39 Facts About Sue Barker

Susan Barker was born on 19 April 1956 and is an English former television presenter and professional tennis player.

Sue Barker reached a career-high singles ranking of world No 3.

Sue Barker started working for the BBC as a tennis presenter in 1993, and the following year began to present coverage of the Wimbledon tennis championships; she stepped down from this role after the 2022 Wimbledon Championships.

Sue Barker was a former presenter of A Question of Sport.

Sue Barker was born on 19 April 1956 and raised in Paignton, Devon, and educated at a convent school.

Sue Barker's forehand was her strongest and most admired weapon throughout her career, with Roberts describing it as "especially potent".

Aged 16, and ranked 21st in the WTA rankings, Sue Barker was advised by Roberts to move to the United States for her development.

In 1975, Sue Barker won her first top-level singles title and three additional titles.

Sue Barker reached her first Grand Slam semi-final in 1975 at the Australian Open.

Later in 1976, Sue Barker had the biggest victory of her career by winning the French Open at the age of 20, again defeating Tomanova in the final.

In 1977 Sue Barker won two singles titles in San Francisco and Dallas.

Sue Barker beat Martina Navratilova to reach the Virginia Slims Tour Championships final, where she lost in three sets to Chris Evert.

Sue Barker reached the Australian Open semi-final for the second time in 1977 and reached the Wimbledon semi-final that year.

Sue Barker looked set to meet Virginia Wade in the Wimbledon final in 1977, but unexpectedly lost her semi-final against Betty Stove of the Netherlands.

Years later, Sue Barker said that losing to Stove was the biggest disappointment of her career and admitted that she was so upset at losing in the 1977 Wimbledon semi-final that she could not bear to watch the final, which was won by Wade.

Sue Barker was named the tour's "Comeback Player of the Year" by her fellow professionals.

Sue Barker reached one final in 1980 and won the last singles title of her career at the Brighton International in 1981, finishing the year ranked World No 16.

Sue Barker won her last doubles title in 1982 at Cincinnati and played her last professional match in 1984.

Sue Barker won 15 singles titles and 12 doubles titles, with wins over Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Billie Jean King, Evonne Goolagong, Tracy Austin, Virginia Wade, Maria Bueno, Rosemary Casals, Andrea Jaeger and Pam Shriver.

In 1993, Sue Barker joined the BBC and hosted its Wimbledon coverage as a regular guest on Today at Wimbledon with Harry Carpenter.

Sue Barker took over as host of Today at Wimbledon in 1994, and from 2000 until 2022, she anchored the two-week-long broadcast for the network.

Sue Barker has branched out since joining the BBC, becoming one of their chief sports presenters.

Sue Barker was one of the presenters of Grandstand and the presenter of the long-running sports quiz show A Question of Sport since 1997, having succeeded David Coleman.

Sue Barker retired as QoS presenter following the BBC's decision to revamp the show, having recorded her last episode in September 2020.

Sue Barker was a host of the annual BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards ceremony from 1994 to 2012 before stepping down in 2013.

Sue Barker has hosted BBC Sport's coverage of the Australian Open, the French Open, Queens Club Championships, Eastbourne, the Davis Cup, the ATP World Tour Finals and Wimbledon.

Sue Barker provided commentary for the 1998 video game Actua Tennis, along with fellow BBC broadcaster Barry Davies.

Sue Barker had introduced Rhys-Jones to Queen Elizabeth II's youngest son at a charity function a few years earlier.

In July 2012, the Advertising Standards Authority in the UK received over 40 complaints for a Go Compare advert featuring Sue Barker who was shown firing a large rocket launcher at opera singer Gio Compario in an attempt to kill off the face of the brand.

Sue Barker was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2000 New Year Honours for services to sport and broadcasting, Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to broadcasting and charity and Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2021 Birthday Honours for services to broadcasting and charity.

On 9 June 2022, Sue Barker announced she would be stepping down from BBC coverage of the Wimbledon tennis championship after the 2022 finals, which she had covered since 1993.

Sue Barker has since stated that she was dismissed from the show rather than leaving by choice.

Sue Barker alleges that she was asked to put her name to an untrue pre-prepared statement claiming she left of her own accord when this was not the case.

Sue Barker accepted the BBC's decision to replace her, which she claimed was because they wished to "refresh" the show.

In 1980, Sue Barker was temporarily blinded in her right eye after a large dog in Spain jumped up and bit her.

Sue Barker lost the sight in her eye for five hours and feared that the dog attack would force her to stop playing tennis, which she said "broke her heart".

In 1988, Sue Barker married landscape gardener and former policeman Lance Tankard.

In September 2022, Sue Barker featured on Desert Island Discs; Her favourite chosen track was "Harry Hippie" by Bobby Womack, with her choice of book and luxury item given as All In by Billie Jean King and some New Zealand sauvignon blanc wine respectively.

Sue Barker's autobiography, Calling the Shots, was published in September 2022.