John Curry

John Arthur Hugh Curry (7 June 1938 – 19 October 2024) was a British businessman and tennis administrator. He served as chairman of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club between 1989 and 1999.

Biography Curry was born on 7 June 1938 to engineer Alfred Robert Curry and his wife Mercia. He received a a blue in rugby at Oxford and was the captain of the Oxford tennis team.

All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club Curry was aged 11 when he first visited the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, taking part in a coaching session for BBC Radio's Children's Hour given by Dinny Pails. He was elected over Peter Jackson. Curry met Andre Agassi in Paris in 1990 to ask him to return to Wimbledon after he had missed three successive championships. The American broadcaster NBC once asked if the changeover time could be extended by 30 seconds so more advertising could be shown to which Curry replied that if they ever asked him that again the club would not extend their contract. Curry oversaw the creation and implementation of the 'Long Term Plan' for the club in 1993 which would see the creation of a new No. 1 Court in 1997 and No. 2 Court in 2009. The club had bought land in Raynes Park and offered the land and £7 million to the adjoining Wimbledon Club, situated in Wimbledon Park, in order to expand the grounds of the All England club. The club also bought the grounds of Southfields College for its croquet pitches. The Times described the duchess as "understood to be bewildered and hurt" by the letter and that to protest she might decline to sit in the royal box expect for finals matches.

The financial surplus of the championships rose from slightly over £300,000 at the time of his joining the committee to in excess of £30 million at the point of his departure as chairman. In 1997 he said that the public preferred men's matches to women's matches and this was reflected in ticket sales. In 1998 he said the situation was analogous to boxing where the "heavyweight fighter is paid more than the lightweight". In 1999 he said that it was "strange" that the Women's Tennis Association demanded equal pay yet paid "50 per cent less" than money paid by the Association of Tennis Professionals.