Sue Barker

Susan Barker, CBE (born 19 April 1956) is an English television presenter and former professional tennis player. During her tennis career, she won fifteen WTA Tour singles titles, including one Grand Slam singles title at the 1976 French Open. She reached a career-high singles ranking of World No. 3. She is currently a sports presenter for the BBC, most notably fronting the corporation’s tennis coverage of Wimbledon and is a former host of A Question of Sport.

Barker was born and raised in Paignton, Devon, and educated at a convent school.In 1966, aged 10, she was picked out as the second of two girls who were to receive tennis coaching from Arthur Roberts, who had coached Angela Mortimer to three Grand Slam titles. Roberts continued her coaching beyond the selection prize commitment, charging only £1/session to allow her development to continue. Barker's forehand was her strongest and most admired weapon throughout her career, with Roberts describing it as "especially potent". Advised as a teenager by a visiting LTA coach to change her forehand, Roberts told her not to and he later resigned from the LTA Coaches Association in protest at the advice. Roberts later entered Barker into tournaments on the continent, providing her with a one-way ticket there and telling her to "earn your ticket home". Roberts remained Barker's mentor throughout her career.

Aged 16, and ranked 21st in the WTA rankings, Barker was advised by Roberts to move to the United States for her development. Signed by Mark McCormack's International Management Group (IMG) on her 17th birthday, she moved to an IMG provided townhouse in Newport Beach, California, where her neighbors included the newly retired Rod Laver, and was coached at the John Wayne Tennis Club.

In 1975, Barker won her first top-level singles title and three additional titles. Barker reached her first Grand Slam semifinal in 1975 at the Australian Open. She won the German Open in 1976, beating Renáta Tomanová of Czechoslovakia in the final 6–3, 6–1.

Later in 1976, Barker had the biggest victory of her career by winning the French Open at the age of 20, again defeating Tomanová in the final. After her French Open victory against Tomanová, Barker felt that it would be the first of a number of Grand Slam titles that she would win, but she would not reach another Grand Slam final in her career.

In 1977, Barker won two singles titles in San Francisco and Dallas. She beat Martina Navratilova to reach the Virginia Slims Tour Championships final, where she lost in three sets to Chris Evert. Barker reached the Australian Open semifinal for the second time in 1977 and reached the Wimbledon semifinal that year. She looked set to meet Virginia Wade in the Wimbledon final in 1977, but unexpectedly lost her semifinal against Betty Stöve of the Netherlands.

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

After an injury-plagued 1978 during which her ranking dropped to World No. 24, she won three singles titles and reached three other finals in 1979. She was named the tour's "Comeback Player of the Year" by her fellow professionals. 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. She won her last doubles title in 1982 at Cincinnati and played her last professional match in 1984.

Barker won 15 singles titles and 12 doubles titles, posting 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 2004, recalling her French Open win of 1976, Barker said "I'm still incredibly proud of what I achieved."

Grand Slam finals

Singles (1 title)

Year-end championships finals

Singles (1 runner–up)

Doubles (1 runner–up)

Singles: 31 (15–16)

Doubles: 30 (12–18)

• " * " – Barker received a bye in the first round.
• " ^ " – Barker withdrew prior to the match, which is not counted as a loss.

