British Tennis Champion, Annabel Croft retired from professional tennis at the age of twenty-one.
Annabel was born in London and raised in Kent where she learnt to play tennis at the age of nine. She soon emerged as a player of immense promise and within three years had become the National Champion at under 12yrs, 14yrs and 16 yrs age groups.
At 15, she was the youngest Briton to play senior Wimbledon for nearly 100 years. In 1984 she became junior Wimbledon Champion as well as Junior Australian Open Champion. A year later she collected her first senior tournament trophy in San Diego.
Annabel’s charm and entertaining playing style had made her a great favourite with the crowds, both at live tennis events and on television and these attributes transferred naturally to the world of media.
Immediately after her retirement, Annabel developed, and continues to enjoy, long term relationships with many of the leading broadcasters’ tennis output, both as an anchor, tennis reporter and as an all-round sports correspondent.
Annabel has developed a successful media career, initially as the face of Channel 4’s Treasure Hunt and ITV’s Interceptor. She has also taken part in a series of the award winning Filthy Rich and Homeless for BBC1, where she lived homeless on the streets of London for 9 days.
Annabel also hosted her own series, The Flying Picnic, for Granada and Sky Travel. Travelling around in an original DeHavilland Moth plane, she collected the ingredients from around Britain to recreate the famous household guru’s ‘Mrs Beeton’s Picnic for Forty’ which since airing has received record viewer ratings. Tapping into her passion of healthy and fun eating and cooking for family and friends, The Flying Picnic saw Annabel celebrate the quality of food Britain really has to offer.
In 2012 she presented the Olympic Tennis Coverage for BBC Radio 5. Her involvement in Tennis is at the highest level both on and off screen.
As a fit, healthy, glamorous mum-of-three, Annabel uses her position to raise awareness of the benefits of Homeopathy and Natural medicines, as well as child obesity in the UK and the issues and causes surrounding it.
Annabel was married to Mel Coleman a former America’s cup and Admiral’s cup yachtsman. In 2009, they together launched the Annabel Croft Tennis Academy at the National Tennis Centre. They have two daughters named Amber Rose and Lily and a son, Charlie.
Every year, Annabel Croft plays an integral role in the coverage of Wimbledon, hosting Live@Wimbledon for 4 years for the Tournament hosts and its global Internet audience as well as BBC Radio 5 Live.
Annabel presents and commentates on the four Grand Slams – The Australian Open in Melbourne, The French Open in Paris for 5 Live, Wimbledon for BBC TV and Radio and The US Open in New York for Amazon Prime Video. Annabel presents as a presenter / pundit / commentator virtually every major tennis tournament throughout the year.
Annabel announced her Camper Van adventure on Instagram@vannabelcroft in January 2021 and travelled throughout the UK that Summer. If you ever wanted to see a normal van converted into a luxurious Camper Van – watch out for this!!
Annabel presented live from Turin for Amazon in 2021 and 2022 at the ATP Finals, Annabel also presented and commentated at all the major Tennis tournaments for Amazon, BBC TV, 5 Live and Eurosport in 2022 and 2023
In May 2023 Annabel sadly lost her husband Mel, a professional
yachtsman after a short illness from cancer.
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It was Mel’s wish to raise funds for research on the
metabolic health of people with cancer. To donate, go to gofundme.com/f/support-forever-young-groups-research
Annabel commentated at the 2023 Australian Open, French
Open, Eastbourne, Wimbledon on 5 Live and did the on-court interviews at the
Ladies and Men’s Finals at the 2023 Wimbledon Championships which was seen by
over 1 billion people.
In Autumn 2023 Annabel swopped her tennis shoes for dancing
shoes where she took part in the UK’s Strictly Come Dancing and reached the
Semi Finals and was part of the cast doing the UK tour of ‘Strictly ‘ Live.
In 2024, Annabel presented and commentated for Sky
Sports and the BBC at all the main Tennis tournaments, which include again
doing the on court interviews at the Ladies and Men’s finals at Wimbledon and
commentating at the 2024 US Open for 5 Live and Sky Sports UK.
Starting on 25th September 2025 Annabel will be going on a 31 Day UK tour, please click the link below to find out more:
