /> Anna-Karin Svensson
| 4–6, 7–6<sup>(8–6)</sup>, 6–3
|- style="background:#f0f8ff;"
| style="background:#ffa07a;"|Loss
| 1.
| 2 October 1995
| Nottingham, UK
| Hard (i)
| Jane Wood
| Sofia Finér <br /> Annica Lindstedt
| 6–7<sup>(7–9)</sup>, 5–7
|- style="background:#f7e98e;"
| style="background:#98fb98;"|Win
| 4.
| 2 August 1998
| Salt Lake City, US
| Hard
| Mariaan de Swardt
| Liezel Horn <br /> Karin Kschwendt
| 6–2, 6–2
|- style="background:lightblue;"
| style="background:#ffa07a;"|Loss
| 2.
| 25 October 1998
| Welwyn, UK
| Carpet (i)
| Louise Pleming
| Laurence Courtois <br /> Tina Križan
| 6–7, 4–6
|- bgcolor="lightblue"
| style="background:#98fb98;"|Win
| 5.
| 21 February 1999
| Midland, US
| Hard (i)
| Liezel Horn
| Kirstin Freye <br /> Sonya Jeyaseelan
| 7–6<sup>(8–6)</sup>, 0–6, 7–5
|}