FIRST PERSON TO WIN A GRAND SLAM

62 YEARS UNBROKEN GRAND SLAM RECORD

Budge did not just win the Grand Slam. He won six Grand Slam level tournaments in a row. After winning the Grand Slam in 1938, Budge turned professional in 1939. He won the professional tour as well. He also was a leading Davis Cup player, who led the United States to many notable victories, the most famous of which was the Interzonal match against Baron Gottfried von Cramm of Germany, a match many considered the greatest match ever played.

Budge also holds numerous singles, doubles, and mixed doubles titles, winning all three at Wimbledon.

Budge set out to be the best in the world at tennis, which he achieved by winning the Grand Slam. He studied the record books, found no one else had ever accomplished the feat before. Budge then set about to be the first to do so. After Budge won the four titles, it was termed the Tennis Grand Slam. Budge's extraordinary record has stood unbroken for 62 years, through the 20th century and into the 21st Century, an amazing accomplishment. 

Budge's Grand Slam feat continues to be one of the longest standing records in major United States sports history.

Budge also reigned for eight years as the pro champ, a modern record that was only duplicated by Pancho Gonzalez in the 1950s.

In the process of achieving the Grand Slam titles, Budge designed a game that has stood the test of time. His theories pioneered the modern power tennis style now prevalent in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles. 

Budge's style was so dominant that other players, such as Jack Kramer, who had an opportunity to play against Budge, even after the war, had to change their games. Kramer noted the need to change his personal style after playing Budge in a videotaped interview on the greatest players of all time. 

Although Budge injured his shoulder in World War II, he continued to win pro championships until the late forties, when Kramer eventually beat Budge. In the 1960's, in an exhibition match with the only other male Grand Slam winner, Rod Laver, Budge split sets, taking a set off Laver, when Laver was in his prime and Budge was 20 years past his prime years.

A banquet honoring Don Budge was held in Pike County, Budge's home community, on July 24, 1998, on the 60th anniversary of his 1938 Grand Slam year. The banquet honored Budge for his 1938 accomplishment, his 60 year unbroken streak, and his lifetime contributions as a diplomat for tennis.

Pennsylvania legislature, the governor, local branches of government in his home Pennsylvania community, nearby Montague New Jersey, Sullivan County historian John Conway, world boxing champ Billy Soos, saluted Don Budge as a premier international diplomat of tennis. Many bodies of governments passed resolutions, issued proclamations, and in other ways honored and recognized Budge for his historical role in establishing the first Grand Slam record in American and international sports history.

Budge, who turned 83, just before the 1998 60th Anniversary Banquet, led a quiet life with his wife Lori, but graciously continued to lend his support and advice to the Pike Tennis Association and the Don Budge Tennis Grand Slam Program, two regional tennis community development associations affiliated with the USTA until a car accident in December 1999. He died six weeks later from injuries sustained in the crash.

  On January 27, 1999,  Budge's record was extended to 61 years after Todd Martin, the last remaining male United States professional tennis hope for a 1999 Grand Slam was eliminated in the quarter final round of the 1999 Australian Open, the first leg of this year's four Grand Slam events. 

Budge's streak continued into the year 2000 when Brazilian Gustavo Kuertin won the French Open. Since United States player Andre Agassi won the Australian Open in January  2000, Agassi was in the running for a possible Grand Slam title until Kuertin eliminated Agassi's chances of a U.S. player duplicating Budge's feat in the year 2000.

Budge noted in a conversation I had with him just before his accident, that he thought Pete Sampras had the best opportunity among the top American players to win a Grand Slam because of the style of his game, but felt Sampras' previous record on clay, especially at the French Open  may have indicated that Sampras' was not entirely comfortable on that surface.

Every year, at the start of the year, Budge got excited as the Grand Slam season started in Australia . He eagerly followed American players like Agassi and Sampras, whose intensity and talent he appreciated. 

Budge believed his record would one day be broken, but told me in January 1999 that he wanted to see his record stand into the 21st century. He indicated to me through signals, that he was aware in January, about a week before his death, that his record stood intact. He knew he was still a winner. 

Budge imbued to tennis players in his community and all players who approached him that he wanted the rest of us be a winner in life no matter what what we did for a living or what level of tennis player we were. He believed we needed a goal and vision in life and that we should all commit to perfecting our craft.

We have started a small annual tennis incentive program for youth with funds left from the banquet honoring Budge. We are gathering Budge memorabilia, articles, and other relevant information about his life to preserve his legacy. If you have articles, clipping, photos, stories about Budge or an old Don Budge racquet, memorabilia to doate,please contact us at tennis@newsfax.com

The stories may be recent or past newspaper, magazine, or other printed matter or interviews, video, or audio matter.