Fred Covey born Geoffrey Frederick Covey, in Woolwich, England, was world champion from 1912 to 1914 and from 1916 until 1928 at real tennis

Real tennis

Real tennis – one of several games sometimes called "the sport of kings" – is the original indoor racquet sport from which the modern game of lawn tennis , is descended...

, the original racquet sport from which the modern game of lawn tennis (which has usurped the name "tennis"), is descended.

Covey was a professional, who, apart from service in the Great War, spent his career at Lady Wentworth's

Judith Blunt-Lytton, 16th Baroness Wentworth

Judith Anne Dorothea Blunt-Lytton, 16th Baroness Wentworth also known as Lady Wentworth was a British peeress, Arabian horse breeder and tennis player...

 private court at Crabbet Park, in Sussex.

Covey won the world championship in 1912 from Cecil Fairs,
lost it in 1914 to Jay Gould, in Philadelphia,
regained it in 1916 when Gould could not play the promised return match in England because of the war,
defended it successfully in 1922 and 1923 against Walter Kinsella and in 1927, by 7 sets to 5, against the great Pierre Etchebaster

Pierre Etchebaster

Pierre Etchebaster is widely considered history's greatest player of real tennis , the original racquet sport from which the modern game of lawn tennis , is descended.Born in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, France, a Basque fishing village, he served in the French Army during World War I before...

 at Prince's Club

Prince's Club

There were two sporting clubs in Knightsbridge, London, England, known as Prince's Club.The "Old Prince's Club" was built in 1853 and closed in 1940...

.
In 1928 he lost at Prince's, 5 sets to 7, to Etchebaster, who then held the title until 1952.

Books

FRED COVEY: World Champion of Tennis edited by Neil Covey; 1st standard edition of 1994; 125 pp in large 4to.

See also

• Real tennis world champions