Wimbledon 2007 on the ´óÏó´«Ã½
The ´óÏó´«Ã½ team – part 3
Annabel Croft
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After taking up tennis at the age of nine, Annabel became, at 15, the youngest Briton to play at Wimbledon for nearly 100 years. In 1984, she was a Wimbledon Junior Champion and a year later picked up her first senior tournament trophy in San Diego.
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Annabel retired from the international circuit at 21, having established herself as British No.1, ranked in the world's top 25. She has since carved a career in entertainment, particularly on TV as a sports presenter. Annabel married former America's Cup yachtsman Mel Coleman in 1993, and the couple have three children.
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Sam Smith
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Sam was National Champion in 1997 and British No.1 from 1996-99. She reached her highest world ranking – 55 – in February 1999 and represented Great Britain in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, as well as the Federation Cup and European Team Championships. Sam now works as a freelance tennis commentator and columnist.
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Liz Smylie
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Liz Smylie appeared in 13 Grand Slam finals during her successful tennis career including six at Wimbledon. Liz and her partner Kathy Jordan defeated Navratilova and Shriver breaking their two and half year 109 match winning streak in the 1985 Wimbledon Final and also won the mixed doubles with fellow Australian John Fitzgerald in 1991.
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A former top 20 singles player Liz's best result in singles at Wimbledon was defeating then World number 3 Hana Mandlikova in 1985. She lives on the Gold Coast with her husband Peter, and three children.
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Gabby Logan
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A former International gymnast, Gabby Logan began her broadcasting career in 1992 and joined Sky Sports as a television presenter in 1996. She quickly carved a name for herself as a football presenter and joined ITV in 1998 as presenter of 'On the Ball'.
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In her years at ITV her presenting credits include the World Cup, Champions league and the Premiership, plus the Boat Race and sports news reporting.
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Gabby joined the ´óÏó´«Ã½ in 2007 and has her own shows on TV and radio – Inside Sport on ´óÏó´«Ã½ ONE and the Gabby Logan Show Saturday mornings on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Five Live, as well as being a key member of the sports presenting team. This is Gabby's first Wimbledon, and she will be broadcasting a daily evening round up show from the roof of the on-site broadcast centre for Radio Five Live.
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Jonathan Overend
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Jonathan Overend is ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Five Live’s tennis correspondent. Jonathan joined ´óÏó´«Ã½ Essex in 1989, while still studying for his A levels, later becoming Sports Producer and then presenter of the Drivetime show. In 1997 he joined ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Sport to work on Radio Five Live as a reporter and presenter. He took over as the main tennis reporter in 2003 and correspondent a year later.
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He has commentated on all 10 of Roger Federer's Grand Slam titles and believes it's possible there could be another 10 still to come. He has also closely followed Andy Murray's career out of the junior ranks and into the world top 10. Jonathan lives in Berkshire with his wife and daughter, Amelia, who was born one day after the 2006 Wimbledon final.
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Simon Mayo
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Simon joined the ´óÏó´«Ã½ in May 1986 with a Saturday evening show on Radio 1. At the beginning of 1987 he took over the weekday evening show and progressed to the Breakfast Show later in 1988. Simon joined ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Five Live in May 2001 and interviewed Paul McCartney in his very first show.
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In October the same year Simon joined Radio 2 to broadcast a run down of the official Album Chart each Monday night at 7.00pm. He first presented Wimbledon on Five Live in 2003 with Clare Balding and has done so every year since.
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Clare Balding
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A former leading amateur flat jockey and champion lady rider, Clare's speciality is horse racing but she also covers a wide variety of other sports and assignments.
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She began her ´óÏó´«Ã½ career with ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Five Live in 1993, presenting the racing bulletin on Danny Baker's Morning Edition. Clare was appointed as ´óÏó´«Ã½ Sport's TV racing presenter in December 1997 following the retirement of Julian Wilson. She first presented Wimbledon with Simon Mayo on Five Live in 2003.
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Todd Woodbridge
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Todd Woodbridge was arguably one of the top doubles players in the world for most of the 1990s and into the early 2000s. With fellow Australian Mark Woodforde he won a record 61 ATP doubles titles, including 11 grand slam events.
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After Woodforde retired from the tour in 2000, Todd established a partnership with Jonas Björkman that resulted in five Grand Slam event titles in four years. He also partnered Mahesh Bhupathi for a year before retiring in 2005 with a total 83 ATP tournament wins in doubles to his name, an all-time record. Todd commentates on the Australian Open for the Seven Network in Australia and joins the Radio Five Live commentary team for the first time in 2007.
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Jeff Tarango
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One of tennis' most flamboyant characters, Jeff Tarango is a former US professional tennis player who won 16 singles and doubles titles during his career.
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He gained notoriety at Wimbledon in 1995 for defaulting a match by leaving the court after a dispute over a serve ruling. Jeff retired from the professional tour in 2002 and now devotes his time to coaching and broadcasting.
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Roger Rasheed
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Elite tennis coach Roger Rasheed is perhaps best known as the former coach of Lleyton Hewitt. The pair were a fierce team, and during Roger's coaching appointment Lleyton rose from a ranking of 19 to number 2, made two Grand slam finals and won 9 titles.
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Roger hit his first tennis ball at the age of ten and decided he liked the game as much as Australian Rules Football, a sport in which he excelled at as a junior player. At 16 he became the youngest player to qualify for an Australian Open, (a record only eclipsed in 1997 by Hewitt).
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However a back injury was to end his days as a player in January 1993, and Roger ventured into tennis coaching at elite level, taking on Hewitt in 2003. Roger is highly regarded on the international tennis scene for his preparation of players, particularly leading up to and during major grand slam events. He is also widely known for his infectious personality and ability to motivate athletes and individuals.
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