ABOUT
Tennis Career
At the Australian Open in December 1977, Lloyd became the first British male tennis player in the Open era to reach a Grand Slam singles final. He lost in five sets to America's Vitas Gerulaitis 6–3, 7–6, 5–7, 3–6, 6–2. No other British player reached a Grand Slam final for 20 years, until British-Canadian Greg Rusedski reached the US Open final in 1997. In 1984 he reached the quarter-finals of the US Open.
Though he never won a Grand Slam singles title, Lloyd did win three Grand Slam mixed doubles titles partnering Australia's Wendy Turnbull, beginning with the French Open mixed doubles in 1982. The pair finished runners-up in the mixed doubles at Wimbledon that year, and then went on to win the Wimbledon mixed doubles crown in both 1983 and 1984.
Lloyd's career-high singles ranking was World No. 21 in 1978. He was a member of the British team that reached the final of the Davis Cup that year. As a player, he represented the British Davis Cup team for 11 years. As his playing career came to an end, Lloyd stayed within the tennis world, coaching various players on mens and womens tours, and was proud to become Davis Cup Coach under his brother, David Lloyd’s leadership, and then eventually became Captain from 2006 through 2010.
comMentator & analyst
HBO hired John to become a commentator for their Wimbledon coverage and eventually, he moved on to broadcast tennis for the BBC.
Lloyd is known for his trademark catchphrases, using the analogy of food and drink to describe tennis shots. For example, if a shot is too weak he will claim that it was "undercooked" or "needed more mustard." Conversely, if a shot is over hit he will describe it as "overcooked", having "too much juice", or "having too much mustard."
He worked for Sky Sports on their coverage of the US Open 2009.
Personal Life
John was married to Chris Evert, the former number one tennis player in the world for eight years.
He then remarried Deborah Taylor-Bellman and their marriage lasting 30 years, until 2017. They have two children, Aiden and Hayley and have recently become grandparents.
Lloyd is a fanatical supporter of the football team Wolverhampton Wanderers who he has supported for almost 60 years. John loves cinema and don’t don’t disagree with him when he says the “The Godfather”, part 1 and 2 are the greatest movies of all-time.
