Look closely at the statue of Fred Perry just inside the Church Road gates next time you go to Wimbledon and see if you share my opinion that there seems to be a ghost of a smile on the great man's lips.

The smile is well merited. Perry was unique in Wimbledon's rich history: the first Englishman for 25 years to capture the men's singles and the only player to win the final in straight sets three times.

The unique quality still endures. No Englishman has won Wimbledon in the 66 years since Fred last held aloft the championship trophy in 1936, before turning professional.

Perry, the son of a Labour Member of Parliament and born in the northern town of Stockport, came to tennis via table tennis, at which he became a world champion. His first tilt at the Wimbledon title was in 1929, a month after his 20th birthday, when he qualified and went on to win two rounds in the main draw.

Fred went a round further in 1930 and by the following year had improved enough to be fifth seed. However, he had not improved enough to defeat the seventh-seeded American and eventual champion, Sidney Wood, in the Semi-Finals.

After a Quarter-Final spot in 1932, Perry suffered his worst Wimbledon defeat in 1933, going out in the second round to the South African, Norman Farquharson.

By the time the 1934 Championships came round, Fred was already the star of a British Davis Cup team launched on a four-year domination of the competition and went into Wimbledon as second seed behind the Australian, Jack Crawford.

Already the rumours were flying that Perry was considering turning professional, which in those days meant an immediate ban from all tournaments. But Fred was not interested until he had conquered his personal Everest and won Wimbledon.

He had injured his ankle at the French championships the previous month and did not play again until Wimbledon in a bid to get fully fit. The ankle was fully tested in the third round by the Czech, Roderick Menzel, who won the first set 6-0 and led two sets to one before Fred and his ankle came through.

He then defeated the Australian, Adrian Quist, in straight sets, American George Lott in four and in the semi-finals overcame his 1931 conqueror, Wood, in a tremendous five-set tussle.

The final was an anti-climax as Perry routed Crawford 6-3 6-0 7-5, at one stage reeling off 12 games in succession. The unhappy Crawford double-faulted at match point and Perry had won his first Wimbledon in just an hour and ten minutes, since in those days there was no sitting down or breaks between the change of ends.

As Perry went on to win the 1934 US title and then the French in 1935 speculation mounted about his plans to quit the amateur game, and he certainly continued to be the recipient of offers. But Fred said no to them all before turning to the defence of his title.

He sailed through the field, defeating his old adversary Menzel, this time in straight sets in the quarter-finals, then coming through in four sets against Crawford. The final was even easier, with Fred dropping only ten games against the German baron, Gottfried von Cramm, in a 6-2 6-4 6-4 victory.

By the time the 1936 Championships came round, Perry had lost his US and French titles, beaten in five sets in Paris by von Cramm. Realising by now the only way to make money from his name and abilities was to turn pro, had determined to do so if he clocked up his hat-trick of Wimbledon wins.

It turned out to be by far the easiest of the three. Only in the semi-finals did he drop a set, to the fast-rising young American, Don Budge, before coming up once more against the German aristocrat, von Cramm.

Perry had always made a habit of "scouting" the opposition and was fascinated to pick up the information from the Wimbledon masseur that his opponent in the final had been treated for a groin strain, and learned the German was having difficulty moving wide on the forehand.

After an opening game which went to ten deuces and 24 points, von Cramm started to grimace as the champion piled the pressure on his forehand and it was all over in 40 minutes, 6-0 6-1 6-1, the fastest Wimbledon men's final since 1881.

Next commitment for Perry was the Davis Cup final against Australia, also at Wimbledon. He won it for Britain for a fourth straight time with victory in the fifth and deciding rubber against Crawford and afterwards, leaving Centre Court alongside Dan Maskell, the team coach, he said, "Just a minute, Dan," and turned for a final look at the scene.

"In that instant Maskell knew I was going to turn pro," wrote Perry in his autobiography. "I was gone from Wimbledon and from the Davis Cup. I knew I would never play on Centre Court again."

But he probably left with a smile on his face.