Fred Perry

FRED PERRY d1995. British tennis & table tennis player from England. A former World No1 who won 10 Majors (including eight Grand Slams and two Pro Slams) single titles, as well as six Major doubles titles. He won three consecutive Wimbledon's (1934 to 1936) and was also World Amateur No1 tennis player during those three years. Prior to Andy Murray in 2013, he was the last British player to win the men's Wimbledon Championship (1936) and the last British player to win a men's singles Grand Slam title until Andy Murray won the 2012 US Open. He was the first player to win a "Career Grand Slam" winning all four singles titles (at the age of 26) which he completed at the 1935 French Open. His first love was Table Tennis and was the World Champion in 1929. Due to his disillusionment with the class-conscious nature of the Lawn Tennis Club of Great Britain, the working-class Perry turned professional at the end of the 1936 season and moved to the United States where he became a US citizen in 1938. In 1942, he was drafted into the US Air Force during World War Two. Despite his unprecedented contribution to British tennis, he was not accorded full recognition by tennis authorities until later in life because between 1927 and 1967, the Tennis Federation ignored amateur champions that later turned professional. In 1984, a statue of Fred Perry was unveiled at Wimbledon and in the same year he became the only tennis player listed in a survey of 2,000 Britons to find the "Best of the Best" British sportsmen of the 20th century. He died in Australia aged 85 on February 2nd 1995.