Kirby, Vernon

Vernon Kerby began playing lawn tennis at the age of five. In high school, since tennis was forbidden at his school, he played cricket and football, devoting his free time to tennis, but at the end of school he returned to this sport. Preferring to play from the back line, at the same time, Kerby could successfully play in any part of the court; the best weapons in his arsenal were slanting hits with an open racket ^[1] .

Already in 1929, Kerby took part in a friendly match between the teams of the South African Union and Great Britain, when the British team was returning from Australia. In this match, he defeated Colin Gregory , Bunny Austin and Ian Collins . In 1931, he first played as part of the South African national team in the Davis Cup ^[1] ; his debut in the French Championship and Wimbledon tournament took place that same year. In Paris, in the first year, Kerby reached the fourth lap in singles ^[3] and to the finals paired with another South African Norman Farquarson . In the final, they lost in three sets to the American couple George Lott - John van Rin ^[4] . At Wimbledon, Kerby dropped out of the fight in the first round, but thanks to an early defeat, he got the right to play in the comforting Wimbledon Plate tournament, where he won ^[5] .

The following two appearances on the courts of the All England club became more successful for Kerby: in 1933 he got to Farcuarson to the semifinals in the men's doubles ^[6] , and the next year he reached the quarter finals in singles, on the way he beat the third-seeded Gottfried von Kramm , ^[5] . In pairs in 1934, South Africans withdrew the Australian tandem Jack Crawford - Adrian Quist , seeded under the fourth number, but stumbled a step earlier than a year before ^[6] . In the same year, Kerby showed his best result in singles Grand Slam tournaments, becoming a semifinalist of the US Championship ; on the way to the semifinals, he beat the young Don Budge , and then the eminent Frank Shields , but failed to confront future champion Fred Perry , losing in four sets ^[3] . In 1935, on his only visit to the Australian Championship , the South African became a quarter-finalist in male couples and a finalist in the mixed double , where he was performed by local native Birdie Bond . Kerby reached another third in his career finals in Grand Slam tournaments again at Farquarson - this happened in 1937 at the French Championship, where they lost to the German pair von Kramm- Henkel ^[7] .

From 1931 to 1937, as part of the South African team in the Davis Cup, he spent ten matches, having played 16 single meetings (9 wins with 7 losses) and 8 doubles (7 wins). In the championships of South Africa, he played until the first post-war years and four times (in 1933, 1935, 1937 and 1938) reached the finals, never becoming, however, the champion ^[3] .

Men's Doubles (0-2)

Mixed Doubles (0-1)

• Profile on ITF website
• Singles Results in the Tennis Archives Database
• Profile on the Davis Cup website

• Grand Slam Tournament Finals in the Grand Slam Online Directory