| Full name | Alan Ronald Mills |
|---|---|
| Country (sports) |  Great Britain |
| Born | 6 November 1935 Stretford, Lancashire |
| Plays | Right-handed |
| Singles | |
| Career record | 324-178 |
| Career titles | 31 |
| Grand Slam singles results | |
| French Open | 3R (1959, 1962) |
| Wimbledon | 4R (1959, 1962) |
| US Open | 2R (1963) |
| Professional majors | |
| Wembley Pro | QF (1967) |
| Doubles | |
| Grand Slam doubles results | |
| Wimbledon | SF (1966) |
| Mixed doubles | |
| Grand Slam mixed doubles results | |
| Wimbledon | QF (1957) |
| Team competitions | |
| Davis Cup | SFEu (1959, 1961, 1964) |
Alan Ronald Mills, CBE (born 6 November 1935), is a former tennis player and tournament referee for the Wimbledon tennis championships from 1983 to 2005. Although each individual tennis match was controlled by an on-court umpire, 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, clutching his two-way radio and glancing upwards at the sky in search of rainclouds.
Tennis career
Mills was himself an accomplished tennis player. At the age of 17 he was the senior county champion in his home county of Lancashire, 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 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 in 1961 at the London Hard Court Championships when the Australian came to Britain.[1]
He won the Dutch Covered Courts Championships in 1965 defeating Roger Taylor in the semifinal and Bobby Wilson in the final.
He became a professional tennis coach in 1966 and played matches on the professional tour.[2]
Personal life
He married English table tennis international Jill Rook in 1960.[3]
References
- ↑ "The Times & The Sunday Times".
- ↑ "Alan Mills Has Beaten Tennis' Best". Toledo Blade. 1 December 1967. p. 29.
- ↑ "Jill engaged" (PDF). Table Tennis England. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 July 2014. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
- Mills, A. (2005). Lifting the Covers. ISBN 0-7553-1229-5 – an autobiography of Alan Mills' 21 years as referee of the Wimbledon Championships
External links
- Alan Mills at the Davis Cup
- Alan Mills at the International Tennis Federation
- BBC News Online 'face of the week'