Fred Perry
Fred Perry (May 18, 1909 - February 2, 1995) was a British tennis player and three-time Wimbledon champion.Born in Stockport, England, Fred Perry became the first player to win all four Grand Slam singles titles, though not in same year. He is the last English-born player to win the Wimbledon title.
He not only won it, he won it three times in a row, thereby turning himself into an English icon. A statue of Perry stands on the Wimbledon grounds.
He was a world-champion ping-pong (table tennis) player as a young man before taking up the *real* game of tennis. He had exceptional quickness from his table-tennis days and played with the Continental grip, attacking the ball low and on the rise.
He was, almost certainly, one of the greatest 20 male players who has ever lived, probably one of the 10 best.
In 1933 Perry helped lead his team to victory over France in the Davis Cup that gave Great Britain the Davis Cup for the first time in 21 years.
Clothing of the brand named for him became popular with skinheads, mods and some other youth sub-cultures. It is best known for the laurel logo on the left breast of polo style shirts.
It was popular with non-skinhead types 30 years before that word was ever invented. In the mid-1950's and through the early 60's the best tennis shirts on the market, for male players at least, were the Fred Perry brand. The laurel logo on the shirt was *stitched* into the fabric, rather than being merely being ironed on, as the Cochet crocodile was.
Singles Titles:
- Australian Open : 1934
- French Open : 1935
- Wimbledon championships : 1934, 1935, 1936
- U.S. Open (3) : 1933, 1934, 1936