| John Barrett | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Tennis player, sports commentator, author |
John Barrett (born 1931)[1] is an English former tennis player, commentator, and author.[2]
Barrett born in North London and educated at University College School in Hampstead.[2] As a tennis competitor, he played in 21 consecutive Wimbledon Championships between 1950 and 1970, and at his best was ranked as his country's fifth best player.[3] He twice played for Great Britain in the Davis Cup during the 1950s.[2] Towards the end of his playing career from 1965 to 1968, he was Director of the Lawn Tennis Association's training squad, and formally qualified as an LTA coach in 1969.[2] The same year, he began editing the new World of Tennis, the official annual for the International Tennis Federation, and retained the position until it was replaced by The ITF Year in 2001.[2]
In 1971 he began working as a television commentator,[4] and following the retirement of tennis doyen Dan Maskell following 1991 Wimbledon, he inherited the mantle of the "voice of tennis",[5] an epithet he retained until his retirement from the BBC in 2006. He continues to work occasionally for networks in Australia, Hong Kong, Canada and the United States, and is the tennis correspondent for the Financial Times.[3]
He has been married to the former French, Australian, and Wimbledon champion Angela Mortimer since 1967, and they have two children.[6]