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Sue Barker

34K views 178 replies 41 participants last post by  PamShriver 
#1 ·
I'm too young to remember if Sue Barker was actually a good tennis champion or not. I've always seen her presenting Wimbledon on TV in the UK and I know she once won the French Open back in the 70's, but is there anyone here who actually knows more or remembers her tennis career??

I dunno why I'm asking all this, I guess I'm just curious :rolleyes:
 
#2 · (Edited)
Wimbledon said:
I'm too young to remember if Sue Barker was actually a good tennis champion or not. I've always seen her presenting Wimbledon on TV in the UK and I know she once won the French Open back in the 70's, but is there anyone here who actually knows more or remembers her tennis career??

I dunno why I'm asking all this, I guess I'm just curious :rolleyes:

She was good, if erratic. She was three times an Australian semi-finalist, French champion in 1976, and a quarter-finalist at Wimbledon that year, then a semi-finalist the following year. Also was runner-up to Chris Evert at the Slims Championships of 1977. The WTA Tour Guides list her as having won 21 titles. She finished in the Top Ten on the computer rankings three years ('76, '77, '79) and a few not too far away. Her game was built largely on a fragile confidence, I felt, and a couple of bad losses could send her tail-spinning into a whole dismal spell. But she had some good wins - a very respectable three wins over Tracy Austin, three over Martina Navratilova, several over her arch-rival Virginia Wade, and she also beat Billie Jean King, Andrea Jaeger, and Chris Evert. She also beat Evonne Cawley twice. She had a glorious forehand when it worked, but struggled with injuries after her last good run on the circuit (in 1981, when she won Brighton) and retired prematurely at 28.
 
#3 ·
She managed to beat Navratilova 3 times??? :worship: wow!

Thanx for the info! :D
 
#4 ·
Whenever there's one of those 'whole careers affected by one match' threads I'm always tempted to write about Sue Barker. As I said, she climbed well into the Top Ten in 1976 following her German and French triumphs, and up to then her career was in a straight line upwards. 1977 started fantastically: she was finalist at three Slims tournaments that winter to Navratilova, but beat her at Hollywood and at the Slims Championships. She also won back-to-back tournaments in San Francisco and Dallas, beating Virginia Wade en-route to both titles. Then she took a set off Chris Evert in the Slims final, after defeating Betty Stove 6-0 6-1 and Martina. She was now firmly fourth on the WTA computer rankings, and was seeded fourth for Wimbledon. The British media firmly fancied her chances over Wade as the prominent British hope that year, and she was even featured as such on the front cover of "Radio Times" the week before Wimbledon. At Wimbledon she was in good form, and easily beat Kerry Reid in the Quarter-Finals to face Betty Stove in the semi-finals, after she'd upset Martina Navratilova. Virginia's semi against Chris Evert was played first and of course Virginia played one of the best matches of her career to win, in a huge upset. Sue must have seen her name on the plate: a semi-final against a much older and slower opponent in Betty, a player she'd creamed for the loss of one game in their previous encounter, and with a final against someone she'd won her last two matches against in straight sets! But she came out crippled by nerves and played a really inhibited and error-filled match and lost in three sets. It's not an exaggeration to say she was never the same player again...As I've said , Sue Barker could hit impressive patches where she could play close to her old, pre-Wimbledon '77 form, but the supreme confidence was lost forever. She always seemed more brittle thereafter, as if she'd blown her big chance......
 
#5 ·
I found this article in one of my old books, a Sports Illustrated article on the 1977 Virgnia Slims Championships by Joe Jares. Sue is mentioned :)


“Extra! Chrissie Loses First Set!”

Despite an uncharacteristic start in the title match, the golden girl of tennis reemphasized her overwhelming supremacy by overcoming Sue Barker of Devonshire and taking home the Virginia Slims Silver Ginny for the fourth time.

