Full name | Alan Ronald Mills |
---|---|
Country (sports) | Great Britain |
Born | Stretford, Lancashire, England | 6 November 1935
Died | 18 January 2024 | (aged 88)
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 (6 November 1935 – 18 January 2024) was an English 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.