'Jack Crawford was one of Australia’s great sporting heroes of the 1930s,along with Donald Bradman, Hubert Opperman and Haydn Bunton— sportsmen who achieved success around the Great Depression and were greatly loved by an Australian public seeking some reprieve from the economic struggles faced by all. In 1933 Crawford won the Australian Championship, (one of four), the French Championship, and Wimbledon, and was just one match away from winning tennis’s Grand Slam for the first time, losing the US Open to the English great, Fred Perry in five sets. Gentleman Jack tells the story of Crawford’s wonderful sporting career, but also gives a detailed account of the achievements of some his rivals—Ellsworth Vines, Fred Perry, and Donald Budge—champions of the game during one of its greatest decades. This was also that time the Davis Cup reached new levels of intensity and the Australian Championships became acknowledged as a significant world event.' (Publication summary)