Never bet on the stooge team that tours with the Harlem Globetrotters. Do not place so much as a sou on the chances of sunshine in Seattle. God help you if you think Wylie E. Coyote will ever catch the Road Runner, that a ballplayer will volunteer for a pay cut after a bad season, or that a politician’s promise is worth more than a half ounce of bat liver. And, please, if you have any sense at all, never wager against a 22 year old tennis playing millionaires named Christine Marie Evert.

Last Sunday afternoon in New York’s Madison Square Garden, Evert, after a shaky start, played a normal sort of match for her-which is to say she was unerring and unflappable-and beat Sue Barker of England 2-6 6-1 6-1. She thereby on t he championship of the Virginia Slims tour, the Silver Ginny trophy for earning the most tour points, a diamond-and-gold necklace, and $50,000. Her 1977 tournament earnings, with nine and a half months to go: $174,500.

It was inevitable. Going into the four-day event, Evert had a 44-6 lifetime record against the three players in her half of the draw and 11-0 edge over Barker. On the tour she might as well have been playing against Neiman-Marcus mannequins, winning 32 of 34 matches, 64 of 71 sets and 69% of her games. Here was a young woman who already won Wimbledon twice, Forest Hills twice and the Slims championships thrice, yet there tennis experts in the Garden claiming that Evert was one of the most improved players on the tour. Impossible. But true.

“She wins a lot of points now off her first serve” said Rosie Casals, one of Evert’s Garden victims. “Whereas before, she just got it in. It was something to start out the game with.”

“She has a more subtle change of pace on her shots,” said ex-player Julie Heldman. “and she has a fine overhead now, she hammers it.”

“She’s hitting the ball so much harder” said the tour’s executive director, Peachy Kellmeyer. “I think she’s going to keep improving.”

There was more. Technical stuff, like how Evert cleverly disguises her drop shot, the tennis equivalent of a bunt laid down by a slugger. How she slices her backhand once in a while. How adept she is with a touch angle backhand, what ever that is. How she eluded the paparazzi and had a reasonably private dinner date in Manhattan with fellow Floridian Burt Reynolds, actor and hall-of-famer centerfolder.

All this means that Evert is rolling in money and is up to her long eyelashes in trophies, but that Virginia Slims and women’s tennis in general are stagnating a little. The four championship sessions in the Garden drew 39,234 significantly better than either of the last two years, when the event was held in Los Angeles, but average tournament attendance rose less than 1,000 over 1976. CBS televised four Slims finals in 1976 and beat the men’s Avis Challenge Cup ratings on NBC, but no Slims events were televised nationally this year. CBS apparently thought it could make more money with golf.

After seven years, the cigarette sponsor is still satisfied with the tour as a promotion/advertising vehicle, and promoters at most of the stops made money. Still, it is obvious that in order to fill more seats and lure back TV, women’s tennis needs to find some strong competition for Evert, or it will continue to have finals that have all the suspense of shark vs. sardine.

There are some prospects. Tracy Austin, the California wonder child, is not yet 15 but has played in several Slims tournaments and has won a few matches. Billie Jean King, the California wonder woman, returned to singles play last week at the age of 33. She wanted to be admitted to the Slims as a “wild card” selection but she was rejected because she had not played in any singles matches on the circuit. So she entered a San Antonio tournament and came close to meeting transsexual Renee Richards in the semis. CBS planned to televise their match but Richards was beaten in the quarters. After three knee operations, it will be difficult for King to reach the top level again.

Three more likely candidates are in the early 20’s. Evonne Goolagong, 25, is due back after having her first child in May; she was No. 2 in the world behind Evert when she became pregnant. Then there is the Czech defector Martina Navratilova, 20, the head of a corporation that used her tour nickname: Brat, Inc. Navratilova used to be shaped like a pilsener keg from her homeland, but she has shed 20 to 25 pounds (down to 145) and now has a discernible waist and evident additional quickness.

The third prospect is Barker, 20, the petite daughter of a retired brewery representative. Despite her size (5’5 117 pounds), her forehand is more powerful even than Navratilova’s. She grew up in Paignton, a smart Devonshire coastal resort. In nearby Torquay, Arthur Roberts a well-known English coach, taught her tennis and discipline and often sent her home in tears. She always came back.

