Goodbye Mr Wimbledon: Legendary Mail Sport tennis correspondent Mike Dickson dies aged 59

Mike Dickson, the Daily Mail’s legendary tennis correspondent, has tragically died at the age of 59.

Dickson was a hugely respected and admired journalist who spent 38 years in the industry – 33 at the Mail having started in 1990 – and his loss will be felt deeply by colleagues.

He previously worked as the Mail’s cricket correspondent before moving over to tennis and covered 30 different sports across nearly 50 countries in total during a rich career.

Dickson was in Melbourne covering the Australian Open when he died and a matter of days away from his 60th birthday, on January 27.

He lived in Wimbledon with his family and loved following both Tranmere and Everton having grown up in The Wirral. His wife Lucy announced the news of his passing on X in a joint message with the family.

She wrote: ‘We are devastated to announce that our wonderful husband and Dad, Mike, has collapsed and died while in Melbourne for the Aus Open. For 38 years he lived his dream covering sport all over the world. He was a truly great man and we will miss him terribly. Lucy, Sam, Ruby and Joe.’

Lee Clayton, Global Publisher for Sport, paid his own tribute, saying: ‘Dicko was everything you want a correspondent to be – a brilliant news hound, a terrific writer and a friend to so many in his sport. The world of tennis will join us in mourning. He was a giant of a journalist.

‘It will be an impossibly difficult time for us all as we digest this huge loss. Dicko was a magnificent tennis correspondent, but he would also turn his hand to any sport, especially cricket, golf and football, and support colleagues across our team in any challenge, always in such a generous manner. 

‘He was just a brilliant bloke, a class act.

‘It was a privilege to work alongside him and to know him.’

And legendary Mail journalist Jeff Powell added: ‘Too talented, too dedicated, too kind, too generous, too good a man, too respected, too fine a colleague, too good a friend, too supreme a tennis writer, too strong an all round sports reporter and most importantly of all too young to leave his wife, his children and his second family at this newspaper.

‘A tragic loss. The only consolation is that he died doing what he loved. Being a major player of his craft at a Grand Slam.’

Dickson was a graduate of the National Council for the Training of Journalists at the former South Glamorgan Institute.

After cutting his teeth at Chester Chronicle, Wembley Observer and 2CR Radio in Bournemouth he then joined the Daily Mail.

He spent eight-and-a-half years covering cricket for the newspaper and ended his innings in 2007 before moving over to tennis.

In a blog post at the time Dickson reflected on his stint with a typically entertaining and acerbic final entry.

In addition to his work as a journalist, he also contributed to a number of books, including Bob Willis: A Cricketer and a Gentleman and wrote Emma Raducanu: When Tennis Came Home, a biography charting her remarkable US Open triumph in 2021.

News of his sudden passing will be felt keenly in the tennis world and yesterday Dickson interviewed Raducanu following her first-round win at the Australian Open, his final piece of a brilliant career.

PA Media’s tennis correspondent Eleanor Crooks said: Mike, or Dicko as he was universally known, was the tennis reporter that we all aspired to be. He knew everyone in the sport and was a master at finding the stories that mattered. 

‘British tennis journalism is a small world and Dicko was the heart of it. Great company in press rooms and bars around the world, he could always be relied upon for a quip or an impression. Tennis will be much the poorer without him.’