Nathalie Tauziat was born in Bangui, in the Central African Republic, on 17 October 1967 and spent her first eight years there; she later made her home in Anglet, France. She turned out to be a late bloomer whose best results came after the age of 30.
Her greatest run came at Wimbledon in 1998, at the age of 30. She beat Lindsay Davenport in the quarterfinals and Natasha Zvereva in the semifinals to reach the final, where she lost to Jana Novotná 6–4, 7–6. It was her only Grand Slam singles final.
Tauziat was just as successful in doubles. With her compatriot Alexandra Fusai she reached the final of the season-ending Chase Championships in 1997 and 1998, and in 2001 she was runner-up at the US Open with Kimberly Po-Messerli. In 1997 she was part of the French team that won the Fed Cup.
She kept improving late in her career. On 8 May 2000, aged 32, she reached world No. 3 in singles, her career high, and on 8 October 2001 she reached No. 3 in the doubles rankings too. In all she won eight singles titles and 25 doubles titles, with records of 606–365 in singles and 525–326 in doubles. In 2001 she published Les Dessous du tennis féminin, a book about life on the women's tour.
She played only doubles in 2002 and 2003 and retired after the 2003 French Open. In 2004 she received the Légion d'honneur. From 2003 she worked as a WTA mentor to Marion Bartoli, and she later became a coach, working with Bianca Andreescu, with Harmony Tan and with Victoria Mboko.