Navratilova and, of course, Barker were among the eight women who made it to the championship tournament at the Garden. They were the principals in the Orange group, while Evert, Casals and Britain’s Virginia Wade were in the Gold. Each player met the other three in her group beginning Thursday night, then the top finisher in each group met in the final Sunday. Evert, as usual, had little trouble marching to the final, beating Yugoslavian economics student Mima Jausovec 6-0 6-3, and Casals 6-1 6-1 (“I don’t think I can play much better than that” Chris said afterward).

Evert, had a bit more to cope with in Wade, 31, who is not at all pleased the Barker has beaten her the last three times they have met and seems destined to replace atop Britain’s ladder. Evert beat Wade in straight sets, but the second set would have gone the way had not an Evert forehand shot hit the net and crawled over as if it had little hands and feet. Evert proceeded to win 10 straight points and the match 6-2 7-5.

In the Orange, Barker and Navratilova progressed undefeated to a Saturday meeting despite the fact that both had sore shoulders. Navratilova developed hers the previous week in the final of Philadelphia, when Evert made her hit “2,000 backhands” and it was obviously the more serious ailment. Barker beat Martina 7-5 6-4 and advanced to probably the most important match of her life, with $20,000 (the difference between first and second prize) at stake, not to mention, what the Slims PR people like to call the “the first jewel in the Triple Crown of women’s tennis,” Wimbledon and Forest Hills being the other two.

Some people felt Evert would win so easily that the most exciting part of the final would be opera star Roberta Peters singing the national anthem. But Evert was tight (she double-faulted four times in the first set) and Barker was blasting marvelous forehands winners. Barker won the set 6-2, only the eight Evert has lost this year.

The key game of the match was the first of the second set. Evert had to fight hard to win it after starting off with yet another double fault. From then on Barker, who could not maintain the high quality of her play in the first set, won only two more games. Her forehand shots, which are so powerful they seem to come off a man’s racquet rather than that of a frail-looking Devonshire lass, went into the net about as often as into her opponent’s court. After Evert had broken service to go ahead 4-1 in the third set, slamming a ball straight down with her racquet.

Thus Chris Evert won her eight major championship, once again showing little emotion. She keeps her emotions inside, along with concentration and determination that may already have made her the best woman player ever.

“I feel more than most players,” Evert says. “I have a drive. I have a burning desire to win every time I step on the tennis court.


Jay :D
 
#6 ·
She was my favourite player when I started following tennis. She was the Kournikova of the 1970s-80s in that she was very attractive and also could have achieved much more.
Yes, 1977 Wimbledon was the turnaround of her career. If there's one result I would want to change in tennis it would be her loss to Stove in the SF that year.
She was also slowed down by a dog bite on her face in 1980, she missed three-four months that year. She had a decent year in 1981, finishing in the Top 15 but she went downhill after that, she probably lost interest.
Barker was almost famous for her romances (Greg Norman, Cliff Richard...)
Most of you will know that she's now one of the best BBC presenters.
 
#7 ·
Yes, I love her presentation at BBC, at Wimbledon off course and also that TV program about sport, but I can't remember the name
 
#8 ·
Great article TennisFan75!:)

Declan's thoughts are very perceptive IMO. Sue never was the same player after that Wimbledon semi. She was really at her best in 1976-77, when she was arguably top 5 in the world.

I don't think her looks helped her tennis. Sue had a reputation for being a bit boy crazy, and her romance in 1977-78 with Syd Ball (not sure of the name-think he was a World Team tennis team mate) coincided with her first slide. They were engaged at one point then the romance soured.
 
#9 ·
Rollo said:
Great article TennisFan75!:)

Declan's thoughts are very perceptive IMO. Sue never was the same player after that Wimbledon semi. She was really at her best in 1976-77, when she was arguably top 5 in the world.