Singles

Doubles

Mixed doubles

Fed Cup

1974 Federation Cup
Date	Venue	Surface	Round	Opponents	Final match score	Match	Opponent	Rubber score
13–19 May 1974	Naples	Clay	SF	Australia	0–3	Doubles	Goolagong/Young	0–6, 2–6 (L)
1975 Federation Cup
5–11 May 1975	Aix-en-Provence	Clay	1R	Austria	3–0	Singles	Sabine Bernegger	6–3, 6–2 (W)
						Doubles	Bernegger/Buche	6–3, 6–1 (W)
			QF	France	1–2	Singles	Nathalie Fuchs	1–6, 6–1, 4–6 (L)
1976 Federation Cup
22–29 Aug 1976	Philadelphia, PA	Carpet (I)	1R	France	3–0	Singles	Nathalie Fuchs	6–3, 6–0 (W)
						Doubles	Benedetti/Darmon	6–3, 6–2 (W)
			QF	South Africa	2–1	Singles	Linky Boshoff	6–1, 6–1 (W)
						Doubles	Boshoff/Kloss	1–6, 4–6 (L)
			SF	Australia	0–3	Singles	Dianne Fromholtz	2–6, 6–7 (L)
						Doubles	Cawley/Reid	1–6, 3–6 (L)
1977 Federation Cup
13–18 Jun 1977	Eastbourne	Grass	1R	Denmark	3–0	Singles	Dorte Ekner	6–3, 6–1 (W)
						Doubles	Ekner/Sparre	6–2, 6–2 (W)
			2R	South Korea	3–0	Singles	Choi Kyeong-Mi	6–1, 6–3 (W)
						Doubles	Choi/Lee	6–1, 6–0 (W)
			QF	Sweden	3–0	Singles	Mimmi Wikstedt	6–2, 6–0 (W)
						Doubles	Anliot/Wikstedt	6–2, 5–7, 6–3 (W)
			SF	Australia	1–2	Singles	Dianne Fromholtz	3–6, 4–6 (L)
						Doubles	Reid/Turnbull	6–1, 6–4 (W)
1978 Federation Cup
27 Nov – 3 Dec 1978	Melbourne	Grass	1R	Spain	3–0	Singles	Mónica Álvarez de Mon	6–0, 10–8 (W)
			2R	West Germany	2–1	Singles	Sylvia Hanika	3–6, 2–6 (L)
						Doubles	Ebbinghaus/Hanika	6–3, 6–0 (W)
			QF	Czechoslovakia	2–1	Doubles	Mandlíková/Tomanová	8–6, 7–5 (W)
			SF	United States	0–3	Doubles	Casals/King	6–1, 3–6, 4–6 (L)
1979 Federation Cup
30 Apr – 6 May 1979	Madrid	Clay	1R	New Zealand	3–0	Singles	Chris Newton	6–0, 6–0 (W)
						Doubles	Newton/Perry	6–1, 6–1 (W)
			2R	Belgium	3–0	Singles	Monique Van Haver	6–3, 11–9 (W)
						Doubles	Gurdal/Van Haver	6–3, 6–0 (W)
			QF	Czechoslovakia	0–3	Singles	Hana Mandlíková	6–3, 6–8, 4–6 (L)
1980 Federation Cup
19–25 May 1980	Berlin	Clay	1R	Israel	3–0	Singles	Paulina Peled	4–6, 7–6, 6–1 (W)
						Doubles	Bialistozky/Peled	6–2, 6–3 (W)
			2R	Argentina	2–1	Singles	Adriana Villagran Reami	5–7, 7–6, 6–2 (W)
						Doubles	Madruga Osses/Villagran Reami	5–7, 6–2, 6–4 (W)
			QF	West Germany	0–3	Singles	Bettina Bunge	2–6, 0–6 (L)
						Doubles	Bunge/Hanika	3–6, 3–6 (L)
1981 Federation Cup
9–15 Nov 1981	Tokyo	Clay	1R	Belgium	3–0	Doubles	de Witte/de Wouters	6–3, 6–3 (W)
			2R	France	3–0	Singles	Corinne Vanier	4–6, 6–2, 10–8 (W)
						Doubles	Amiach/Tanvier	5–7, 6–1, 6–2 (W)
			QF	Soviet Union	2–1	Singles	Elena Eliseenko	4–6, 6–4, 6–4 (W)
						Doubles	Cherneva/Zaitseva	6–3, 6–1 (W)
			SF	Australia	2–1	Singles	Wendy Turnbull	7–6, 3–6, 6–2 (W)
						Doubles	Leo/Turnbull	7–6, 6–3 (W)
			F	United States	0–3	Singles	Chris Evert	2–6, 1–6 (L)
1982 Federation Cup
19–25 Jul 1982	Santa Clara	Hard	1R	BYE
			2R	Israel	3–0	Singles	Orly Bialistozky	6–1, 6–3 (W)
			QF	Soviet Union	1–2	Singles	Hana Mandlíková	7–6, 6–7, 3–6 (L)

Upon retiring from tennis Barker became a commentator and sports reporter for Australia's Channel 7 in 1985 before going on to anchor tennis coverage for British Sky Broadcasting from 1990 to 1993. In 1993, Barker joined the BBC Wimbledon coverage as a regular guest on Today at Wimbledon with Harry Carpenter. She took over as host of Today at Wimbledon in 1994 and since 2000 has anchored the two-week-long broadcast for the network.

