Mills for Your Grist

Alan Chalmers, the British proprietor of the awesome Tennis Bookshop, reports that he still has some (autographed) copies left of former Wimbledon referee Alan Mills’ autobiography, Lifting the Covers. What does it tell you about the status of Wimbledon when the life story of one of its most buttoned-up and self-effacing administrators has just about sold out its entire first printing? In fact, John McEnroe was complaining at Wimbledon that he couldn’t get a copy of the book despite sending one of his kids (who was working as a runner for NBC) on numerous missions to find the volume. We’ve come a long way, haven’t we, from the days when this guy used to scream that presiding officials at Wimbledon were “the pits of the earth”? Check out Alan’s website; he’s a great source for all the tennis fit to print.