Richard Lewis

Tennis career Lewis was a professional on the men's tennis circuit from 1972 to 1985. His best singles performance at a Grand Slam was reaching the third round of Wimbledon in 1976, where he defeated Patrick Proisy and Brian Teacher before losing to Nikola Pilić. In 1978, he helped Great Britain reach the Davis Cup final, and also played in the 1981 semi-finals. He reached as high as 77th in the world in the men's singles, winning matches against top players such as Adriano Panatta, Tony Roche, José Higueras, Miloslav Mečíř and Ilie Năstase.

Administration Lawn Tennis Association After finishing his playing career, Lewis moved into sports administration joining the U.K. Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) in 1987, rising to become its director of tennis, in the wake of a 2000 loss to Ecuador that led to reduction of British tennis's status from "World" to "Euro-African Zone".

Rugby Football League Within a year of joining the RFL, Lewis oversaw reunification with the British Amateur Rugby League Association (BARLA) after nearly 30 years of division.

Lewis, it was claimed by then Widnes Vikings chairman Tony Chambers, showed his strong expansionist credentials in 2005 when he allegedly threatened to resign if Super League clubs did not back a plan to save London Broncos, although he denies this.

Under Lewis, plans for a Super League licensing system were introduced.

Through his position at the RFL, Lewis has become Chair of the Rugby League European Federation and Deputy Chair of the Rugby League International Federation.

All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, Wimbledon In April 2012, Lewis was appointed Chief Executive Officer at Wimbledon following a successful career at the RFL and Chair of Sport England. He replaced Ian Ritchie, who in turn moved on to become chief executive of the Rugby Football Union. During his tenure, Lewis has led the AELTC through the announcement of the Wimbledon Master Plan, the launch of Wimbledon's first consumer-facing brand campaign, "In Pursuit of Greatness", and presided over significant growth of The Championships to become one of the world's biggest annual sporting events.