Don Budge

Budge was born in Oakland, California, the son of Scottish immigrant and former soccer player John "Jack" Budge, who had played several matches for the Rangers reserve team before emigrating to the United States, and Pearl Kincaid Budge.Craig, Jim: Scotland's Sporting Curiosities, Birlinn, Edinburgh, 2005 Growing up, he played a variety of sports before taking up tennis at the age of 13 at the urging of his elder brother, Lloyd, who played tennis for the University of California team.{{cite web |date=January 27, 2000 |title=Budge's legacy lives on |url=https://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/Budge-s-legacy-lives-on-3077855.php |access-date=September 11, 2021 |website=SFGATE |language=en-US}} He also had an elder sister. He was red-headed, tall and slim, and his height would eventually help what is still considered one of the most powerful serves of all time.{{cite web |last=Oats |first=Bob |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-05-29-sp-5609-story.html |title=The Best Ever?: Strong Case Made for Don Budge, Who Won Tennis Grand Slam 50 Years Ago |work=Los Angeles Times |date=May 29, 1988 |access-date=January 24, 2017}} 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, Budge had difficulty playing on the grass courts in the east.

;1932

Budge reached the semi-finals of the West Canada championships in July, where he lost in five sets to Henry Prusoff. "The Oakland youngster carried brawny Hank Prusoff of Seattle to five sets, surprising most of the onlookers, including the tournament favorite from Puget Sound...Budge playing a calm and collected game all the way and letting the hardhitting Prusoff make the errors. The chop stroke of the Seattle man worked to perfection, particularly In the last set, and he always seemed to have something in reserve."{{cite news|title=Don Budge gives Prusoff hard battle|work=The Vancouver Daily Province |date=July 9, 1932|page=7|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/500541572/|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=limited}}

;1933

At the Del Monte championships in May, Budge beat Wallace Bates in straight sets in the final.{{cite web|title=The Los Angeles Evening Post|date=May 31, 1933|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/678442025/|via=Newspapers.com}} In July, Budge beat John Murio in the final of the California State championship. "Tennis fans will be talking for days of the men's singles event and of Budge, whom the experts candidly admit "has everything". Not only has he the strokes of a champion, but the presence and strategy of one far beyond his years. Murio's most burning drives failed to ruffle one of the flaming red hairs on his head".{{cite web|title=Oakland Tribune|date=July 3, 1933|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/106277469/|via=Newspapers.com}} In the final of the Colorado championships in Denver in July, Budge beat Jack Tidball in five sets.{{cite web|title=Los Angeles Times|date=July 23, 1933|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/380427665/|via=Newspapers.com}}

;1934

Budge beat Bud Chandler in the final in five sets to retain his California State championship title in June. "Chandler went to the net often throughout the match, while Budge elected to play a baseline game almost exclusively, going to the webbing only when forced to by chop or cross court shots; Chandler, exhausted after his gruelling five-set match with John Murio in the semi-final on Saturday, fought largely on his nerve against the Champion, and at the end of yesterday's strenuous competition again was completely exhausted."{{cite web |title=Oakland Tribune |date=June 25, 1934 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/106273146/ |via=Newspapers.com}}

;1935

Budge beat Gene Mako in the final of the Palm Springs tournament in April.{{cite web |title=The Courier-Journal (Louisville) |date=April 2, 1935 |url= https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/107311001/ |via=Newspapers.com}} Budge beat Frank Shields in the final of the Newport Casino tournament in August.{{cite news |title=Star Press (Muncie) |date=August 18, 1935 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/251553931/ |newspaper=Newspapers.com}} In the final of the Pacific Southwest tournament in September, Budge was leading 2 sets to 1 against Roderich Menzel, when Menzel retired, in order to preserve his energy for a mixed doubles match.{{cite web|title=Pomona Progress Bulletin|date=September 24, 1935|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/623514706/ |via=Newspapers.com}} Budge beat Bobby Riggs in the final of the Pacific Coast championships in October.{{cite web |title=Oakland Tribune |date=October 7, 1935|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/127448470/|via=Newspapers.com}}

