My mum won Australian Open twice then switched nationality, now I’m making my own way in tennis for different country
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ELIZABETH MANDLIK has the perfect role model as she tries to make her way in tennis. Even though she is representing neither of the two countries her mum flew the flag for. Mandlik, 23, was born in Florida in May 2001, on the same day as her twin brother Mark.
![[Elizabeth Mandlik is following in her mother's footsteps as a tennis pro]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/usa-returns-ball-qualifying-round-962159420.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
Now she is following in the footsteps of her famous mother by turning pro on the tennis circuit. As of the start of 2025, Mandlik is currently ranked 275th in the world. The American national has picked up an impressive £600,000 ($748,000) in prize money since turning pro.
![[Mandlik - whose grandfather was an Olympic sprinter - has earned £600,000 in career prize money]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/b3bc3903-e5fc-4496-ab93-27a29e1e87fc.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
Mandlik won her maiden Grand Slam match in the first round at the 2022 US Open before losing to eventual runner-up Ons Jabeur. But she has a long way to go to match the career of her mum. That is because Mandlik is the daughter of five-time Major winner Hana Mandlikova.
![[Elizabeth has a twin brother Mark, with the siblings born in May 2001]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/fbd847dc-d68b-4abd-b242-22a67fc0d983.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
Mandlikova, 62, represented Czechoslovakia for the first ten years of her pro career from 1978 to 1988 having been the first female world No1 junior. And that impressive decade included her four singles Grand Slams. She won the 1980 Australian Open, 1981 French Open, 1985 US Open and 1987 Australian Open - the latter two coming after beating Martina Navratilova in the finals.
![[Their father was a friend of their mother but had no involvement in their upbringing]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/elizabeth-mandlik-962177962.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
Navratilova did get the better of Mandlikova in the 1986 Wimbledon final while it was Chris Evert who she lost to in 1981, weeks after ending Evert’s 72-match winning streak on clay at the French Open semis. Mandlikova, by then having switched to Australia following her marriage to Czech-born Australian restaurateur Jan Sedlak, then teamed up with Navratilova to win the US Open women’s doubles title in 1989.
![[Hana Mandlikova won four Grand Slam singles titles - including the Australian Open in 1980 and 1987]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/1987-womens-australian-tennis-open-962177995.jpg?strip=all&w=665)
