BARKER, “SUE” (Susan Dorothy Barker)
Great Britain
Born 19 April 1956 in Paignton, England
Married Lance Paul Tankard, 14 October 1988
Height: 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)
Nickname: The Devon Cream Girl.
[Active 1973-1984]
Coached by the famous Arthur Roberts, who advised her Barker to ignore those who told her to change her forehand. It was this stroke that was her strongest and most admired weapon throughout her career, with Roberts describing it as "especially potent". In 1976 and 1977 women pros voted her forehand the best in tennis. When her forehand was one fire Barker was dangerous, when off her performances were often error-fests.
After training in the United States Barker reached her first Grand Slam semi-final in 1975 at the Australian Open. 1976 saw the biggest victory of her career by winning the French Open at the age of 20, defeating Tomanová in the final. Barker's toughest game en route to the final in Paris was her quarter-final match against Regina Maršíková, when Barker came back from a set down and won a gruelling final set 8–6. The first British singles slam since Ann Jones in 1969, Barker would never reach another slam final despite her huge potential. A quarters result at Wimbledon cemented Sue a place in the world's top 10.
1977 started with a bang. Barker won two singles titles in San Francisco and Dallas indoors. A the Slims finale she won her round robin group to reach the final, where she pushed Chris Evert to 3 sets by a score of 2-6 6-1 6-1. Opting out of defending her French Open final to plat World Team Tennis, Sue was the British favorite to go the farthest at the Wimbledon Centenary as the #4 seed. Alas, the pressure and attacking serves of Betty Stove ended her Wimbledon dreams in a tense semifinal. 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 semi-final that she could not bear to watch the final, which was won by Wade.
Sue's form dropped in the second half of 1977. Some blamed it on a natural post-Wimbledon letdown; others to a romance with Syd Ball that resulted in a engagement (later broken) by early 1978. Upset by 14 year old Tracy Austin at the US Open, she failed to qualify for the Colgate finale.
The weak December edition of the Australian Open was a final chance to redeem herself, but here Barker lost again in the semifinals to Helen Cawley 6-4 7-5. Most world rankings had her at #5 for the year.
Injury plagued her in 1978. Roaring back in 1979, she won 3 events and was named the WTA Comeback Player of the Year.
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". This stopped any momentum she had from the previous year.
The up and down pattern continued in 1981-as her ranking started to recover. 1982 was another letdown however. The only bright side was a romance with singer Cliff Richard. Until her retirement in 1984 the blonde from Devon continued to belt her forehand and set fans who loved their females blonde and pert aflutter.
In all Barker won at least 26 singles titles.
Today she is best known as a television personality.
Singles
Career record 365–208
Career titles 11
Highest ranking # 3 (20 March 1977)
Quality Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open SF (1975, 1977 – Dec, 1978)
French Open W (1976)
Wimbledon SF (1977) QF (1976)
Year-End Computer Rankings
1975: #19
1976: #10
1977: #5
1978: #24
1979: #10
1980: #16
1981: #14
1982: #62
1983: #57
1984: #155
Winning the French in 1976-finalist Renata Tomanova is on the right.
Links and Sources:
https://www.tennisforum.com/59-blast-past/142812-obatafan-sue-barker-dedication-thread.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sue_Barker
[A short clip of her winning the French Open]