One of life’s great characters and a great friend

I CAN’T imagine turning up at tennis tournaments and Mike Dickson not being there. It will be a gaping hole without him.

He was one of life’s great characters and a great friend. He was someone I’d gravitate towards in a press room to catch up and talk through what’s going on in tennis.

He would always be one of the first people I would call when I got to a Grand Slam. I can picture him many times having drinks in a bar and roaring with laughter. He had a great sense of humour and was really great company. He was also so kind to me when my husband Mel died. He went beyond in terms of reaching out. I always felt he, along with his wife Lucy, really wanted to look after me. He’d say, ‘Come and have dinner with us any time’. In the last few days, I was thinking I must call him to see if he and his wife wanted to come and see me in the Strictly Come

Dancing tour at the O2. Now he has gone, I can’t believe it. He was a brilliant journalist and a brilliant writer. He was very knowledgeable and astute. I would find that he would be right on the nose with how he saw things and would quite often point out things I hadn’t noticed. He would be really on it with players, their characters, their game. I always enjoyed reading his columns. He was also a very trustworthy journalist. Trust is a big thing in journalism and I always knew that if I spoke to him and I didn’t want something written, he wouldn’t do it.

He was fearless to write what he thought, but also very respectful. I will miss him terribly on the tour.