Barker has branched out since joining the BBC, becoming one of their chief sports presenters. She has been the presenter of the long-running sports quiz show A Question of Sport (QoS) since 1997, having replaced the late David Coleman. She will be retiring as QoS presenter following the BBC's decision to revamp the show; she is due to record her last episode in September 2020. She was a host of the annual BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards ceremony from 1994 to 2012 before stepping down in 2013.

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.

Other sporting events she has hosted have included the Grand National (2000–2007), the Derby (2001–2007), Racing at Ascot and Longchamp (1995–1999), Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury, the Great North Run, World Athletics Championships and European Athletics Championships (1999–2009), BBC Sports Personality of the Year (1994–2012), Commonwealth Games (1994–2010), Summer Olympics (1996–2012) and Winter Olympics (1994–2010).

In June 1999, she co-presented coverage of HRH Prince Edward's wedding to Sophie Rhys-Jones at Windsor alongside Michael Buerk. Barker had introduced Rhys-Jones to Queen Elizabeth II's youngest son at a charity function a few years earlier.

In 2008, Barker and the BBC extended her contract to cover the London 2012 Summer Olympics. It is estimated to be worth £375,000 a year. In 2014, she stepped away from the cameras, but worked as a BBC commentator at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.

In July 2012, the Advertising Standards Authority in the UK received over 40 complaints for a Go Compare advert that Barker starred in when she was featured firing a large rocket launcher at opera singer Gio Compario (Wynne Evans) in an attempt to kill off the face of the brand. A spokesperson for the ASA said: "Some people think it offensive especially at a time when children are watching. Others think it inappropriate when our security forces are coming under fire on a daily basis. As with all complaints, we are looking into the matter before deciding if we launch a full investigation."

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

In September 2020, it was announced that Barker would step down from her role as host of BBC game show A Question of Sport after 24 years; she stated that she was "sad to say goodbye".

In 1978, Barker broke off an engagement with Australian tennis player Syd Ball. In an interview the following year, she said: "I realised that Syd wasn't the answer. Underneath, I wasn't happy and I certainly wasn't ready for marriage. I wasn't fair to him or myself." After her engagement was broken off, she had a brief relationship with golfer Greg Norman.

In 1982, Barker met singer Cliff Richard. Their romance attracted considerable media attention after Richard flew to Denmark to watch her play in a tennis match and they were photographed cuddling and holding hands at Wimbledon. Richard said in 2008 that he had come close to asking her to marry him. He said: "I seriously contemplated asking her to marry me, but in the end I realised that I didn't love her quite enough to commit the rest of my life to her."

In 1986, after Barker's romance with Richard had ended and she began a brief relationship with tennis player Stephen Shaw, Richard said that he was still a friend of Barker. He said: "We have a mutual respect for each other and that means a lot to me."

In 1988, Richard said of his former romance with Barker: "We were closer than just friends. She's the only person with whom I've had that sort of relationship." He said that one of the things which made up his mind not to marry her was when she got upset because he hadn't told her who he was seeing that day. Richard said: "I suddenly realised that in a marriage you don't live for yourself."

In 1988, Barker married landscape gardener and former policeman Lance Tankard. They live in the Cotswolds village of Stanton, Gloucestershire after moving from a mansion on a 26-acre estate in Godalming, Surrey.

In 1980, Barker was temporarily blinded in her right eye after a large dog in Spain jumped up and bit her. She 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 an interview in 1999, Barker said that during her tennis career she was approached by a lesbian tennis player in the locker room and touched "in a way that didn't feel right". Barker refused to name the female tennis player involved.