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Don Budge was the first and only American male to achieve the Grand Slam, winning all four major titles consecutively in 1937 and 1938. He also won six other majors, four pro titles, and was the world number one amateur and professional in his career.
Don Budge was an American tennis player who won the first Grand Slam in 1938, dominating the four major singles championships. He also played for the Davis Cup team and turned professional in 1938, despite a shoulder injury.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Baseball Leads to Tennis
- Honing His Skills
- A Historic Davis Cup Match
- Chronology
- Won The Grand Slam
- The Professional Years
- Related Biography: Tennis Player Gottfried Von Cramm
- Further Information
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Sports were a family affair in the Budge home. Budge's father was a professional soccer player in Scotland. Suffering from respiratory problems he settled in California hoping the warmer climate would help his condition. John Donald Budge was born in California on June 13, 1915 and took to sports at a young age. While his older brother, Lloyd, exce...
Budge clearly showed early prowess, but his technique was unrefined. Frank Perry, the celebrated tennis great, called Budge's undisciplined grip style a "Wild Western" grip and took the young player under his wing to coach him. Budge also worked on his game under Coach Tom Stowe, who focused on changing his grip to an "Eastern" grip and improving h...
When Fred Perry turned pro in 1937, Budge became No. 1 in the amateur ranks. Armed with his newly developed hard and early stroke, the 22 year-old had perhaps the best month in tennis history. He dominated Wimbledon in 1937 becoming the first man to win the men's singles, men's doubles, and mixed doubles (playing with Gene Mako and Alice Marbles.) ...
Budge called it "the greatest match in which I ever played. It was competitive, long and close. It was fought hard but cleanly by two close friends. It was cast with the ultimate in rivals, the number-one ranked amateur player in the world and against the number two. I never played better and never played anyone as good as Cramm." Allison Danzig la...
The time was ripe to turn professional. Budge was at the top of the sport and could command the highest fees. Yet he turned down the professional offers to defend the Davis Cup for the U.S. team one more time. Few could expect that in 1938 he would turn in an even more spectacular performance than the previous year. That year Budge demolished every...
Ranked the number one amateur in 1937-38, Budge finally turned professional in 1939 after having spent four years in the world top ten and, five years in the U.S. top ten. In his professional debut at Madison Square Garden in New York, Budge beat Ellsworth 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 while 16,725 fans watched. On the professional tour, he beat Vines 21 to 18 mat...
Gottfried Von Cramm, born on July 7, 1908, in Nettlingen, Hanover, Germany, into an aristocratic family, was one of the world's premier tennis players. Known on the court as "The Baron" for his good looks and courtesy, he won the French Cup in 1934 and 1936. Von Cramm played a total of 111 Davis Cup matches and won six German titles, the last of wh...
Books
"Don Budge." Encyclopedia of World BiographySupplement, Vol. 21.
Other
BBC Sport. http://www.bbc.com/sport/tennis: French Open (May 23, 2002). "Don Budge. Class of 1964." International Tennis Hall of Fame http://www.tennisfame.com/(2002):. "Gottfried Von Cramm Class of 1977." International Tennis Hall of Fame. http://www.tennisfame.com/(October 30, 2002). Les heros du grand chelem. http://www.histoiredutennis.com/Lalegendedugrandchelem/ (April 25, 2001). Schwartz, Larry. "In Big Matches, He Wouldn't Budge." ESPN.com. http://www.espn.com/(October 30, 2002). "Tenn...
Learn about Don Budge, the first man to complete the Grand Slam in 1938 and one of the greatest tennis players of all time. Find out how he developed his skills, his rivalries, and his achievements in tennis history.
Don Budge was the first player to win all four Grand Slam titles in 1938, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time. He had epic rivalries with German aristocrat Gottfried von Cramm, and turned professional in 1939 before joining the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II.
American J. Donald Budge (1915-2000) won six Grand Slam tennis titles in a row, beginning at Wimbledon 1937 and ending with the completion of the first ever ...
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Jul 25, 2009 · Learn how Don Budge achieved the Grand Slam in 1938, winning all four major tournaments in a single year. Read about his journey, his challenges, his rivals, and his legacy in this article.
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Jan 26, 2024 · At the 1938 US Nationals, Don Budge became the first player in tennis history to complete the Grand Slam – but he also was the first and last male player to ever win six consecutive major tournaments.
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