16 October 2025 - John Beddington
John enjoyed a long, successful career in tennis administration, which included a lengthy stint as Executive Vice President of Tennis Canada between 1979 and 1995, co-founding the Masters Tennis Event at the Royal Albert Hall in 1997 and helping to negotiate Barclays' lucrative sponsorship of the ATP Tour Finals in London. He was a full member of the All England Club for 52 years.
 

John was also a great ally of tennis journalists and a strong supporter of the BTJA. As an associate member of the BTJA for decades (dating back to the days of the Lawn Tennis Writers' Association), John was generous with his time and resources, always aiming to help journalists and young tennis talent. He also made many significant financial donations to the BTJA for many years. Overall, John raised nearly £2m for charitable causes within tennis and he staunchly believed that tennis could be a force for good.

Richard Evans, who enjoyed a great friendship and working relationship with John, said: "John had a great relationship with both the British and Canadian press. His whole personality was based on welcoming inclusivity, and no one needed to explain to him the advantage of having the press onside if you were in the business of promoting the game. Not just tennis, but squash too, which was more difficult but benefited enormously from his passion for that sport. He also raised literally millions of dollars for Canadian tennis and various charities in England. Tennis was lucky to have him."

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3 October 2025 - Reg Brace
Reg Brace, a former chairman of the British Tennis Journalists' Association, has passed away peacefully on 3 October at the age of 95. Brace was the Yorkshire Post's tennis correspondent between 1958 and 2018, a frequent contributor to various tennis publications and he co-wrote the book Play Better Tennis with Billie Jean King.

 

Brace was also a former president of the Yorkshire Lawn Tennis Association and an enthusiastic tennis player who captained the BTJA in friendly matches against the All England Club. During his time in the BTJA, Brace played a key role in improving the BTJA's relationship with the All England Club.

 

Brace's funeral will take place at Rawdon Crematorium in Leeds on Friday October 31st at 1:45pm. Refreshments and a celebration of his life will follow at Chapel Allerton Lawn Tennis Club.​

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12 May 2025 - Peter Blackman

Peter Blackman, a former chairman of the BTJA in its days as the LTWA, passed away at the age of 90 on 16 April. His funeral will take place on 20 May at 11am at West Herts Crematorium, High Elms Lane, Watford, Hertfordshire and the wake will follow at Northwood Golf Club where he was a player and past Captain.​​

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8 April 2024 - Alan Jones

Alan Jones, who was renowned in British tennis as the longest serving performance coach in the country, has died at the age of 75.

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The passing of Jones was announced on social media by Jo Durie, the former world No 5 who worked with him throughout her career up until her retirement in 1995. She confirmed that Jones had been suffering from illness for a short period.

 

"Alan coached generations of players and influenced the lives of so many," Durie wrote. "A giant in the tennis world. I was so lucky to call him my friend."

 

Jones was a tennis coach for 53 years and had 33 Wimbledon competitors on his long list of players. These included Laura Robson, Elena Baltacha, Anne Keothavong and Jeremy Bates.

 

Jones himself had shown some talent as a player, appearing in the mixed doubles at Wimbledon in 1970 before representing Middlesex in county tennis for 21 years. However, he was at his best standing by the court offering his forthright advice to promising youngsters.

 

Up until recently, Jones was still coaching alongside Durie and his son Ryan at the Unique Tennis Academy, which is one of the LTA's regional player development centres. He was described by Billie Jean King in a social-media tribute as a "passionate and dedicated coach".

 

Jones's long service to the sport was honoured by the British Tennis Journalists' Association in 2017 when he received the Special Award. His regular presence every year alongside Durie at our annual awards lunch was always appreciated.

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17 January 2024 - Mike Dickson

Mike Dickson, the Daily Mail tennis correspondent and former BTJA chairman, passed away on Wednesday, 17 January, aged 59. Mike was a respected colleague and friend, who was in Melbourne, covering the 24th Australian Open of his distinguished career.  Simon Briggs, tennis correspondent of The Daily Telegraph, pays tribute (below) to his friend. The piece was first published in the Telegraph on 18 January 2024.

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It was another busy day for British players at the Australian Open, and yet the forehands and backhands failed to occupy one’s attention in the way that they usually do.

