Old Mancunian Xenophon Casdagli graced the courts of SW9 years before Fred Perry - and starred in an Olympic Games
As Greater Manchester sporting legends go, Fred Perry tops the list in tennis. Britain's greatest-ever player, Stockport-born Perry was a former world No 1 who won 10 majors including eight grand slam tournaments and three consecutive Wimbledon championships from 1934 to 1936.
Casdagli was born in Salford in 1880, the son of a Greek shipping merchant from Rhodes who had set up business in Manchester to take advantage of the city's burgeoning cotton trade. The grammar school's archives department revealed he stayed for three years, leaving in 1896 after winning a foundation scholarship for boys already at the school in 1894, with the admissions register stating he left to study abroad having won a number of prizes in his final year.
But tennis, the school revealed, appears to have been Casdagli's passion. Ms Kneale said: "Upon leaving school he started to play tennis and became a member of the Lancashire team. In 1898 he claimed the French Open doubles title and he reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon in the same event in 1907. It's understood Xenophon left the school to study abroad, possibly in Egypt where the family firm had offices and his father kept a second home.
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