Annabel Croft's Biography
Who is Annabel Croft?
Annabel Croft was born in Farnborough in Kent on 12 July 1966.She took up tennis when she was nine, and at 15, she became the youngest Briton to play at Wimbledon for nearly 100 years. She also studied ballet seriously until her early teens and pursued riding as a child.
In 1984, Croft was a Wimbledon Junior Champion and a year later picked up her first senior tournament trophy in San Diego.
At just 21, Annabel Croft retired from the international tennis circuit, ranked British number one and in the world's top 25.
Her highest ranking was 21st.
Annabel Croft has pursued a career on television. Commentating and presenting on tennis for the BBC, Sky and Eurosport, Annabel Croft was also a contestant in BBC's Superstars in 2003 and in April 2005 became a participant in ITV's Celebrity Wrestling.
Annabel Croft said of Celebrity Wrestling:
"It's the most physically demanding thing I've done in my life. It's brutal. But I feel fitter now than I did at 20. I want to prove that at 38, and after having children, you can still be really fit, maybe fitter than you’ve been before."
In 1993, Annabel Croft married former America's Cup yachtsman Mel Coleman. They have three children. Both Mel and Annabel have run the London and New York Marathons.
Annabel Croft is a patron of SPARKS (Sport Aiding Medical Research for Kids).
In June 2009, Annabel Croft and other celebrities were shown living on the streets and in hostels for the homeless for 10 days for the BBC series Filthy, Rich And Homeless.
In 2009, she founded The Annabel Croft Training Academy.
In 2023, she was paired with Johannes Radebe on Strictly Come Dancing. They narrowly missed out on the final, coming fourth.
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