;1936

In January, Budge beat Walter Senior in the final of the Northern California indoor event.{{cite web |title=The San Francisco Examiner |date=January 27, 1936 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/458169913/ |via=Newspapers.com}}

In April, Budge won the North and south tournament at Pinehurst beating Hal Surface in three-straight sets for the loss of just one game with a "superb exhibition of speed and control".{{cite web |title=Los Angeles Times |date=April 18, 1936 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/380268024/ |via=Newspapers.com}} In June, Budge beat Dave Jones in the final of the Queen's Club tournament.{{cite web |title=The Observer |date=June 21, 1936 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/258720182/ |via=Newspapers.com}} Budge beat Riggs in the final of the Eastern championships in August.{{cite web|title=Belvidere Daily Republican|date=August 18, 1936 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/69565861/ |via=Newspapers.com}} Budge beat Perry in the final of the Pacific Southwest tournament in September.{{cite web |title=Charlotte Observer |date=September 28, 1936 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/617319878/ |via=Newspapers.com}}

In October, Budge beat Walter Senior in the final of the Pacific Coast championships.{{cite web |title=Oakland Tribune |date=October 12, 1936 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/129556919/ |via=Newspapers.com}} In December, Budge beat Riggs in the final of the Southern California midwinter tournament.{{cite web |title=Los Angeles Times |date=January 3, 1937 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/380703584/ |via=Newspapers.com}}

;1937

In February, Budge beat Bryan Grant in the final of the Miami tournament.{{cite web |title=The Santa Maria Times |date=February 8, 1937 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/629886345/ |via=Newspapers.com}}

In June, Budge beat Bunny Austin in the final at the Queen's Club tournament. "Seldom has a star of Austin's standing absorbed so crushing a defeat in full view of the public."{{cite web |title=The Baltimore Sun |date=June 20, 1937 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/373561370/ |via=Newspapers.com}} Budge swept Wimbledon, winning the singles (beating Gottfried von Cramm in straight sets in the final), the men's doubles title with Gene Mako, and the mixed doubles crown with Alice Marble. In August, Budge beat Riggs in the final of the Newport Casino tournament.{{cite web |title=Journal and Courier (Lafayette) |date=August 23, 1937 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/261732036/ |via=Newspapers.com}} Budge beat von Cramm in the U. S. Championships final which "was a strange see-saw affair in which Budge twice lapsed from his normally brilliant genius guided game".{{cite web|title=Honolulu Star Bulletin|date=September 13, 1937|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/275068430/|via=Newspapers.com}} Budge beat von Cramm again in the final of the Pacific Southwest tournament in September.{{cite web|title=The Richmond Item|date=September 26, 1937|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/246903620/|via=Newspapers.com}} Budge beat Riggs in the final of the Pacific Coast tournament in October.{{cite web|title=The Boston Globe|date=October 5, 1937|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/429053479/|via=Newspapers.com}} In December Budge won the Victorian championships beating John Bromwich in the final in a match in which "the hot, humid weather proved trying for the players".{{cite web|title=The Age (Melbourne)|date=December 13, 1937|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/123243526/|via=Newspapers.com}} Budge gained the most fame for his match that year against von Cramm in the Davis Cup inter-zone finals against Germany. Trailing 1–4 in the final set, he came back to win 8–6. His victory allowed the US team to advance and to then win the Davis Cup for the first time in 12 years. For his efforts, he was named Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year and he became the first tennis player ever to be voted the James E. Sullivan Award as America's top amateur athlete. Budge was ranked World No. 1 amateur by A. Wallis Myers of The Daily Telegraph,{{cite news|date=23 September 1937|title=World Rankings|page=11|newspaper=Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article134949567|via=National Library of Australia}} Mervyn Weston, Daily Telegraph (Sydney),{{cite news|date=17 September 1937|title=BEST TENNIS PLAYERS OF THE YEAR|page=22|newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne)|issue=28,416|location=Victoria, Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11078101|via=National Library of Australia|access-date=22 November 2021}} Pierre Gillou,{{cite news |date=1937-09-15 |title=Les 10 Meilleures: M. Pierre Gillou, Président de la Fédération Française de Lawn-Tennis communique son classement annuel qu'il a élaboré pour L'Auto |language=fr |trans-title=The 10 Best: Mr. Pierre Gillou, President of the French Lawn Tennis Federation gives his annual ranking, which he has explained for L'Auto |pages=1 |work=L'Auto|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k4630013p}} Ned Potter,{{cite magazine |last=Potter |first=E.C. |date=1931-09-20 |editor-last=Merrihew|editor-first=S. W.|editor-link=S. Wallis Merrihew|title=The World's First Tens of 1937|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FHsNA5S8z6wC&q=editions:UOM39015035830770|magazine=American Lawn Tennis|location=New York|volume=31|page=36|pages=|access-date=}} The Times,{{cite news|date=1937-09-21|title=Lawn Tennis: World Rankings|volume=68|work=Auckland Star|issue=224|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19370921.2.148}} Harry Hopman,{{cite news|date=16 September 1937|title=HOPMAN'S WORLD RANKINGS|page=45|newspaper=The Herald (Melbourne)|issue=18825|location=Victoria, Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article244617551|via=National Library of Australia|access-date=25 November 2021}}{{cite news|date=16 September 1937|title=Hopman Ranks Tennis Stars|page=48|newspaper=The Herald (Melbourne)|issue=18825|location=Victoria, Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article244617600|via=National Library of Australia|access-date=25 November 2021}} Alfred Chave, The Telegraph (Brisbane){{cite news|date=17 September 1937|title=WORLD TENNIS RANKING|page=15 (CITY FINAL LAST MINUTE NEWS)|newspaper=Telegraph (Brisbane)|location=Queensland, Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article188842742|via=National Library of Australia|access-date=29 November 2021}} and Pierre Goldschmidt, L'Auto.{{cite news|date=1937-08-10|title=SCHEMA: deux classements |language=fr |trans-title=OVERVIEW: two rankings |pages=3 |work=L'Auto |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k4629978n}}

