The Man
Fred Perry was the son of a cotton spinner,
who went on to become world table tennis champion at 19,
before switching to lawn tennis and winning Wimbledon
three times with a killer forehand.
He honed his self-taught shots at his local public courts
in west London, going on to be a successful Davis Cup captain,
winner of 10 majors and the first player to win a Career Grand Slam
- Fred remains the only British player ever to achieve this.
Fred Perry was the son of a cotton spinner,
who went on to become world table tennis champion at 19,
before switching to lawn tennis and winning Wimbledon
three times with a killer forehand.
He honed his self-taught shots at his local public courts
in west London, going on to be a successful Davis Cup captain,
winner of 10 majors and the first player to win a Career Grand Slam - Fred remains the only British player ever to achieve this.
Yet still, his success was always unexpected, and despite his unprecedented contribution to British tennis, Fred was not accepted by tennis authorities until later in life due to contrasting sharply with the privileged background of most players associated with the sport. In 1984, a statue of Fred was unveiled at Wimbledon – a permanent tribute to the champion.
“The strokes are the same,
the angles are the same,
the spins are the same.”
“The strokes
are the same,
the angles
are the same,
the spins
are the same.”
“I didn't aspire to
be a good sport...
1928 |
World Table Tennis Champion |
1929 |
World Table Tennis Champion |
|
1933 |
US Open Champion |
|
1934 |
Australian Open Champion |
|
US Open Champion |
|
Wimbledon Champion |
|
1935 |
Australian Open Champion |
|
French Open Champion |
|
US Open Champion |
|
Wimbledon Champion |
|
1936 |
US Open Champion |
|
Wimbledon Champion |
...champion was good
enough for me.”
...champion
was good enough
for me.”
“I was generally regarded
as the best dressed player
of my time...
“I was generally
regarded as
the best
dressed player
of my time...
...I'm a great believer
in trying to look the part.
It's a fetish with me.”