 

The explanation was simple. Everyone at this tournament is still reeling from the most tragic news: the passing of the Daily Mail’s tennis correspondent Mike Dickson, who collapsed and died in the small hours of Wednesday morning. He was a week short of his 60th birthday.

 

For the most part, journalists are a tangential part of a giant operation like the Australian Open. We ask a few questions and scribble a few lines. Players and administrators view us as a minor irritant, like room tax or athlete’s foot.

 

And yet, once in a while, a reporter transcends the restrictions of the press room, and becomes something akin to the conscience of a sport. In the 1960s, you had Brian Glanville (Sunday Times) in football and EW Swanton (Daily Telegraph) in cricket; in the 1970s, Bud Collins (The Boston Globe) in tennis.

 

Today, a fragmented media landscape makes it harder to achieve such iconic status. But Mike was the nearest modern equivalent. When he chose to tackle a substantial topic, his words had a tablets-of-stone quality. His was a voice of effortless authority.

 

His passing has stunned and saddened every member of the tennis bubble. As soon as his Daily Mail colleagues were informed on Wednesday night (Australian time), our phones began to light up with messages. Condolences, expressions of shock, desperate hopes that the news might be fake. A host of major champions – including Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Martina Navratilova, Billie Jean King and Coco Gauff – expressed their sorrow on social media. The hierarchy of Tennis Australia discussed possible tributes. A tweet sent by his family, confirming the tragedy, clocked almost 3m views.

 

Mike had friends everywhere, even among those he wrote about – which is an almost impossible feat to pull off. During the recent Davis Cup finals in Malaga, he spent a couple of evenings in the company of Dan Evans, who had ripped a calf but still came out to support the British team. Last year, he helped Cameron Norrie’s parents, David and Helen, as they house-hunted for a place in south-west London. Andy Murray never failed to stop for a handshake and a chat on his way through the player lounge.

 

And yet, all these players knew they could expect no soft-pedalling, no punch-pulling, in Mike’s reports. Underperformance, poor preparation, petulance on the court: he would write it how he saw it. “I trusted him and knew he would always be fair,” said Sue Barker in a tribute published by the Mail. “That is all you could ask really.”

 

That was Mike Dickson, the tennis guru. But what of the private man? The lover of William Boyd’s novels and Joe Jackson’s records? The devoted husband and father who spent so many weekends watching his eldest son play for Wimbledon CC? The generous mentor who offered up-and-coming reporters advice, contacts, and even free lodging?

 

Suffice to say, I feel privileged to have known him. Mike was old-school in many ways: upright in his bearing, more formally dressed than the rest of us scruffy hacks, conservative in his political views. But his X-factor was the way that he undercut these traditional values with a mischievous sense of humour and a complete lack of pomposity or ego. It was a rare and winning combination.

 

When I think of Mike, I will think of him sitting at his desk, turning to look over his shoulder (stiffly, for he was a martyr to sciatica), and delivering a wry one-liner, accompanied by his distinctive, infectious chuckle. It’s hard to believe that I’ll never hear that laugh again.

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11 January 2024 - Ron Atkin

Ron Atkin, an honorary vice president and a former chairman, passed away on Thursday, 11 January, aged 92.

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Ron was a well-respected tennis writer and author, he covered more than 40 editions of Wimbledon for the Observer, Guardian, Independent on Sunday, and Sunday Telegraph. In 1983 he won the SJA's Sports Writer of the Year award.

 

Ron also featured in our podcast series with Chris Jones two years ago. Episode 3 is available to listen to here: https://www.btja.co.uk/podcasts.

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​18 October 2023 - David Irvine
David Irvine, an honorary vice president and former chairman of the BTJA in its days as the LTWA, has passed away at the age of 88 after a long illness. He worked for The Guardian from 1969 to 1996, including as its tennis correspondent for 20 years. David was also well known for his writing on rugby union.

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A Tribute by Malcolm Folley: "David was a constant figure in my life for years on the road, a generous, humorous man with an eye for statistics and the story they told in an age long before websites became a go-to facility for us. He was always up for a lively debate over dinner whether in New York, Paris or Lilleshall. Affectionately, he was known to the close band of tennis writers who travelled on the road together from the early 1980s as ‘Noddie’. It was not unusual after a convivial dinner, involving the odd flagon of red wine, for him to fall asleep at the table. David wrote erudite, straight-to-the-page copy for The Guardian. Old school through and through."

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