;1938

In 1938, Budge dominated amateur tennis defeating John Bromwich in the Australian final, Roderick Menzel in the French final, Henry "Bunny" Austin at Wimbledon, where he never lost a set (he also won the doubles and mixed doubles), and Gene Mako in the U.S. Championships final (winning doubles and mixed doubles too), to become the first person to win the Grand Slam in tennis. He also is the youngest man in history to complete the "Career Grand Slam" (the four majors in one's career) and "Full Grand Slam" (four majors held at one time (in row)). He completed that on June 11, 1938, in winning the French singles, two days before his 23rd birthday. Budge beat Ladislav Hecht in the final of the Czech championships in Prague in July.{{cite web|title=The Daily Item (Sunbury)|date=July 11, 1938|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/511967080/|via=Newspapers.com}} Budge beat Sidney Wood in the final of the Newport Casino tournament in August.{{cite web|title=Asheville Citizen Times|date=August 21, 1938|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/195447698/|via=Newspapers.com}} Budge was ranked World No. 1 amateur by Ray Bowers,{{cite web|author=Bowers|first=Ray|title=History of the Pro Tennis Wars, Chapter IX: Readying for Budge, 1938|url=http://www.tennisserver.com/lines/lines_05_07_30.html|url-status=live|via=tennisserver.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051109153932/http://www.tennisserver.com:80/lines/lines_05_07_30.html |archive-date=November 9, 2005 }} A. Wallis Myers of The Daily Telegraph,{{cite news|date=21 April 1939|title=BROMWICH RANKED BELOW AUSTIN|page=16 (LATE FINAL EXTRA)|newspaper=The Sun (Sydney)|issue=9139|location=New South Wales, Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article231093483|via=National Library of Australia|access-date=22 November 2021}} Pierre Gillou,{{Cite news|date=1938-09-27|title=Les Dix Meilleurs Du Tennis : Classement de M.P. Gillou|language=French|trans-title=The Ten Best in Tennis: Rankings by Mr. P. Gillou|pages=1, 3|work=L'Auto|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k46352521|access-date=}} Ned Potter,{{Cite news|last=Potter|first=E. C.|date=1938-10-20|title=Two World's First Tens|volume=32|page=30|work=American Lawn Tennis|editor-last=Merrihew|editor-first=S. W.|editor-link=S. Wallis Merrihew|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=znOWFGb_3_gC&q=editions:UOM39015035830770}} Pierre Goldschmidt, L'Auto,{{Cite news|date=1938-09-29|title=Le classement mondial des joueurs et joueuses, consacre la supériorité sans précédent d'un pays : les Etats-Unis|language=French|trans-title=The world rankings of male and female players consecrate the unprecedented superiority of one country: the United States|pages=3|work=L'Auto|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k4635254v}} The Times (London),{{cite news|date=6 October 1938|title=RANKINGS. TENNIS PLAYERS.|page=15|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|issue=31,439|location=New South Wales, Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17525219|via=National Library of Australia|access-date=17 November 2021}} F. Gordon Lowe of The Scotsman, Dr. G. H. McElhone of The Sydney Morning Herald,{{cite news|date=27 September 1938|title=FIRST TEN.