Kelvin Hall Glasgow. International Lawn Tennis

PERRY, Fred and Ellsworth VINES. Kelvin Hall Glasgow. International Lawn Tennis.

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PERRY, Fred and Ellsworth VINES. Kelvin Hall Glasgow. International Lawn Tennis. [1937].

48 x 36 cm, in acid-free mount, with small card signed by Fred Perry. Creased where folded, otherwise very clean, very good condition.
A very rare poster for the Glasgow dates of Perry and Vines's global tennis tour of 1937; only a few hundred would have been printed and very few would have survived. This is the only copy we can find; there are no auction or market records.
This lucrative tennis venture pitted Perry, the world's no. 1 amateur player, against the American Vines, the world professional champion. The results were remarkably even - on the American leg (6th Jan - 12 May) Vines won 32 to Perry's 29, while on the European leg (25th May - 15th June) the tally was Vines 3, Perry 6. That's a magic and convenient total of 35 wins each, with neither man declared the champion. The Glasgow results were suitably close. On 8th June,Vines beat Perry 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 13-11 while on 9th June Perry beat Vines 9-7, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
The end of the tour has a fairytale, Hollywood quality. The pair sailed on the Queen Mary back to the US on 18th June and on July 11th, opened the Beverley Hills Tennis Club with a doubles match with Charlie Chaplin and Groucho Marx.

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