![]() Budge at Wimbledon 1938 | |
Full name | John Donald Budge |
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Country (sports) | ![]() |
Born | Oakland, California, U.S. | June 13, 1915
Died | January 26, 2000 Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S. | (aged 84)
Height | 6 ft 1 in (185 cm) |
Turned pro | 1938 (amateur tour from 1932) |
Retired | 1961 |
Plays | Right-handed (one-handed backhand) |
Int. Tennis HoF | 1964 (member page) |
Singles | |
Career record | 649-297 (68.6%)[1] |
Career titles | 43[1] |
Highest ranking | No. 1 (1937, A. Wallis Myers)[2] |
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 | |
Career record | 0–0 |
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 Budge (June 13, 1915 – January 26, 2000) was an American tennis player. He is most famous as the first tennis player — male or female, to win all four Grand Slam events consecutively overall.[3] Budge was the second man to complete the career Grand Slam after Fred Perry, and remains the youngest to achieve the feat. He won ten majors, of which six were Grand Slam events (consecutively, a men's record) and four Pro Slams, the latter achieved on three different surfaces. Budge is considered to have one of the best backhands in the history of tennis, with most observers rating it better than that of later player Ken Rosewall.[4][5]
Budge is also the only man to have achieved the Triple Crown (winning singles, men's doubles and mixed doubles at the same tournament) on three separate occasions (Wimbledon in 1937 and 1938, and the US Championships in 1938), and the only man to have achieved it twice in one year. Budge was the world Number 1 amateur in 1937 and 1938 and world Number 1 professional in 1939, 1940 and 1942.