Alison Hughes

Alison Dorothy Hughes (née Lang; born 1971/1972 ) is a British tennis umpire who has umpired in multiple women's Grand Slam tennis finals, as well as in the Davis Cup, Fed Cup and at the 2004, 2008, 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics.

Personal life Lang was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. She represented Northumberland in U-18s tennis competitions. She currently lives in Warsash, Hampshire.

In 2003, Lang umpired at the Wimbledon Championships for the first time. Whilst umpiring the 2015 Australian Open women's final between Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova, Hughes invoked the "hindrance rule" against Williams for shouting "C'mon" just as Sharapova was trying to return the ball. In the same year, Hughes umpired the women's singles finals at Wimbledon for the sixth time, In 2016, Hughes umpired a US Open match between Marcos Baghdatis and Gaël Monfils, and gave Baghdatis a formal warning for using his mobile phone during the changeover time. She umpired the final of the 2017 Australian Open, which was the last final contested between sisters Serena and Venus Williams. She was the third female umpire to officiate a men's Grand Slam final, after Sandra de Jenken and Eva Asderaki. She later umpired the Australia Open women's final between Naomi Osaka and Jennifer Brady; it was the 22nd Grand Slam final that she had officiated.

Honours Hughes was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2021 Birthday Honours for services to tennis.