When Perry joined the professional tour, he drew huge crowds to see him play Ellsworth Vines and Bill Tilden and would later win the U.S. Pro Championship in both 1938 and 1941.

Fred Perry

How Great Britain wishes that Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski would harness Perry´s mantle. Back in the 1930s Great Britain were vying with France and United States for Davis Cup domination and Fred Perry was working on a particular stroke which would be his making as a great world champion.

The knack of making the stroke baffled the promising Briton for so long that he was on the verge of giving up in despair. He had been advised that to get very far he would have to learn to take the ball early on his continental forehand, the racket making impact instantly as the ball rose from the court.

For months he could not master the timing. Then suddenly, like riding a bicycle, it came to him and he was on his way--on his way to the net on a running forehand, going forward with the swing of the racket to gain good volleying position if the drive did not win outright. And on his way to three Wimbledon Championships, three U.S. Championships, an Australian, aFrench and a lucrative pro career.

Fred Perry, former world table tennis champion

Born May 18, 1909, in Stockport, England, the right-handed Frederick John Perry did not take up tennis until he was 18 years old. But he had good coaching and took to the game quickly, for he had been playing table tennis for years and winning tournaments and international recognition.

Perry developed an undercut backhand that came off with surprising pace. He hit the ball smartly with good length and regularity on the service, was sharp and sound with his smash, perfect in his footwork and timing, and volleyed with dispatch. None of his strokes was overpowering, but his attack was impetuous and relentless, ever challenging, and he ran like a deer in retrieving.

He was the completely equipped and efficient adversary, jaunty, a bit cocky in his breezy self-assurance, with gallery appeal. He could be sarcastic and some thought him egotistical, but it was a pose and he had an ever-ready grin. He cut a handsome figure with his regular features, raven black hair, and physique that was perfection for the game. Once he developed the stroke that had eluded him, he was virtually unstoppable.

In 1933 Perry and Bunny Austin led the British Isles to a 4-1 victory over the United States in the inter-zone final and to the glorious 3-2 victory over France that brought the Davis Cup back to Britain after a wait of 21 years. As Stade Roland Garros boiled with patriotic fervor, a seventh straight Cup in the balance for the home side. Perry icily erased a set point in the second to take the last match from rookie Andre Merlin, 4-6, 8-6, 6-2, 7-5. It was the climax of the greatest individual season for a Cup winner: 12-1 in singles, 4-2 in doubles.

Britain retained the Cup through 1936 as Perry won every singles match he played in the four challenge rounds. England had not produced a Wimbledon singles champion for a quarter-century, but Perry took care of that, too. He won three straight Wimbledon finals without loss of a set, defeating Jack Crawford in 1934 and Gottfried von Cramm in 1935 and 1936.

At Forest Hills in 1933 he was the stopper as Crawford reached the U.S. final with an unprecedented Grand Slam within reach: 6-3, 11-13, 4-6, 6-0, 6-1. The next year Fred might have had the first Slam himself but for a quarter-final defeat at the French by Giorgio de Stefani, 6-2, 1-6, 9-7, 6-2.

Back on British shores at last: Victorious 1933

Perry was also impressive elsewhere, winning the U.S. Championship in 1933, 1934 and 1936, an assault interrupted only in 1935, when he suffered a painful kidney injury and lost in the semifinals toWilmer Allison. In 1934 he won the Australian Championship and in 1935 the French Championship, the first and one of only four men to take all four majors. His total was eight, behind only Roy Emerson (12), Rod Laverand Bjorn Borg and Bill Tilden and modern day legend Pete Sampras.

When Perry joined the professional tour, he drew huge crowds to see him play Ellsworth Vines and Bill Tilden and would later win the U.S. Pro Championship in both 1938 and 1941.

After his playing career, he became associated with the manufacture of tennis clothes, was a tennis correspondent for a London newspaper and took part in radio and television coverage of tennis. He died February 2, 1995, in Melbourne and was ranked in the top ten from 1931 through 1936, being world number one the last three years.

Fred Perry always signed autographs when fans asked, here he is in classic pose during his build-up to Wimbledon and the summer season

Grand Slam Record

Date: 2016-06-12; view: 72