Wimbledon 2007 on the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳
The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ team – part 1
Sue Barker
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Former World No.3 tennis player, French Open champion and Wimbledon semi-finalist, Sue started work as a sports broadcaster with Australia's Channel 7 in 1985. She then joined BSB in 1990 and later moved to Sky Sports. She made her ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Sport TV debut co-presenting the evening highlights programme from Wimbledon '93 with Harry Carpenter.
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Since then she has gained a wealth of experience presenting world class competitions, including coverage of other major tennis tournaments, Summer and Winter Olympics, Commonwealth Games, The Grand National, The Derby and World and European Skating Championships.
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In addition, Sue has also hosted Grandstand and Sunday Grandstand and has worked on the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳-tv documentary Chalk Flew Up – a history of Wimbledon's Court No.1 which made its final appearance during Wimbledon '95.
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Her credits also include hosting Sports Personality of the Year and A Question of Sport. Among her many accolades are the 1998 TRIC award for Sports Presenter/Reporter of the Year and the 2001 RTS sports presenter award.
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John Inverdale
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John began his broadcasting career with ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio Lincolnshire in 1982. He joined ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio Sport in 1985, working for Radio 4's Today programme and on Radio 2 sports output before joining Radio 5 in 1988 as presenter of its flagship sports programme, Sport On 5.
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John has presented ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio Five Live's coverage of many major sports events including Wimbledon Championships, Olympic Games and World Cups (football and rugby). He also works extensively on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Sport's television output.
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John McEnroe
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A winner of 77 singles titles and 78 doubles, John first made Grand Slam headlines in 1977 while still in his teens by capturing the French Open mixed doubles title and reaching the singles semi-finals at Wimbledon. He asserted his mastery on the professional circuit soon after, with three successive US Open Championships, in 1979, 1980 and 1981.
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He ended Bjorn Borg's five year reign at Wimbledon with a commanding victory in 1981 that promoted him to the men's top-ranked player (and the youngest to achieve it), a position he held for four years.
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He took another Wimbledon title in 1983, but John McEnroe's most memorable year was 1984 when he won both Wimbledon and US Open titles. In addition to his singles achievements, John dominated the field as a doubles player.
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With long-time partner Peter Fleming, John earned four Wimbledon titles and three US Open titles - Masters titles seven years in a row. John represented the United States 12 times in Davis Cup competition, achieving five championship team wins and establishing the record for the most US Davis Cup wins (39 singles and 15 doubles).
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More recently, John was a doubles winner of the SAP Open in San Jose ATP Tournament in February 2006 at 47 years of age.
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Martina Navratilova
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Record, nine-time Wimbledon women's champion, Navratilova, was ranked No1 in the world for seven years and won 18 singles and 40 doubles Grand Slam titles.
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She holds 168 singles titles, more than any other player, male or female and 178 doubles titles. Martina won the Australian Open Mixed Doubles title in 2003, the only Grand Slam title that had eluded her during her career, and became the oldest player ever to win a Grand Slam event and only the second player ever to have won all grand slam titles.
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Boris Becker
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Wimbledon crowd favourite Boris Becker joined the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Sport commentary team for the 2002 Championships. Born in 1967, in Leimen, Germany, Boris became the youngest man to win Wimbledon at 17 years 7 months when he defeated Kevin Curren in 1985.
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Over his career he won 49 ATP singles titles including six Grand Slam titles and became World No.1 for the first time after victory at the Australian Open in 1991.
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Jimmy Connors
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Jimmy Connors pounded the tennis court for more than two professional decades. He won 109 career singles titles and was a finalist 54 times.
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He was ranked number one in the world for 268 weeks (ranked number one for 160 consecutive weeks) and also ranked in the world’s Top Ten for 16 consecutive years. Connors is combining his commentary duties with his work as coach to current world No.3, Andy Roddick.
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Pat Cash
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Pat was a popular winner of the Men's Singles title at Wimbledon in 1987, famously climbing through the seats on Centre Court to embrace his family after beating Ivan Lendl in straight sets. Earlier that year, he lost a tough five-setter to Stefan Edberg in the final of the Australian Open.
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Born in Melbourne in May 1965, he turned pro in 1982 and reached his highest ranking of World No 4 in 1988. In 1984, he became the youngest player to compete in the Davis Cup Final, helping Australia to defeat Sweden 3-2.
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Michael Stich
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Michael began playing tennis aged six and won the German national junior singles title in 1986. His brilliant showing at Wimbledon in 1991 saw him beat Courier, defending Wimbledon champ Edberg and three-times winner Boris Becker in consecutive rounds for the title. That year, he posted a 13-match winning streak which included reaching the quarter finals at the US Open and winning titles in Stuttgart, Schenectady and Vienna.
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He also played the most singles and doubles on the Tour – 149 matches. Other career highlights include leading his country to the Davis Cup title against Australia in 1993, for the first time since 1989, and finishing as German No.1 for the first time. Michael served on the ATP Tour Player Council in 1991 and has an overall playing record of 35-11 (21-9 in singles). He began the Michael Stich Foundation in November 1994 to help HIV-positive children in Germany.
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Virginia Wade
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This year marks Virginia Wade's 30th anniversary since winning the Wimbledon Ladies' Singles Final in 1977 with her victory over Betty Stove, during the Queen's Silver Jubilee, remaining one of the tournament's most memorable triumphs. Notably, Virginia is currently the last Briton to have won Wimbledon.
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Born in Bournemouth in July 1945, her career also included winning the US Open in 1968, the Australian and Italian Opens in 1972, and four Grand Slam doubles titles. Awarded the OBE in 1986, Virginia has worked as a tennis commentator for the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ since 1981.
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Greg Rusedski
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Greg was born in Canada and began representing Great Britain in May 1995. He was recognised as the number four seed in the world and at one point had the fastest serve in the world, recorded at 149 mph.
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In 1998, he won the biggest tournament of his career at the ATP Masters Series in Paris and defeated the number one Pete Sampras in what he calls his greatest match played to date.
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