|page=15|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|issue=31,431|location=New South Wales, Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17522572|via=National Library of Australia|access-date=28 November 2021}} "International" of The Referee,{{Cite news|date=1938-10-22|title=World Tennis Rankings|volume=123|page=23|work=Waikato Times|issue=20635|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WT19381022.2.127.31}} Mervyn Weston, Daily Telegraph (Sydney),{{cite news|date=27 September 1938|title=World First Tens Suggested|page=20|newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne)|issue=28,735|location=Victoria, Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12491941|via=National Library of Australia|access-date=28 November 2021}} Jack Crawford{{cite news|date=22 April 1939|title=1938 Tennis Ranking Surprising|volume=IV|page=18|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph (Sydney)|issue=27|location=New South Wales, Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article247555547|via=National Library of Australia|access-date=27 November 2021}} and Alfred Chave, The Telegraph (Brisbane).{{cite news|date=30 September 1938|title=Americans Lead World Tennis|page=15 (SECOND EDITION)|newspaper=Telegraph (Brisbane)|location=Queensland, Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article184370727|via=National Library of Australia|access-date=29 November 2021}}

;1939

Budge turned professional in October 1938 after winning the Grand Slam, and thereafter played mostly head-to-head matches. In 1939, he beat the two reigning kings of professional tennis, Ellsworth Vines, 22 matches to 17, and Fred Perry, 28 matches to 8.{{cite news| url= http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60B12F8355B177A93C5A91788D85F4D8385F9 | work=The New York Times | title= Budge Wins, 6–2, 6–2, 6–3; Don Beats Vines in Montreal and Will Arrive Here Today | date=March 7, 1939 | access-date=March 18, 2012}}{{cite news| url= http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50E16FB345B11728DDDA00894DD405B898FF1D3 | work=The New York Times | title= Budge Triumphs, 8–6, 6–2; Don Beats Perry for 28th Time at White Plains | date=May 9, 1939 | access-date=March 18, 2012}}{{cite book |title=The Bud Collins History of Tennis: An Authoritative Encyclopedia and Record Book |last=Collins|first=Bud|author-link=Bud Collins|year=2008 |publisher=New Chapter Press |isbn=978-0-942257-41-0 |page=66 }} That year, he also won two major pro tournaments, the French Pro Championship over Vines and the Wembley Pro tournament over Hans Nüsslein. He also finished in first place on the European tour in the summer that also featured Vines, Tilden and Stoefen. Budge was ranked World No. 1 pro by Bowers,{{cite web|author=Bowers|first=Ray|title=History of the Pro Tennis Wars, Chapter X: Budge's Great Pro Year, 1939|url=http://www.tennisserver.com/lines/lines_05_11_22.html|url-status=live|via=tennisserver.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060321042743/http://www.tennisserver.com/lines/lines_05_11_22.html |archive-date=March 21, 2006 }} Didier Poulain of L'Auto{{Cite news|date=1939-07-03|title=Il y avait des leçons à prendre hier, au stade Roland-Garros !|language=French|trans-title=There were some lessons to learn yesterday, at Roland-Garros stadium!|pages=5|work=L'Auto|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k4635528d}} and Alfred Chave, The Telegraph (Brisbane).{{cite news|date=22 September 1939|title=Californians Head the World Tennis Rankings|page=13 (SECOND EDITION)|newspaper=Telegraph (Brisbane)|location=Queensland, Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article191590789|via=National Library of Australia|access-date=28 November 2021}}

