Between the wars
Great Britain · born Stockport, 1909 · died 1995 · three times Wimbledon champion
All playersBack to the rankings
3
Wimbledon singles titles, 1934 to 1936
62
Consecutive sets won at Wimbledon, 1934 to 1936
6-0
Davis Cup Challenge Round singles on Centre Court
1929
World table tennis champion, Budapest
77
Years until the next British men's champion
Perry was born in Stockport in 1909, the son of a cotton spinner who became Labour and Co-operative MP for Kettering in 1929. He learned tennis on public courts and won the world table tennis title in 1929. In 1933 he won the US Championships, his first major, and in 1935 the French Championships made him the first man to win all four major singles titles. He won eight majors in all, was the world's top amateur from 1934 to 1936 and led Great Britain to four Davis Cups in a row from 1933. He turned professional at the end of 1936, became a US citizen in 1939 and won the US Pro in 1938 and 1941. He launched his clothing label in 1952, broadcast for BBC Radio from 1959 to 1994 and died in Melbourne in 1995.
| Major singles titles | 7: Wimbledon (1934, 1935, 1936); Australian (1934); US (1933, 1934, 1936) |
|---|---|
| Major singles finals lost | 1: Australian 1935 |
| Other grass singles titles | 2: Eastern Grass Court Championships (1931); Victorian Championships (1933) |
| Major doubles titles | 1 doubles (Australian 1), 3 mixed (Wimbledon 2, US 1) |
| Other grass doubles titles | 1: US Pro (1946) |
| Wimbledon mixed | 1935 and 1936 with Dorothy Round |
| Other grass major doubles | Australian doubles 1934 with Pat Hughes; US mixed 1932 with Sarah Palfrey; Wimbledon doubles final 1932 with Hughes, lost to Jean Borotra and Jacques Brugnon in five sets |
| Davis Cup on grass | Challenge Rounds on Centre Court, 1934 to 1936: won all six singles, against Sidney Wood, Frank Shields, Don Budge, Wilmer Allison, Adrian Quist and, in the deciding rubber of 1936, Jack Crawford 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 |
| Wimbledon sets | 62 sets won in a row from 1934 to 1936, a record |
| Other grass titles | Eastern Grass Court Championships, Rye, New York, 1931 |
| Finals to remember | 1934 Wimbledon: beat Jack Crawford 6-3, 6-0, 7-5. 1936 Wimbledon: beat Gottfried von Cramm 6-1, 6-1, 6-0 in about 45 minutes. 1936 US: beat Don Budge 10-8 in the fifth set |
| Wimbledon | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1934 | Men's singles | |
| 1935 | Mixed doubles | with Dorothy Round Little |
| 1935 | Men's singles | |
| 1936 | Mixed doubles | with Dorothy Round Little |
| 1936 | Men's singles | |
| US Championships | ||
| 1932 | Mixed doubles | with Sarah Palfrey Cooke |
| 1933 | Men's singles | |
| 1934 | Men's singles | |
| 1936 | Men's singles | |
| Australian Championships | ||
| 1934 | Men's doubles | with Pat Hughes |
| 1934 | Men's singles | |
| Eastern Grass Court Championships (South Orange) | ||
| 1931 | Men's singles | |
| Victorian Championships | ||
| 1933 | Men's singles | |
| New Zealand Championships | ||
| 1934 | Men's singles | |
| US Pro Championships | ||
| 1946 | Men's doubles†| with Frank Kovacs |
Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. †single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions
"I always had the feeling I was tolerated but not really wanted."
The person behind the player.
Budapest 1929
Table tennis was his first love. A year after reaching the world quarter-finals in Stockholm, he beat Miklós Szabados three games to one in Budapest to become world champion, and beat him again in an exhibition in Paris. He was already playing lawn tennis seriously and won the Middlesex championships the same year.
Source: WikipediaWimbledon 1934
After he beat Jack Crawford in the final, Perry heard a committee member tell the loser it was one day when the best man did not win. His All England Club member's tie was not presented to him; it was strung over his chair in the dressing room. "No one shook my hand or said: 'Congratulations'," he recalled.
Source: AFP, via Fox NewsWimbledon 1936
Before the final he learned from the Wimbledon masseur that Gottfried von Cramm had a groin strain that limited his reach to the forehand side. Perry won 6-1, 6-1, 6-0 in under 45 minutes, the quickest final of the 20th century, for his third title in a row.
Source: WikipediaBeverly Hills 1937
In his first year as a professional he opened the new clubhouse at the Beverly Hills Tennis Club in an England against America doubles. Perry partnered Charlie Chaplin; across the net were Groucho Marx and Ellsworth Vines, his opponent on the professional tour.
Source: WikipediaWimbledon 1952
Tibby Wegner, an Austrian footballer, brought him an anti-perspirant band for the wrist; Perry altered it into the first sweatband. Wegner's next idea was a white cotton piqué shirt with short sleeves and a buttoned placket. Launched at Wimbledon in 1952 with a laurel wreath based on the Wimbledon symbol, it sold at once.
Source: WikipediaWimbledon 1984
Fifty years after his first title, the club that had left his tie on a chair unveiled a bronze statue of him at the Church Road gate. When he died in Melbourne in 1995, where he had gone for the Australian Open, he was cremated and his ashes were buried in an urn near the statue.
Source: WikipediaFree membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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