Tennis celebrates life of Perry the `friendly rascal'

The life of Fred Perry was celebrated on a day of glorious sunshine, redolent of strawberries and cream, Pimm's, virginia creeper and freshly mown lawns. A final service at St Paul's Cathedral would have appealed to the great man's ego, and also to his keen sense of humour, given the years he spent bucking the tennis establishment at the height of his fame in the 1930s.

Ballboys and ballgirls who will be on duty at Wimbledon when the championships begin on Monday lined the steps to the Great West Door. Royalty was represented and generations of tennis nobility were among a congregation of more than 1,000 at Wren's great centre court.

Steffi Graf sent apologies for her absence after spraining a wrist, but expects to take her place as the top seed for the women's singles next week. Martina Navratilova, winner of a record nine Wimbledon singles titles, took Graf's place in reading from Kipling's If. Other verses were read by Virginia Wade, Britain's heroine of 1977; John Newcombe, the Australian Wimbledon champion of 1967, 1970 and 1971; and Pete Sampras, who is about to try to emulate Perry and Bjorn Borg by winning three times in a row.

The date of Perry's birth, in 1909, and his death, in January this year, summarise his impact on the sport. He was the only British player to win the Wimbledon men's singles titles - in 1934, 1935 and 1936 - before turning professional and moving to the US.

He was the first player of any nationality to win the four main singles championships: Wimbledon, France, the US and Australia, though not in the same year. And he was the heartbeat of the British team which won the Davis Cup for four consecutive years from 1933.

His widow, Bobby, his daughter, Penny, and his son, David, were reminded of the highlights of his career in readings by two of his friends and broadcasting colleagues, John Barrett and Emlyn Jones. "He was simply fun to be around," said Tony Trabert, the 1955 Wimbledon champion from America, who gave the address. Though Fred was "warm and friendly", he could also be "a bit of a rascal", not above sarcasm. Born in Stockport, the son of mill worker who became a Labour MP, Perry was not lacking in self-confidence.

Trabert recalled a fellow American player, Jack Kramer, telling how the cocky Englishman walked in to a locker room and said: "Thank God I'm not playing me today!"

Later, in his role as a commentator, Perry was watching a very dull match at Wimbledon, explained Trabert. A co-commentator said: "Wasn't that a wonderful point?" "Yes," Perry replied, "it woke me up."

Trabert said in conclusion: "My guess is that Fred is smiling down on us, saying, `Sorry I won't be with you at the championships, but when you go through the Church Road gates, or the Perry Gates at the other end, stop and say: `Hi. I'm the guy making the running forehand.'"