Sue Barker announces Wimbledon 2022 will be her last for the BBC

Sue Barker has called time on her 30 years as the face of the BBC’s Wimbledon coverage.

The 66-year-old announced she was hanging up her microphone after this year’s Championships.

“I just feel the time is right,” Barker told the Daily Mail, which said she had rejected the offer of a three-year extension by the BBC after several months’ thought.

“It has been my dream job and I have loved every minute of it working with so many great colleagues who I am going to miss so much.”

Revealing she had come close to quitting five years ago, she added: “When I started, I never thought I would manage 30 years. I had actually made up my mind to leave in 2017 because the hours were becoming very long and quite challenging. That would have been 25 years and seemed a good time, but I am so glad I made the decision to stay on.

“I’m very happy to be leaving with no regrets and on my own terms while I am still on top of the job. It just feels like the right time to go and leave it to others.”

She also said the death of her mother earlier this year was a factor in her decision, saying: “My mum was always so interested in my broadcasting career and we would speak every evening. When something like that happens, it does make you reassess life, which is another reason I think this is the right time.”

Her decision to quit came almost two years after the BBC controversially axed her as presenter of A Question of Sport after 24 years.

She said her standout moment anchoring the corporation’s Wimbledon coverage had been Sir Andy Murray’s maiden Wimbledon triumph in 2013, which saw him become Britain’s first male singles champion since Fred Perry 77 years earlier.

Barker, herself a former grand slam champion who won the French Open and reached the