'Sharapova lost because she is in love’

The former tennis star Annabel Croft on the carnage of this year’s tournament – and why she is in awe of Serena Williams

Game, set and massacre! So many giants have been slain on the Centre Court this Wimbledon, I half expect tennis presenter Annabel Croft to arrive still wiping the blood off her whites.
The former British Ladies Number One has been in the thick of it as first Rafael Nadal was slaughtered, followed by Roger Federer’s hara-kiri and Maria Sharapova’s ignominious splits on the overly lush grass, which saw her exit faster than her arch rival Serena Williams could tweet an innocent face emoticon.

Meanwhile, Tsonga and Cilic have bowed out through injury; tennis doesn’t get any tougher than this. With so many titans crashing to earth early in the tournament, will there be anyone (other than Sir Cliff and Croft herself) left to play in the final? Annabel, what on earth is going on?

“It’s carnage!” she cries in delight. “Absolute carnage. Everybody is in shock; there’s a palpable air of stunned disbelief even in the locker room. This Wimbledon has created so many headlines already and it’s a hugely exciting place to be right now.”
Croft, now 45 and a mother of three teenagers, was the youngest British person to play at Wimbledon for 95 years, when she made her debut aged 15. Two years later, in 1984, she won the Girls’ Wimbledon trophy and the junior Australian Open, and was ranked among the world’s top 25 players. Now she is one of the presenters, alongside seven-times Grand Slam champion Mats Wilander, spearheading Live@Wimbledon.com, the newly launched online service provided by the All England Club.

Both on and off-screen, she remains a head-turner: tanned, rangy limbs, a shapely figure encased in a stunning Nicole Miller dusky pink frock, a cascade of expensively highlighted hair and a great many tiny diamonds. They are encircling her watch face, twinkling from her bracelet, lavishly studded on to her rings like currants crammed into an Eccles cake. But despite the bling, it is her health rather than her wealth that lends her radiance.
“I keep fit by running twice a week on Wimbledon Common with a lovely group of girlfriends. Then we have a good old moan about whatever’s bothering us over a coffee – and hey presto, two problems solved at once,” she says.

Croft was tipped for tennis stardom from the age of 12, and at 15 relocated to the United States to improve her game. She toured the international circuit endlessly but then, abruptly, she quit at 21. “It sounds awfully young, but in tennis, 21 is the equivalent of 37 in any other sphere of life,” she says. “I knew I was never going to win Wimbledon or be the world number one seed, and I didn’t want to spend the next decade living from a suitcase, with no time to make friends – the girls I played against definitely weren’t my friends – or meet a boyfriend. I craved normality and even at that age I knew I wanted a family.”

In some respects, what she got was the very opposite of normality; capitalising on her fame, she threw herself into panto and television. She succeeded Anneka Rice on Treasure Hunt, she presented a magic show and was in the cult show Interceptor.
“I deliberately did a whole lot of ridiculous, fun things, because sport at the level I played is a very serious pursuit,” says Croft. “Nowadays I pinch myself every day that I’m doing a job I love.
“If I’m not working, I’ll try to play tennis once or twice a week. I’m a member of the All England Club, which means I can come here to Wimbledon; playing on a quiet back court on a crisp February morning, I couldn’t be happier.”

Frost is just about the only freak condition not besetting the players at this year’s Wimbledon, which is tightening its grip on the nation in this, its final week.
“There’s been a resurgence in serve/volley tennis, which we haven’t seen for a while because the game has been focused on a powerful side-to-side axis. The majority are still playing from the back, but those who do serve/volley, such as Dustin Brown, are proving successful.”
The grass, which various players – including Maria Sharapova – have blamed for injury and poor performance, is settling, she says. “If you’re used to pushing away on a hard court, it’s difficult to replicate on grass, so your foot slips. This year there’s been so much rain that the grass was affected, but as the tournament goes on it gets worn down and becomes thinner and drier.”

As for Sharapova’s unexpected defeat, Croft has a simple verdict on the third seed’s knock-out. “Sharapova is in love,” she says. “After she lost to Michelle Larcher de Brito, who was ranked 131, she spoke beautifully, with good grace and humility, and was much less upset that I would have expected.”

The pre-tournament spat between the Russian and Serena Williams, in which the latter appeared to criticise her choice of boyfriend – Bulgarian player Grigor Dimitrov – was smoothed over when the American apologised.
“For Sharapova even to enter into that sort of exchange speaks volumes; Serena must really have hit a nerve,” says Croft. “I think love has softened Sharapova off the court but I think it’s also distracted her on the court.”

Williams, the Number One seed, has also apparently found love, with her French coach Patrick Mouratoglou. But it seems unlikely this will put her off her stride.
“I’m in awe of Serena every time I watch her play,” says Croft, who has tipped her to win the women’s singles. “She’s the most powerful athlete you’ll ever see and she’s got better with age, which is unusual. She’s got 16 Grand Slams under her belt and still she possesses an extraordinary drive to win.”

As for Croft’s drive, it has been channelled into her career. These days she’s on the road for the entire tour, variously presenting for Sky and Eurosport. From the Australian Open in January, through Dubai, California, Monte Carlo all the way to Queens, Wimbledon and the World Tour Finals at the O2 in November.

Her workload has increased considerably now that her children are older; Amber, 19, Charlie, 17, and Lily, 15, stay at the family home in Kingston-upon-Thames, which has a tennis court in the garden. “The children can play well enough for a social game, but they weren’t interested in taking it any further,” says Croft.
Croft is married to Mel Coleman, an international yachtsman turned investment banker who bailed out of the City during the recent downturn. He now runs the Annabel Croft Tennis Academy, which is based at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton and has satellites in Portugal and Cyprus.

Meanwhile, here in Wimbledon the tension is mounting – not least because there’s a realistic chance of a British win in the men’s singles. “Even before the start I picked out Andy Murray as this year’s winner, because he couldn’t be in better shape or any better prepared,” asserts Croft, who predicts a final against Novak Djokovic.
“Murray is playing here for the first time as a Grand Slam champion and that has boosted his confidence. He’s also playing here with more support than before; I think the recent documentary on him really gave people an insight into his character, and he’s also less closed and seems much more at ease with himself.”

She has high hopes for 19-year-old British player Laura Robson, too. “Oh my goodness, Laura’s ability on a grand stage is limitless; she’s capable of any result on any day. I’m predicting – although it’s a dangerous thing to do, given all the shocks we’ve had – that she’ll make it through to the quarter finals. The final itself would be a big ask.”
Outside in the (intermittent) sunshine, spectators are happily milling about. At the US Open, rock music blares out and smoke from hamburgers drifts across the court, but at Wimbledon the aura is one of gentility; smart liveried officials, strawberries and cream, the clink of iced Pimm’s. On court, of course, it’s a different ballgame – so to speak.
“Tennis is a gladiatorial sport; it’s emotional, it’s involving. Instead of swords, rackets are the weapons of choice, and you invest so much passion in the player you support,” says Croft, dramatically.

“It’s like a battleground, a bear pit; the spectators can feel the mood, and the character of each opponent is really obvious. You can’t help but care, deeply.”

Culled from The Telegraph.