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.

Mills was the first Englishman to defeat Rod Laver in 1961 at the London Hard Court Championships when the Australian came to Britain.

[1] In 1965, he won the Dutch Covered Courts Championships, defeating Roger Taylor in the semifinal and Bobby Wilson in the final.

[2] Mills was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1996 Birthday Honours for services to lawn tennis,[3] and promoted to Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2006 New Year Honours for services to sport.