Career
Turnbull turned professional in 1975. Her career high rankings were third in singles and fifth in doubles. She was ranked in the year-end world top 20 for ten consecutive years (1977 through 1986) and in the year-end world top 10 for eight consecutive years from 1977 to 1984.
She was nicknamed "Rabbit" by her peers because of her foot speed around the court.
Turnbull was a singles runner-up at the 1977 United States Open, the 1979 French Open, and the 1980 Australian Open. She was a 12-time runner-up in Grand Slam doubles events: eleven times in women"s doubles and one time in mixed doubles.
Nine of her eleven women"s doubles losses were to teams that included Martina Navratilova. She is one of very few players to have a winning record against Steffi Graf and leads 2–1 in head-to-head matches.
She was the captain or coach of the team from 1985 through 1993.
In 1979, the Supersisters trading card set was produced and distributed. One of the cards featured Turnbull"s name and picture. Turnbull was appointed to the International Tennis Federation (International Tennis Federation) Olympic Committee in 1991, the only player appointed to the committee.
She also serves on the International Tennis Federation"s Federation Cup Committee.
In December 1993, the city of Brisbane named a public park in her honour. She was inducted into the Australian Tennis Hall of Fame in 2009.
Grand Slam finals
= Singles: 3 (0 titles, 3 runners-up) = Women"s doubles: 15 (4 titles, 11 runners-up) = Mixed doubles: 6 (5 titles, 1 runner-up) Olympics
= Doubles Smylie and Turnbull lost in the semi-finals to Pam Shriver and Zina Garrison 7-6(5), 6-4. In 1988, there was no bronze medal play off match, both beaten semi-final pairs received bronze medals.
Year-End Championships finals
= Doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)
Singles
Doubles
Mixed doubles.