Born in Stockport, England in 1909, Frederick John ‘Fred’ Perry was the most successful British tennis player ever. Long before a modern world of best mobile casinos and indeed before turning professional in late 1936 – a decision for which he was widely criticised – Perry spent three years as the number one ranked amateur tennis player in the world. In 1934, 1935 and 1936, Perry won eight Grand Slam singles, including three consecutive victories in the Wimbledon Gentlemen’s Singles without losing a set.
His most notable victory came in the French Championships, commonly known as the French Open, in 1935. The tournament was staged, as it is today, on outdoor red clay courts at Stade Roland-Garros in Paris. Perry dropped the first set of his second-round match against the unseeded Vladimir Landau but, thereafter, beat Enrique ‘Bubi’ Maier, fifteenth seed Don Turnbull, seventh seed Christian Boussus and third seed Jack Crawford in straight sets en route to the final.
In that final, second-seeded Perry faced reigning champion, and number one seed, Gottfried von Cramm, a tall, blonde Saxon aristocrat and one of the greatest tennis players Germany has ever produced. In any event, Perry defeated his illustrious opponent 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 and, in so doing, became the first player ever to win all four Grand Slam singles titles – completing what is known, nowadays, as a ‘Career Grand Slam’. Perry accomplished the feat at the age of 26 and, decades later, remains the only British tennis player ever to have done so. Perhaps it’s a sign. I have take a moment away from www.cinemacasino.com and pick up a tennis racket!
To watch Fred Perry’s Wimbledon highlights click through
Sarah Virginia Wade, commonly known as Virginia, has the distinction of being the last British tennis player to win the Ladies’ Singles at the Wimbledon Championships. She did so on July 1, 1977, the year that marked the centenary of the Wimbledon Championships and the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth, who made her first appearance in SW19 since 1962.
Wade already had two Grand Slam singles to her name, having won the US Open in 1968 and the Australian Open in 1972, but in fifteen previous appearances at Wimbledon had reached the semi-finals twice, in 1974 and 1976, but progressed no further. In 1977, third-seeded Wade progressed through the first four rounds, against unseeded opponents, without dropping a set. In the quarter-final she defeated number six seed Rosie Casalas, again in straight sets, and in the semi-final beat number one seed, and reigning champion, Chris Evert 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 to set up a final encounter with number seven seed Betty Stöve.
Wade had beaten Stove – the first Dutch player to reach a Wimbledon final – on seventeen of their previous nineteen meetings but, in an error-strewn match, she lost the first set 6-4 and surrendered a 3-0 lead in the second to leave the result hanging in the balance. However, Wade recovered to win the next seven games in a row, thereby taking what proved to be an unassailable 4-0 lead in the third, and final, set. Eventually, after one hour and thirty-seven minutes, she closed out the match, winning 4-6, 6-3, 6-1; understandably, her victory made prominent front-page news the following day.