Don Budge as seen on the cover of Time Magazine on September 2 1935 (Photo via Keystone/Time Magazine)
Tennis is a sport like no other. It is a battle between two competitors at the top of their games with their chosen weapon of choice, nothing more than a racket.
Once out on the court players are very much on their own. No coaches, no advisement, simply ‘me, myself and I’. As a result players can quickly turn themselves into heroes and for some a place in the hearts and minds of fans for all time. Making themselves legends, even pantheons of the game.
The list of tennis greats is as extensive as it is well known covering decades and generations from Rod Laver to Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras to the modern day golden trio of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. But one, tennis great who is often forgotten is the much less known name and story of one John Donald (“Don”) Budge.
Born in Oakland, California on June 13, 1915 and the son of Scottish immigrant and former Glasgow Rangers reserve team player John (“Jack”) Budge, sport very much ran in the Budge family line and thus as a child Don tried his hand at a number of sports with tennis never particularly interesting him.
This was until he entered the California State Boys’ singles event in 1930, just prior to his 15th birthday, beating the event’s top contender in the first round before going on to win the tournament. Budge continued to play representing the United States in the Davis Cup on four separate occasions (1935-38) winning 25 of his 29 matches, and in 1937 led the U.S. team to its first Davis Cup victory in 11 years.
Budge’s success was as much about his work ethic as it was his talent as Alan Trengrove explained in his book The Story of the Davis Cup writing:
“Don Budge's greatness was as much the result of his eagerness to learn and to adjust his technique as to his natural talent.”
This hard work showed as that very year in 1937 Budge began to build his legacy at Grand Slam level finishing the year as both Wimbledon and US Open champion before in 1938 completing the clean sweep of majors. Achieving the ‘calendar grand slam’ of winning the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open in the same season.
Budge was the first man in tennis history to achieve this feat. Later achieved again by Australia’s Rod Laver.
Laver, seen above, remains the last man to have achieved the 'calendar grand slam' and the only man to have achieved it twice (1962 and 1969).
The 1938 US Open was to be Budge’s last grand slam success, however, as in the October of that year he turned professional (at the time the majors were only open to amateurs) meaning that from that moment on he competed mainly in head-to-head match ups.
With a style often described as ‘heavy’ consisting of a big forehand, powerful serve and a backhand still viewed by many as one of the greatest the game has ever seen. Budge soon become dominant on the professional circuit although a shoulder injury sustained during military training in 1943 severely hampered his game.
Sidney Wood, a frequent opponent of Budge once commented:
“Playing tennis against him was like playing against a concrete wall. There was nothing to attack.”
Budge continued on playing following the Second World War but struggled to ever fully recover from his injury and by the age of 30 was all but finished at the top level.
Following his retirement Budge remained active in the game both coaching and putting on clinics for children. Alongside this Budge owned a laundry in New York and a bar in Oakland.
In 1964 Don Budge was inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame before returning to competition four years later in the Wimbledon Veteran's doubles. This trend continued and in 1973, at the age of 58, he and fellow former champion Frank Sedgman teamed up to win the Veteran's Doubles Championship at Wimbledon in front of an adoring crowd.
Budge remained a popular figure around the sport with the tennis courts at Bushrod Park in North Oakland, where he grew up, later being renamed in his honour.
In December 1999, however, Budge was injured in a car accident from which he never fully recovered. He died on January 26, 2000 at the age of 84.
His name will forever be ingrained in tennis folklore but with discussions regarding the sports all time greats becoming all the more frequent now given the success of tennis’ current generation of stars. It is perhaps more important than ever that the success of John Donald Budge be remembered and never forgotten.
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