Don Budge
John Donald "Don" Budge (born June 13, 1915 in Oakland , California , † January 26, 2000 in Scranton , Pennsylvania ) was an American tennis player .
biography
He was the first tennis player to succeed in a Grand Slam , i.e. to win all four Grand Slam tournaments individually in one year, and the only one to emerge victorious from six Grand Slam tournaments in a row. In addition, after winning the French Open in 1938 at the age of 22, he was the youngest of all times to win the career Grand Slam, the same applies to the Grand Slam in the same year at the age of 23. Another record is his victory rate of 92% in Grand Slam tournaments, of 63 matches he won 58. Together with Ken Rosewall , who was among the world's best in the 1950s and 1960s, he probably had the best backhand in tennis.
Budge was the son of a Scottish immigrant and former football player . As a teenager, he played many sports before getting stuck with tennis. He was tall and slim, and his height made him one of the strongest serves in tennis. His backhand, mostly played with topspin , his speed and his serve made him the best tennis player of his time. Nowadays he is ranked among the top 20 tennis players of all time.
Don Budge graduated from Berkeley in 1933 but left university to play with the United States Davis Cup team . Growing up on the hard courts in California , he struggled to cope with the grass courts in the eastern United States. Thanks to hard work and a good coach, he overcame this weakness and won Wimbledon in singles, doubles and mixed in 1937. In the same year he won singles and mixed in Forest Hills .
However, he achieved his greatest fame in 1937 for his match against Gottfried von Cramm in the intercontinental playoff against Germany , when he was 1: 4 behind in the last set and still won the set 8: 6 and thus the match. For this victory he was named Sportsman of the Year by the AP . The American team also won the subsequent final against Great Britain 4-1 and thus the Davis Cup for the twelfth time.
| year | Tennis player | competition |
|---|---|---|
| 1938 |
 Don Budge
|
Men's singles |
| 1951 |
 Ken McGregor Frank Sedgman
|
Men's doubles |
| 1953 |
Maureen Connolly
|
Ladies singles |
| 1960 |
.svg){kind=small} Maria Bueno with various partners |
Ladies doubles |
| 1962 |
Rod Laver
|
Men's singles |
| 1963 |
Margaret Smith Ken Fletcher
|
Mixed |
| 1965 |
Margaret Smith with various partners |
Mixed |
| 1967 |
Owen Davidson with various partners |
Mixed |
| 1969 |
Rod Laver
|
Men's singles |
| 1970 |
Margaret Court
|
Ladies singles |
| 1984 |
 Martina Navratilova Pam Shriver
|
Ladies doubles |
| 1988 |
 Steffi Graf
|
Ladies singles |
| 1998 |
 Martina Hingis with various partners |
Ladies doubles |
In 1938, Budge dominated amateur tennis, beating John Bromwich in the final of the Australian championships, Roderich Menzel in the final of the French championships, Henry Austin at Wimbledon and Gene Mako in the American championships, and became the first person to win the tennis Grand Slam .
After winning the Grand Slam, Don Budge switched to the professionals and mostly played direct duels against the best players of his time. In 1939 he beat the top two tennis professionals Ellsworth Vines and Fred Perry 21:18 and 18:11. In 1941 he defeated 48-year-old Bill Tilden with 51: 7. He also won the French Professional Championships in 1939 and the US Championships in 1940 and 1942 .
During World War II , he was with the US Air Force and suffered a shoulder injury that prevented him from playing tennis. After the war he played for a few years on the professional tour, mostly against Bobby Riggs , and in 1947 won the English championships for professionals at Wembley .
After his retirement, he trained children in his tennis camps. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1964. After the start of the Open Era in tennis, he returned and won the senior doubles with Frank Sedgman at Wimbledon in 1973 .
On December 14, 1999, he was seriously injured in a car accident in northern Pennsylvania. Budge broke his leg and suffered internal injuries. He did not recover from the accident and died on January 26, 2000 in a nursing home in Scranton .
literature
- Jon Marshall Fisher: I play for my life. Gottfried von Cramm and the best tennis match of all time. Osburg, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-940731-31-9 (biographies of Gottfried von Cramm, Bill Tilden, Don Budge the three best male tennis players of the 1930s).
Web links
- ATP profile of Don Budge (English)
- ITF profile Don Budge (English)
- Davis Cup Statistics for Don Budge (English)
- Don Budge in the "International Tennis Hall of Fame" (English; with picture)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Budge, Don |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Budge, John Donald (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American tennis player |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 13, 1915 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Oakland , California, United States |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 26, 2000 |
| Place of death | Scranton , Pennsylvania, United States |