I don't think her looks helped her tennis. Sue had a reputation for being a bit boy crazy, and her romance in 1977-78 with Syd Ball (not sure of the name-think he was a World Team tennis team mate) coincided with her first slide. They were engaged at one point then the romance soured.

Thanks Rollo! Yes, she was engaged to Syd Ball in 1978. The following year she was on the front page of the British papers with her boyfriend Greg Norman. I'm pretty sure she was linked with John Lloyd once, too - before Chrissie! Then came Cliff Richard, the most highly publicised relationship of them all! Ironic really that when she finally settled down and married it was with a policeman whom I've still never ever seen a picture of!
 
#14 ·
Sue Barker must be one of the few women to be able to boast all the following scalps:
defeated
Maria Bueno at Wimbledon (L16) 1976: 26 62 61
Evonne Goolagong at Paris Indoor (qf) 1975: 62 75
Evonne Goolagong at Brisbane (1r) 1982: 61 63
Chris Evert at Boston (qf) 1979: 63 61
BJ King at Houston (1r) 1982: 62 61
Martina Navratilova at Tokyo Gunze (sf) 1976: 26 63 62
Martina Navratilova at Hollywood FLA (qf) 1977: 76 64
Martina Navratilova at VS Champs (RR) 1977: 75 64

She had a 0-1 record against Graf and lost at least once to Court for no wins, as far as I know.

BTW I saw people were looking for her hubby's name - L P Tankard
 
#17 ·
Declan said:
Whenever there's one of those 'whole careers affected by one match' threads I'm always tempted to write about Sue Barker. As I said, she climbed well into the Top Ten in 1976 following her German and French triumphs, and up to then her career was in a straight line upwards. 1977 started fantastically: she was finalist at three Slims tournaments that winter to Navratilova, but beat her at Hollywood and at the Slims Championships. She also won back-to-back tournaments in San Francisco and Dallas, beating Virginia Wade en-route to both titles. Then she took a set off Chris Evert in the Slims final, after defeating Betty Stove 6-0 6-1 and Martina. She was now firmly fourth on the WTA computer rankings, and was seeded fourth for Wimbledon. The British media firmly fancied her chances over Wade as the prominent British hope that year, and she was even featured as such on the front cover of "Radio Times" the week before Wimbledon. At Wimbledon she was in good form, and easily beat Kerry Reid in the Quarter-Finals to face Betty Stove in the semi-finals, after she'd upset Martina Navratilova. Virginia's semi against Chris Evert was played first and of course Virginia played one of the best matches of her career to win, in a huge upset. Sue must have seen her name on the plate: a semi-final against a much older and slower opponent in Betty, a player she'd creamed for the loss of one game in their previous encounter, and with a final against someone she'd won her last two matches against in straight sets! But she came out crippled by nerves and played a really inhibited and error-filled match and lost in three sets. It's not an exaggeration to say she was never the same player again...As I've said , Sue Barker could hit impressive patches where she could play close to her old, pre-Wimbledon '77 form, but the supreme confidence was lost forever. She always seemed more brittle thereafter, as if she'd blown her big chance......

I agree down to the last word, Declan. I remember reading an article where Sue as a straight player felt inhibited in the locker room by some of those who were gay and she was never entirely happy on the tour.

Also, your earlier thread on Jo Durie. Another Brit whose career seems to have been blighted by one defeat. Wasn't she also a break up in the final set of that quarter against Martina N in the AO? After that her confidence seemed to just evaporate and it was all downhill. Like Sue she had a couple of brief flickers but neither ever reproduced the tennis they were capable of after those defeats.
 
#33 ·
Also, your earlier thread on Jo Durie. Another Brit whose career seems to have been blighted by one defeat. Wasn't she also a break up in the final set of that quarter against Martina N in the AO? After that her confidence seemed to just evaporate and it was all downhill.
Jo's career was plagued by injury which was her main hindrance to be honest. She had serious shoulder, knee and back problems at different times, though I don't think she ever would have been likely to better that peak position of #5 in the rankings she achieved.

