Sue Barker Reveals How She Met Her Husband And Got Married; Replacing Children With Dog Love?

Finding love is always interesting and exciting and sometimes love makes way in one’s life in the most unexpected way and spreads the magic and fills the emptiness with love makes you feel the luckiest person in the whole world.

Similarly, former professional tennis player and TV presenter Sue Barker revealed how she met her husband and eventually got married to him, to enjoy a blissful married life. So let’s dig in.

Sue Barker meets her husband and gets married:

In an interview on June 18, 1999, Sue revealed how she met her husband, Lance Tankard, a former policeman and eventually got married to him.

Caption: Sue Baker with her husband Lance Tankard together posing to be clicked by the camera.

Photo Credit: payposter.com

Sue quit playing tennis in 1984, and it made her get a job. Recalling those time she shares that she had long hours which she tried to fill constantly and said,

The first morning I woke up in my empty flat in Wimbledon in a sleeping bag, because I had no furniture, nothing, I'd rented in the States, it was a real shock to the system. All my friends were abroad, I didn't have anything to do, and nothing to look forward to. It was not the happiest time of my life. It had always been the case that there never were enough hours, and now I was trying to FILL hours. Luckily my family were fantastic. 

Then she took a job at tennis club as a coach who swept away her financial worries and said,

I went and worked for David Lloyd and his tennis clubs, running corporate days, at least I was RUNNING them - although I didn't have any financial worries. 
 

Further, Sue shared that during these time she met her husband, Lance Tankard at the club in Portugal where she was coaching and said,

And it was then that I met my husband, at the club. He'd been on a tennis holiday in Portugal where I was coaching, but I was too knackered at night to check out the talent! 

Going down the memory lane, Sue shared a dinner where they coincidentally met, and it initiated their relationship said,

But back in England, I was having a new kitchen done, and he was having a new kitchen done in his flat, and we were both eating dinner at the club. He was sitting on another table and I said: "Oh hi, how are you?". And the next night he was there, and I said: "Come and join me." 
 

Eventually, Sue and Lance's love started to brew, and this love culminated into marriage and eventually got married in 1988, and till 1999, they had completed a decade of togetherness and cherishing the fact she said,

So it was more friends first, although it only took a few days to develop! Not long... ha, ha, ha!" We've been married 10-and-a- half years, I can't believe it. I was sacked just a few weeks before we got married, thank YOU very much, in 1988. 
 

Moreover, Sue expressed that she had been lucky to have husband, Lance in her life and shared that they spend time together in their 26 acres garden with lovely views and dogs and wildlife and happily settled Sue said,

Lucky with Lance, too. We spend hours in the garden together. We've got 26 acres, lovely views, three dogs and all sorts of wildlife. I'm settled, I'd never have thought it. 

Furthermore, Sue acknowledged that she has been blessed with a beautiful life and said,

I've got a lovely life. And I've got a life coming up. Things just can't GET any better, to be honest. How could they? 

Sue and Lance got married in 1988 but till 2017, and despite having a blissful married life they have chosen to keep their wedding photos under the wraps and have not surfaced in the media yet.

Are Dogs Replacement for Children?

Sue and Lance have been married together for 29 long years, but they do no share children together. However, Sue loves dogs. And she hugely invests her emotion in it, and her love for dogs is evident in an interview, where she has shared that holes in her life have been filled with dogs.

Highlighting, the fact that she has been a dog lover for almost 30 years her mission to save as many stray dogs as possible she said,

I've been a dog owner for almost 30 years, so this charity is close to my heart. Set up in 2011, it's run by ex-mode; Victoria Eisermann and singer Pola Pospieszalska with a small team of trustees, and their mission is to save as many of the world's stray dogs as they can. In Romania alone there are thought to be three million - a legacy of Communism in the 80s when millions of Romanians were rehoused in high-rise flats by Ceausescu. So far the charity has rehomed some 800 dogs there.

In the course of helping a dog who was 8, and not being in natural age for adoption Sue and Lance adopted it, and named him "Baiatu," and said,

I'd previously donated to the K-9 Angels, and my husband Lance and I wanted to help one of the dogs - one who wasn't easy to rehome. Puppies and little dogs fly off their website, but Baiatu was still there. He's about eight, not an easy age for adoption, and dark-haired - people seem to prefer golden or white dogs.

Caption: Sue Barker with her beloved dogs Baiatu (left) and Charlie (right).

Photo Credit: dailymail.co.uk

Further, Sue expressed that his presence in their home has been the most amazing experience and said,

And so we found Baiatu, or Batty as we call him. Welcoming him into our home has been the most amazing experience. We did wonder what we were taking on. Was he house-trained? Would he walk on a lead? We had so many questions - but the charity was reassuring and knows all about the quarantine laws. They said they'd find him another home if we couldn't cope, and they give as much advice as one needs.

Sue dog love is not confined to her pet dog but she has the heart to give home and family to a homeless dog, and it's evident that the dogs have filled her life with joy and happiness.

Sue Barker was a professional player and young Sue at 20 had won French Open in 1976. She played and won at various matches collecting more than 455,000 pounds as prize money and got retired in 1984.

Then she went to become a Television Presenter and won accolades as a presenter too. Her efforts paid her well with a net worth of $2 Million.