Lifting the Covers

The sight of Alan Mills, walkie-talkie in hand, peeping out from the side of Centre Court as the first drops of rain start to fall, is all-too-familiar to tennis fans. In the 21 years that Alan Mills has refereed at Wimbledon, he has become as synonymous with the tournament as strawberries and cream. Now, in the year he retires, he looks back over a career that started as a professional player (he twice reached the last 16 at Wimbledon himself) and now encompasses the top job in tennis. In turns amusing, surprising and highly revelatory of the closed world of professional tennis, this is the fascinating story of the man who, for many, is the enduring public face of the world's most popular tennis tournament.