Liesl Herbst (née Westreich) was born on 8 November 1903 in the town of Jaegerndorf (now called Krnov) in Silesia where her family owned the Gessler distillery.

Her other sister, Gertruda Löwenbein, was murdered in the mass shooting as a result of the Slovak National Uprising at Banská Bystrica, Slovakia in 1944, along with her husband Rudolph and 16-year-old daughter Anna.

Between 1930 and 1936, when she took prominent places in the national rankings, the Austrian Lawn Tennis Association didn't send any female representatives to Wimbledon or to the French Championships.

She won singles matches against former, current and future champions of Austria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Yugoslavia, Poland, Hungary, and Italy.

During her skiing days she went to many different resorts all over the Alps and competed in several amateur races, gaining the Swiss Gold Test in St Moritz in 1955.