She had a couple of heartbreaking losses at the slams in '83. The one against Navratilova in Australia is the most mentioned one because it was against such a dominant player. Jo was playing really strong tennis, up a break in the 3rd, only for the rain to come. When they started up again Jo had obviously had time to think about the reality of the situation and wasn't the same and let Martina back in for the win.

However, I think the 1983 French Open semi final loss against Mima Jausovec was a harder pill for Jo to swallow as she led that match 6-3 5-2 before losing 3-6 7-5 6-2. A couple of weeks later she destroyed Mima 6-3 6-1 at Eastbourne which must've made it even more frustrating for her.
 
#18 ·
I didn't see the Wimbledon SF Stove vs. Barker. How was the quality of play? Obviously, Stove just had the best win of her career over Martina and Barker was under extreme pressure from the home crowd to succeed. What kind of match was it? Did nerves play a strong part. The different factors would lead me to expect a letdown by Betty and a nervous performance by Sue.
 
#19 ·
Indeed, I am worthy of a thread. What's taken you people so long to appreciate me?

Anyway, I am now married to a police person called Lance. He's very shy and never, ever appears in public, but does exist, believe me.

As for my career, well, as much as Pam and I have a laugh at Wimbledon (when she's not on maternity leave), I will always have the upper hand over her with my singles slam. At least I got that.

I'd love to stay and chat but I need to check my fake tan supplies before I head off to Athens. :wavey:
 
#20 ·
preacherfan said:
I didn't see the Wimbledon SF Stove vs. Barker. How was the quality of play? Obviously, Stove just had the best win of her career over Martina and Barker was under extreme pressure from the home crowd to succeed. What kind of match was it? Did nerves play a strong part. The different factors would lead me to expect a letdown by Betty and a nervous performance by Sue.

You couldn't describe it any better than Declan did "crippled with nerves, inhibited and error strewn" - on both sides.

I think most thought and logically so that Barker could really win this quite comfortably because she had dealt adequately with Kerry Reid in the quarters despite the pressure. Maybe more notice should have been taken of Betty's win against Martina N in the quarters. Without doubt the fact that Evert had been beaten and Sue now seemed to have the upper hand on Virginia played a big part. Had this match been played first who knows?

At this stage and even to some extent today British crowds are quite embarrassed to show outright support for their player. It manifests itself in groans and long sighs and is probably even more off-puting for the player. Witness Henman this year - the loss of the first set subdued the crowd who in turn fed this back to him and the whole thing was a mess. Circumstances had got to Sue from the start but as the match went on the crowd's reaction made her worse. Had Betty been playing at all well it would have been over quite quickly. But it was in some ways worse for her. The semis at Wimbledon was a massive and unknown stage for her. Had the crowd been openly hostile it might have geed her on but she would have been cowed by the overwhelming feeling against her yet ostensibly receiving polite applause for her shots.

As a Brit it's hard to have been objective but to any neutral watching it must have been a dire match to watch. As they lurched towards the finishing line neither player seemed to want or be able to win the match. Betty's nerves were just that bit stronger than Sue's. Now that's saying something. But it must be one of the few matches where both players could hardly string two shots together and get the ball over the net.

As the anchorwoman for BBC during Wimbledon Sue is actually quite good except for her and John Lloyd's sad and misguided illusion that Henman is going to win the title every year. They are even still predicting this for next year!

But I was a bit taken aback this year when I heard her refer boastfully about her Grand Slam singles title. The least said about that the better.
 
#21 ·
Are you sure it was boastful, Chris? I've always found Sue to be fairly dismissive and self-deprecating about her French triumph.

Back to Wimbledon, can you imagine these days what it would be like to have two British semi-finalists in the Women's Singles?! But it was a given back then to have at least one woman near the top of the rankings so to now have two was just a pleasant bonus! And Chris, you must remember the two-month period in the summer of 1969 when Britain had two different Slam champions simultaneously, with Virginia still the reigning US Champion and Ann the newly-crowned queen of Wimbledon!! Halcyon days indeed!!
 
