There are few more prestigious roles in the world of tennis than Wimbledon referee. Alan Mills, who has died aged 88, held the position with quiet distinction for 23 years, from 1983 to 2005.
If this suggests a career sailing on smooth seas, the impression would be false. Being the final arbiter during a fortnight of fierce sporting competition in the full glare of a global spotlight would, rightly, suggest a job of greater turbulence. Throw in personalities bursting with the talent and temperament of John McEnroe, Ilie Năstase, Boris Becker and others of equal untamed ambition, and it becomes clear special qualities of one’s own are required to keep the Championships from imploding.
“But this he did with a calming influence all of his own,” said Jim Courier, a four-time Grand Slam champion and Wimbledon finalist who, as he freely admits, was not always the easiest player to deal with. “Referees at major championships work in this unhinged atmosphere of players and agents reacting explosively to winning or losing … Among referees I have known, Alan was the best.”
Mills earned the moniker “Rain Man”, due to the familiar sight of him, walkie-talkie in hand, sometimes under an umbrella, scanning the skies from his corner of Wimbledon’s Centre Court before deciding whether conditions were fit to call “play”. With his small, ironic smile, Mills would say: “I’m the spoilsport in the grey suit.”
The meteorological task, with itchy fingers on rackets in the locker room, was not without stress. But Mills rarely showed it even when faced with the formidable problem of trying to calm an incandescent McEnroe after he had put the phrase “You cannot be serious” into global circulation during a rant at the Wimbledon umpire Ted James. Mills was also landed the unhappy task of having to default a young Tim Henman in 1995, after the British player had inadvertently hit a ball girl in the face with an uncontrolled swipe at a ball.
Apart from being responsible for the order of play, and overseeing the court officials or umpires, a referee’s job includes myriad tasks, including looking after the welfare of the players.
Bill Norris, the ATP Tour physio for more than 30 years, spoke fondly of how much he learned from Mills. “We had long discussions about how to handle the medical time-out, the optimum rest requirement so that players could give their best and the little details that the public never hear about. He was always available, always charming and understanding.”
Mills was born in the Lancashire town of Stretford. His father was a railway controller, and his mother a railway clerk. After the family moved to Formby, Alan went to Waterloo grammar school, near Liverpool, leaving aged 16 to become an apprentice electrical engineer.
He had begun playing tennis at a young age, and was already county champion when he went into the RAF for his national service – and soon won the RAF Tennis Championships.
On joining the amateur circuit, he found the competition tough, as Britain had some fine players at the time, such as Mike Davies, Billy Knight and Bobby Wilson. Their presence restricted his Davis Cup opportunities, but he was on the squads that took Britain to the semi-finals in 1959, 1961 and 1964.
It was in that first year of 1959, in the southern Luxembourg spa town of Mondorf-les-Bains, that Mills achieved something unique at that time in Davis Cup history – he won a singles rubber 6-0, 6-0, 6-0 in 34 minutes. His unfortunate opponent was Luxembourg’s best player, Joseph Offenheim.
Although lacking the big shot necessary to win major titles, Mills reached the fourth round at Wimbledon in 1959, and in doubles with Mark Cox, the semi-finals in 1966. Overall, Mills ended his career with the impressive record of having won 31 titles and a win/loss record of 324 to 178.
He turned professional, working as a tennis pro at a hotel in the Bahamas, then at an Ohio tennis club, before coaching for a year at Millfield school in Somerset, as well as for Wales. In 1977 he was appointed assistant referee at Wimbledon.
Mills took the top job in 1983, but he did not confine his refereeing skills to Wimbledon. He answered the call of the American Butch Buchholz to take charge of a major event, initially called the Lipton, now the Miami Open, which Buchholz created in 1985 with a view to making it the fifth biggest in the world, one of the few to encompass large draws for both men and women.
“I thought of no one else when I looked for a referee,” Buchholz said. “We went through some storms with tents being blown down and schedules ruined, but Alan handled them all with aplomb.” Mills stayed with the event until 1993.
He was made OBE in 1996, then CBE following his retirement in 2005. The same year, he published his memoir, Lifting the Covers.
In 1960, Mills married the England table-tennis champion Jill Rook. She died in 2019. Their children, Barry and Penny, survive him.
• Alan Mills, tennis referee and player, born 6 November 1935; died 18 January 2024
• This article was amended on 2 February 2024 to correct details of Alan Mills’ surviving relatives, and to note that he received an OBE and CBE, not an MBE and CBE as a previous version said.
