Stepping away from Wimbledon presenting duties after 30 years, Sue Barker might have wondered how that particular void could be filled.
The answer came not in the form of summer holidays or Centre Court hospitality, but rather Billie Jean King's apartment.
"She invited me for an Indian takeaway last year," Barker says.
"A lot of the old players were there, talking about the old days. Chicken tikka masala and naan breads everywhere!"
First as a player and then as a broadcaster, there are few who can rival Barker for first-hand Wimbledon experiences. She reached the semi-finals of the singles in 1977, was on court with Andy Murray as the tears flowed after his 2012 final defeat to Roger Federer, and then right there again a year later when the mood was one of jubilation.
That passion for the sport still burns brightly and so too the knowledge, but the occasional memory does need jogging.
A fairly significant one of those became apparent outside Wimbledon's Last Eight Club, an exclusive corner of the grounds open to those have reached the quarter-finals of the singles, the semi-finals of the doubles or played in the mixed doubles final.
"This girl was walking out of the club, her name is Mona Schallau," Barker says, already smiling.
“She said she had been waiting to see me and gave me a big hug. She said, ‘you’re the reason I’m here’. I thought she was going to tell me about a last-16 match where she beat me 6-4 in the third.
“She said, ‘no, you and I played doubles here’. I was saying ‘no, no, I don’t ever remember playing doubles with you Mona’.
“She said, ‘yes we did, we reached the semi-finals and do you not remember who we beat in the quarter-finals?’ I was thinking I can’t even remember playing doubles with her, let alone who we beat.
“‘We beat Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova on Centre Court’ - I was speechless!
“I said, ‘Mona, if I’d beaten Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova, I would have that score tattooed on my forehead’. The two greatest legends of Wimbledon."
A quick Google search revealed that Barker should have been scouring the SW19 streets for a tattoo parlour. In 1978, the pair beat King and Navratilova 6-3 4-6 6-4 to reach the semi-finals, though the archives leave out one somehow important detail.
“Mona then went on to say that in the last few games it started to rain and Billie Jean wanted to stop because she couldn’t see through her glasses," Barker laughs.
“I said, ‘don’t ruin a good story with the facts!' So we went and had a cup of tea to celebrate our success."
Barker describes the Last Eight Club as a "who's who of tennis" and if all goes to plan over the next fortnight, Jack Draper's invitation will not be far away. The British number one arrives at Wimbledon with legitimate title hopes, but he will have to do it the hard way.
There is potential third-round clash against the in-form Alexander Bublik to navigate and Novak Djokovic is a projected quarter-final opponent. That is all before talk of showdowns with Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner can even begin.
Draper previously has struggled with injury problems, joking he "looked like a bit of a Ferrari but was a bit of a Toyota", but Barker believes the progress has been clear.
“In 2023 I did a couple of corporate events where I worked with Jack because he was injured, and he was really depressed," she says.
“To see where he is now is truly amazing. What he’s worked on is his physicality. He took his shirt off the other day at Queen’s and that was not the Jack Draper I saw a couple of years ago!"
Draper has never made it beyond the second round of Wimbledon, and only once past the fourth round at a Grand Slam, but he is the fourth seed after a stellar year. The British tennis baton, so long held by Andy Murray, is now firmly in his hands.
“He’s already right at the top of the game," Barker says.
"I will put pressure on him - potentially a Grand Slam champion. Yes Alcaraz and Sinner are the best, but he’s right behind them and very capable of winning Slams. He’s the one they will be looking over their shoulders worried about.
“It’s great for British tennis, I didn’t see this happening so soon after Andy. I'm so excited to sit there and watch him. If it’s not this year, it doesn’t matter. He’s got so many years to do it.
"He’s definitely a Grand Slam champion in the making.”
Draper will hope to join fellow British No1 Emma Raducanu in completing the climb to the summit of one of tennis' four biggest peaks.
Raducanu has largely struggled for fitness and form since her stunning US Open victory in 2021, but has risen back up to 40th in the world and there have been better signs working with coach Mark Petchey.
Barker is "thrilled" to see that particular partnership and is confident it will prove fruitful, but cautions against expecting Raducanu to repeat her New York heroics.
“Everyone talks as though she won a Grand Slam and then should have been world number one - I never thought that," Barker says.
“You have to put that in perspective. It was a fairytale, she came from nowhere. We should just celebrate the fact that it was the most incredible sporting story. I think there will be a film made about it one day.
“Now she’s got to put all of the expectation behind her, because I don’t think she has to be a top ten player. She’s still learning the game and still finding out about herself."
Sue Barker spoke at an event hosted by Sipsmith, the official Gin Partner of Wimbledon, to celebrate the launch of Top Seed Gin. This limited-edition gin uses grass seeds distilled from Wimbledon’s Centre Court.
