Iconic Wimbledon presenter Sue Barker revealed that Wimbledon officials weren’t impressed after she decided to go a bit off-script following Andy Murray’s 2013 triumph at The Championships. In the 2013 Wimbledon final, Murray defeated Novak Djokovic in straight sets to win his first Wimbledon title.
Also, Murray’s victory ended Great Britain’s 77-year drought of not having a male Wimbledon champion as Murray became the first Briton to win Wimbledon since Fred Perry did it in 1936. The atmosphere was absolutely electric following Murray’s triumph and Barker wanted to get the crowd even more pumped up.
Barker on going off-script after Murray defeated Djokovic
“I will never forget that. I got in awful trouble with Wimbledon. Because Wimbledon had asked me, in the early 2000s, to do on court interviews and to read out, you know? And I have a little script where I have to say the winner of gentleman’s singles trophy, for whatever year it is, is so-and-so.
And I suddenly – I looked over at Andy and he was crying, and I thought— and I could hear on Murray Mount, the crowd were going mad. There was such a buzz around the Centre Court. I said, I can’t just read this. So I said, ‘We’ve waited 77 years for this!’ I just felt it needed something, and the crowd went nuts.
Andy was in floods again. No, that was the highlight for all of us. He was amazing. The pressure he was under, I don’t know how he did it,” Barker told Lorraine Kelly. After this year’s Wimbledon, 66-year-old Barker retired as presenter of the BBC’s Wimbledon coverage.
“I will miss it terribly. I wish I was 30 years younger and starting out. I loved the job, and I didn’t want to give it up, but I felt it was the right time and I could walk out with my head held high, which I was able to do,” Barker said.
