A WIMBLEDON legend has been left devastated after her husbands died simply weeks after his shock cancer diagnosis.
Annabel Croft, 56, stated that her husband Mel Coleman, 60, died earlier this week after he was recognized with stage 3 cancer.
She stated: “My beloved husband Mel handed away peacefully on Wednesday morning after a brief battle with cancer.
“My family and I are completely heartbroken and ask for privacy at this very sad time.”
Mel had complained of abdomen pains within the weeks earlier than the devastating diagnosis.
Tennis star Annabel married America’s Cup yachtsman Mel in 1992 after they met by likelihood simply earlier than she hung up her racket as knowledgeable participant.
Earlier this 12 months, Annabel advised the Mail: “I obtained a textual content from my mom saying the BBC manufacturing workplace in Belfast had been asking whether or not I’d be curious about filming a programme about yacht racing.
“I’d by no means been on a yacht earlier than, but it surely ended up with me, Eamonn Holmes and Peter Skellern going off to Guernsey to shoot a programme the place we learnt the right way to race a yacht.
“Mel, who had just got back from Australia after the America’s Cup, was one of the yachtsmen and that is how we met.”
The couple have three grown-up kids named Charlie, Amber and Lily.
Mel was Annabel’s first correct boyfriend and married her six years after they met when she was 21.
They later ran a tennis faculty collectively, with Mel famous for his wholesome look.
Annabel and Mel additionally transformed an outdated supply van right into a cellular residence which they drove throughout Europe on strolling holidays as a part of their lively outside life-style.
The former Wimbledon participant and TV presenter, 56, began the renovation mission in the course of the third lockdown within the UK.
She advised Sun Online Travel: “I never knew you could do what we did until my husband Mel asked me about fixing up a van when the whole world had shut down.”
The couple spent simply three months remodeling the van – which they named Vannabel – into the proper vacation residence on wheels.
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