- Perry, Frederick John
-
▪ 1996("FRED"), British tennis player (b. May 18, 1909, Stockport, Cheshire, England—d. Feb. 2, 1995, Melbourne, Australia), during the period 1933-36 led England to victory in four consecutive Davis Cup finals and won eight Grand Slam singles titles: three straight All-England (Wimbledon) championships (1934, 1935, and 1936), three U.S. championships (1933, 1934, and 1936), the Australian title in 1934, and the 1935 French championship. Perry taught himself to play table tennis at the local YMCA and, at the age of 20, won the World Table Tennis Championship. He switched to lawn tennis at the urging of his father, a cotton spinner, and within two years he had been named to the Davis Cup team. Despite his achievement as the first player to win all four events in the Grand Slam, Perry was often criticized for his working-class background and his "ungentlemanly" aggression on the court, as well as for his decision to turn professional. He won the world professional title in 1937 and 1941 and settled in the U.S., where he became a citizen. After retiring from active play, Perry was a tennis commentator on BBC radio and a cofounder of the Fred Perry Sportswear Co. He published an autobiography in 1984, the same year the All-England Club erected a statue and renamed a gate in his honour at Wimbledon.
* * *
Universalium. 2010.