Strictly Come Dancing 2023 contestant Annabel Croft has been dancing for a few weeks now on the BBC show.
Kent-born Annabel said as she was announced for the 2023 series: “I have always loved watching Strictly. I can’t quite believe I’m going to be part of this magical show – swapping tennis balls for glitter balls. I’m looking forward to finding some joyfulness in the process.”
What did Annabel Croft win as a tennis player?
An early highlight of Annabel’s tennis career saw her become the youngest British player to compete at Wimbledon for 95 years. She was just 15 at the time.
Within a couple of years, in 1984, she was Wimbledon’s junior champ, and also won the Australian Open girls’ tournament that same year.
Annabel also represented Great Britain in the Fed Cup and the Wightman Cup in the mid 1980s. Annabel made the second round of the French Open in 1986, the third round of the US Open that same year. She previously got to the second round of the Australian Open in both 1984 and 1985.
Annabel’s highest singles career ranking was 24, in 1985. As a doubles competitor, her highest ranking was 126, in 1986.
She retired from pro tennis at 21, having grown weary of the travel schedule.
Annabel reflected in 2011 that touring was “stressful”, likening it to “having an argument every day and preparing for another one tomorrow”.
What TV shows has Annabel Croft appeared in?
Following her tennis retirement, Annabel embarked upon a TV career. She hosted Treasure Hunt in 1989 after Anneka Rice moved on from the helicopter-heavy search-and-locate game show.
She then went on to front The Interceptor, a not-entirely different concept for ITV in which contestants wearing rucksacks would be pursed by the eponymous Interceptor, also often in a helicopter.
Annabel has also worked as a TV and radio presenter for programming such as Wimbledon coverage, The Wright Stuff, and This Morning.
And in June 2009, Annabel participated in BBC series Famous, Rich and Homeless. Annabel recalled of her ten days on the streets of London: “I lived among alcoholics and drug addicts. I slept in the doorways of haute-couture fashion shops, I ate charity handouts.” Annabel also endured the horror of a man ‘trying to stick a knife in her back’. She later attempted to track down an alcoholic rough sleeper she met during the filming of Famous, Rich and Homeless.
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Pictured with her youngest daughter Lily
Annabel Croft’s family
Annabel and her late husband Mel Coleman met in 1986 in Guernsey, according to reports. She was in the Channel Islands to host a BBC programme about yacht racing.
Mel was a former international championship-winning yachtsman himself. And they are said to have become closer over pub dinners after days consisting of filming.
They married in Kent in 1992 – and daughter Amber was born nine months after their honeymoon. Annabel is also mum to son Charlie and daughter Lily.
The family lived in Coombe, near Wimbledon, in south London.
When did Annabel Croft lose her husband?
Mel sadly passed away earlier this year. He died aged 60 in May following a short battle with cancer. Having complained of stomach pains in March, Mel was diagnosed with stage three stomach caner.
In a statement following his death, Annabel said she and her family were “completely heartbroken”. It was several weeks before Annabel was seen in public at Wimbledon in July.
Following Mel’s passing, a family friend reflected on how his loss rocked his loved ones.
They said: “This has come as an extreme shock to everyone – the diagnosis was out of the blue and Mel did not seem unwell at the time.
“Sadly the cancer progressed brutally… and he passed earlier this week. Everyone is devastated and horrified, and Annabel is absolutely shattered.
“The two of them have been together forever and were a wonderful couple.”
Recently speaking to the DailyMail, Annabel said of Mel’s death: “He was drifting in and out of consciousness. And then we… watched him die. He took his last breath.
“Have you ever watched someone die? It is so traumatic. I was traumatised. I am still traumatised, but at the same time I cannot believe he is gone.”
Read more: Here’s your complete Strictly Come Dancing 2023 line-up – with full odds on who’ll win!
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