Alan Mills (tennis)

Alan Mills
CBE
Full nameAlan Ronald Mills
Country (sports) Great Britain
Born(1935-11-06)6 November 1935
Stretford, Lancashire, England
Died18 January 2024(2024-01-18) (aged 88)
PlaysRight-handed
Singles
Career record324–178
Career titles31
Grand Slam singles results
French Open3R (1959, 1962)
Wimbledon4R (1959, 1962)
US Open2R (1963)
Professional majors
Wembley ProQF (1967)
Doubles
Grand Slam doubles results
WimbledonSF (1966)
Mixed doubles
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
WimbledonQF (1957)
Team competitions
Davis CupSFEu (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.