FRED PERRY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 204, 29 August 1936, Page 4

FRED PERRY

| WILL HE TURN PRO? I RUMOURS FLY AFRESH MORE EXPECTED SHORTLY Rumours that Fred Perry, England's champion lawn tennis amateur, is likely to turn professional have broken out afresh. 1 learn on very good authority that Fred. Perry will shortly turn profesional, writes the London correspondent of the Sydney Referee under date of August. There have been many rumours of this nature in the past, but all have proved incorrect. This time there seems to be little doubt that Perry is seriously considering trie big change over. He is now at the peak of his tennis career and, al the best, has only a few years more of first-class tennis in him. After that he will sink into the ranks of the ex-champions and become a legend. Fred realises that there is no money in being a legend and that if he is to capitalise his game he will have to do so quickly. Tilden is reported to have offered him 100,000 dollars to join his “circus,” and , I don’t think that Perry will resist | lor long this tempting bait. I A big contributing factor in helping | him to make his decision is his wife, | Helen Vinson, the film star. She is knowm to be strongly in favour of Fred turning pro. She wants him with her in America and says that, as matters stand to-day, she does not see him more than three months in every year. A further consideration is that when she comes to England and is the wife of a British subject she has to pay British as well as American income tax. As her salaray is round £20,000 a year, about £5OOO of this goes lo the British Inland Revenue Department. Perry, as a professional in America, would save this £5OOO for the family exchequer. It is known that Perry, after his unfortunate experience about twelve months ago, dreads another breakdown. It might mean the end of his tennis career and, although he has tried to insure against, it, no company w’ill issue him a policy as an amateur. The insurance people lake the viewpoint that there is nothing to insure him against. He is an amateur and theoretically he has no pecuniary interest in playing the game. Once he turns professional he will be able to take out very heavy insurances. Thus when all factors are measured up the odds are heavy on Perry turning professional. It would be quixotic not to do so and even his English friends, who would regret to see him lost to England, will not blame him if he turns his great talents as a player to money making. It is only the thought that England would lose her tennis ranking if he were to withdraw his services that deters him. I was talking to a friend of Perry’s and a good judge of tennis, and he is *of the opinion that Fred is probably the greatest player the game has produced. “Of course it is quite impossible to compare players of to-day with players of the past,” he said, “but I am of the opinion that Tilden at his best would not have beaten Perry. “One thing I am sure of is that he is the finest athlete that the game has produced. For litheness, physical fitness, and dash, i there is no one to compare with him. J shall be sorry for England’s sake if goes professional, but candidly I do not see what England will do for him financially should he remain an amateur.”