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Don Budge: Tennis’s Grand Slam Trailblazer
Published: September 27, 2010
He was born in the First World War and hit his peak just as the Second World War was fermenting.
He played against icons of tennis such as Fred Perry and Bill Tilden, and against modern greats such as Pancho Gonzalez.
In 1973, aged 58, he won the Veteran's Doubles title at Wimbledon, so would have shared the locker room with men’s seeds such as Jimmy Connors and Bjorn Borg.
He lived—just—into the 21st century, yet to modern fans, he is little more than a name. So, prompted by Rafael Nadal’s recent success in becoming only the seventh man ever to win a career Grand Slam, now seems an appropriate time to put that right.
For Budge was the first person in tennis ever to win a calendar Grand Slam.
Budge was born in California in 1915, but came from Scottish stock. His father, who had played reserve for Rangers football team, upped sticks at the turn of the 20th century to head for a healthier life in the warm climate of west coast America.
Budge was both bright—he went to the University of California—and an athletic 6’1” tall. He tried, and was good at, many sports, especially baseball, and it was his tennis-playing elder brother, Lloyd, who finally persuaded Don to apply his fearsome bat-swinging prowess to a tennis racket.
He learned his trade quickly on the local public courts and at 18 he won the National Junior Championships. At 19, he was picked for the Davis Cup auxiliary team and decided to walk away from university to devote himself to tennis.
That Perfect Package
Budge had a classic all-round game founded on a powerful serve, strong and accurate ground strokes, and an effective volley. His grac...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Tennis
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