#23 ·
Declan said:
Are you sure it was boastful, Chris? I've always found Sue to be fairly dismissive and self-deprecating about her French triumph.

Back to Wimbledon, can you imagine these days what it would be like to have two British semi-finalists in the Women's Singles?! But it was a given back then to have at least one woman near the top of the rankings so to now have two was just a pleasant bonus! And Chris, you must remember the two-month period in the summer of 1969 when Britain had two different Slam champions simultaneously, with Virginia still the reigning US Champion and Ann the newly-crowned queen of Wimbledon!! Halcyon days indeed!!




As a Brit it is rather pathetic to have to live on the memories of the past, Declan and there doesn't seem to be much sign of that changing.

I always was a big Barker fan and it did shock me that she presented this as a big achievement. Of course, anyone looking at the records will only see her name as the Champion but in the same position I think I would be rather embarrassed to promote it as a credential!

Even I can't remember the late 50s but there were no less than 4 FOUR Brits in the Top 10 - Bloomer, Mortimer, Truman and Haydon. Then M, T and H until 1962 when Ann had to hold the baton until Virginia arrived.

What about 1961 when two Brits contested the final? That's probably the furthest memory I hold of tennis when as a youngster I can remember all the groaning and despair from my parents and older brothers as Christine Truman lost that one. Angela Mortimer had a super record winning the Australian (no comment)!, French and Wimbledon titles as well as being runner-up also at RG and Wimbledon. I don't think it's coincidence that Mortimer, Jones and Wade won Wimbledon as they began to be overshadowed by younger British rivals. Angela was the lowest seeded of the 3 Brits in 1961. Christine was of course the most popular British player to hit the courts. Unlike the others her peak years were her earliest. Up until 1961 Ann Jones couldn't really live with her. After 1963 I don't think she lost to her again (except a walkover when injured).

Virginia became the darling of British tennis in winning the USO in 1968 and as No.3 seed ahead of Jones' 4 took a lot of the pressure of Ann in 1969. In 1977 Wade herself was beginning to be eclipsed by Barker. While, of course, I wanted Virginia to beat Stove in some ways I had lost interest - I was devastated when Sue lost that semi. I think most thought this was Virginia's last chance and that Barker had a long career ahead of her so the crowd would have been solidly with Wade in the final. Of course, that wasn't to be with Barker then being "shocked" at the US by a young girl called Austin. Maybe in retrospect that wasn't such a bad loss, after all.

In the late 60s/early 70s too, Winnie Shaw wasn't at all a bad player. She would certainly have been in the top 20. She often gave Madge a lot of trouble.

I only remember taking a big interest in tennis from about 1965 when Truman flickered briefly, Ann Jones was our only real top ten player and even she had two poor years in 1964 and 1965 until Maureen Connolly was brought in to help the British Wightman Cup team and her advice caused Mrs. Jones to be "re-born".

It is only from reading magazines from around that period that I learnt of two other British players, Deirdre Catt and Elizabeth Starkie. Although both never quite made the top 10 they came close and had victories over the leading players.

In 1963 Deirdre just missed out on gaining a top 10 placing when she reached the semis of the US Champs beating BJK on the way. Elizabeth Starkie would have been ranked in the teens for 3 or 4 years a couple of times just missing out on the 10. At the beginning of 1965 she beat Truman and Jones 2 times out of 3 and for a while really looked as if she was going to take over Jones No.1 British ranking. Both had success in tournaments throughout the world and I never realised just how close to the very top either of these players came.

How times have changed when we are desperate for even just one player on the top 100 let alone 50.
 
#26 ·
It's absolutely mustard at the minute trying to get into the site and it can't be my computer because I'm having no trouble with other sites.

Check out Rollo's "Career thread" pinned at the top of the page, Soccerjock. You can access a couple of threads on Sue.
 
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