This film is part of Free

Sue Barker plays Evonne Goolagong

A young pretender takes on the Wimbledon Champion

Sport 1971 9 mins

From the collection of:

Logo for South West Film and Television Archive

Overview

Sue Barker and Evonne Goolagong compete in a Dewar Cup Tie in Torquay. TV reporter Angela Rippon interviews a representative of the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) and Sue Barker's coach Arthur Roberts who also coached Angela Mortimer to three Grand Slam singles titles including Wimbledon in 1961. A fifteen-year old Sue Barker will go on to move to California to pursue her dream.

Sue Barker she won eleven World Tennis Association (WTA) tour singles titles and twelve doubles titles including one Grand Slam singles title at the 1976 French Open. She reached a career-high singles ranking of world number three. Australian Evonne Goolagong was a world number one and won a total of fourteen Grand Slam singles titles, two at Wimbldeon in 1971 and 1980. Sponsorship from Green Shield Stamps, a reward scheme abandoned in 1991, is the equivalent of being sponsored by the National Lottery today. Angela Rippon moved on to national TV as a newscaster for the BBC Nine O'Clock News and has enjoyed a fifty-year career in television.