Don Budge
 |
|
| Full name | John Donald Budge |
|---|---|
| Country (sports) |
 United States
|
| Born |
June 13, 1915 Oakland, California |
| Died | January 26, 2000 (aged 84) Scranton, Pennsylvania |
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) |
| Turned pro | 1938 (amateur tour from 1932) |
| Retired | 1955 |
| Plays | Right-handed (1-handed backhand) |
| Int. Tennis HoF | 1964 (member page) |
| Singles | |
| Highest ranking | No. 1 (1937, A. Wallis Myers) |
| Grand Slam Singles results | |
| Australian Open | W (1938) |
| French Open | W (1938) |
| Wimbledon | W (1937, 1938) |
| US Open | W (1937, 1938) |
| Professional majors | |
| US Pro | W (1940, 1942) |
| Wembley Pro | W (1939) |
| French Pro | W (1939) |
| Doubles | |
| Highest ranking | No. 1 (1942, Ray Bowers) |
| Grand Slam Doubles results | |
| Australian Open | SF (1938) |
| Wimbledon | W (1937, 1938) |
| US Open | W (1936, 1938) |
| Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results | |
| Wimbledon | W (1937, 1938) |
| US Open | W (1937, 1938) |
John Donald ("Don" or "Donnie") Budge (June 13, 1915 – January 26, 2000) was an American tennis champion who was a World No. 1 player for five years, first as an amateur and then as a professional. He is most famous as the first player, male or female, and only American male to win in a single year the four tournaments that comprise the Grand Slam of tennis and second male player to win all four Grand Slams in his career after Fred Perry, and is still the youngest to achieve that feat. He won 10 majors, of which six were Grand Slams (consecutively, male record) and four Pro Slams, the latter achieved on three different surfaces. Budge was considered to have the best backhand in the history of tennis, at least until the emergence of Ken Rosewall in the 1950s and 1960s.
Budge was born in Oakland, California, the son of Scottish immigrant and former soccer player John "Jack" Budge, his father had played several matches for the Rangers reserve team before emigrating to the United States, and Pearl Kincaid Budge. Growing up, he played a variety of sports before taking up tennis. He was tall and slim and his height would later help what is still considered one of the most powerful serves of all time. Budge studied at the University of California, Berkeley in late 1933 but left to play tennis with the U.S. Davis Cup auxiliary team.
Accustomed to hard-court surfaces in his native California, he had difficulty playing on the grass surfaces in the east. However, a good instructor and hard work changed that, and in both 1937 and 1938 he swept Wimbledon, winning the singles, the men's doubles title with Gene Mako, and the mixed doubles crown with Alice Marble, a feat which he repeated at the 1938 US Championships. Budge became the first man in history to have achieved the "Triple Crown" at a Grand Slam event three times, eclipsing Bill Tilden who won consecutive Triple Crowns at the U.S. Championships.
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