Alan Ronald Mills, (born 6 November 1935), is a former

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player and tournament referee for the

Wimbledon tennis championships The Wimbledon Championships, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely regarded as the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, All England Club in ...

from 1983 to 2005. Although each individual tennis match was controlled by an on-court

umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...

, Alan Mills ran the entire tournament. However, perhaps he was most well known because the decision to stop play in the event of rain was that of Mills, and so his face was familiar to millions of television viewers worldwide, in the corner of

Centre Court Centre Court is a tennis court at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (also known as the All England Club) and is the main court used in The Championships at Wimbledon, the third annual Grand Slam event of the tennis calendar. It is con ...

, clutching his two-way radio and glancing upwards at the sky in search of rainclouds.

Tennis career

Mills was himself an accomplished

tennis player Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cove ...

. At the age of 17 he was the senior county champion in his home county of

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, and he reached the last 16 in the men's singles at Wimbledon on two occasions. He was also the first man in the history of the

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organis ...

to win a match with the scoreline 6–0, 6–0, 6–0, completing the match in just 32 minutes. Mills was the first Englishman to defeat

Rod Laver Rodney George Laver (born 9 August 1938) is an Australian former tennis player. Laver was the world number 1 ranked professional in some sources in 1964, in all sources from 1965 to 1969 and in some sources in 1970, spanning four years befor ...

when the Australian came to Britain. He became a professional tennis coach in 1966 and played matches on the professional tour.

Personal life

He married English table tennis international

Jill Rook Jill Rook (married name Mills), is a female former international table tennis and tennis player from England. Table tennis career She won a silver medal at the 1956 World Table Tennis Championships in the Corbillon Cup (women's team event) wit ...

in 1960.

References

*Mills, A. (2005). ''Lifting the Covers''. – an autobiography of Alan Mills' 21 years as referee of the Wimbledon Championships

External links

* *
BBC News Online
'face of the week' 1935 births Living people Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English male tennis players People from Stretford Wimbledon Championships Professional tennis players before the Open Era British male tennis players Tennis people from Greater Manchester {{England-tennis-bio-stub