;1940

There was no World series professional tour in 1940 but seven principal tournaments. Budge kept his world crown by winning four of these events: the Southeastern Pro at Miami Beach (beating Perry in the final),The Miami Herald, February 26, 1940 the North & South Pro at Pinehurst (beating Dick Skeen in the final),The Nebraska State Journal, April 22, 1940 the National Open at White Sulphur Springs (beating Bruce Barnes in the final)The Lincoln Star, April 29, 1940 and the United States Pro Championship (beating Perry in the final). Budge was ranked World No. 1 pro by Bowers.{{cite web|author=Bowers|first=Ray|title=History of the Pro Tennis Wars, Chapter XI: America 1940-1941|url=http://www.tennisserver.com/lines/lines_06_10_01.html|url-status=live|via=tennisserver.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061111100133/http://www.tennisserver.com/lines/lines_06_10_01.html |archive-date=November 11, 2006 }}

On July 29, 1940, Budge played an exhibition match in front of 2,000 people at the Cosmopolitan Club in Harlem against the American Tennis Association's top player Jimmie McDaniel. This is believed to be the first interracial tennis match played before a large audience to take place in the United States.{{Cite news |last=Shmerler |first=Cindy |date=February 11, 2021 |title=Overlooked No More: Jimmie McDaniel, Tennis Player Who Broke Barriers |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/11/obituaries/jimmie-mcdaniel-overlooked.html |access-date=August 17, 2022}}{{cite web |author1=Doug Smith |title=Jimmie McDaniel vs. Don Budge: A milestone match |url=https://www.usta.com/en/home/stay-current/national/jimmie-mcdaniel-vs--don-budge--a-milestone-match.html |publisher=USTA |date=February 15, 2022}}

;1941

In 1941, Budge played another major tour beating the 48-year-old Bill Tilden, the outcome being 47–6thetennisbase.com plus one tie. Budge (who had only recently left hospital) lost his opening match in the U. S. Pro championships to John Faunce. "You see, Don was in the hospital a couple of weeks ago fell down some stairs and banged up his nose and left ear. He didn't have his court legs today and naturally that was my cue to make him run and. believe me, I never hit better drop shots in my life than I hit today. I could put that ball on a dime!" said Faunce afterwards.{{cite web|title=The Chicago Tribune, 28 May 1941|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/371867975/|website=newspapers.com|date=May 28, 1941 }}

;1942

In 1942, Budge won his last major tour over Bobby Riggs, Frank Kovacs, Perry and Les Stoefen. He also won the U.S. Pro at Forest Hills, crushing Riggs in three straight sets in the final. The crowd booed when Riggs was denied a request to wear spiked shoes.{{cite web|title=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 5 July 1942|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/52659433/?terms=Budge%20riggs%20forest%20hills&match=1|website=newspapers.com}} After that many of the top pros, including Budge, became involved in World War 2. Budge was ranked World No. 1 pro by Bowers{{cite web|author=Bowers|first=Ray|title=History of the Pro Tennis Wars, Chapter XII: America, 1942|url=http://www.tennisserver.com/lines/lines_07_03_19.html|url-status=live|via=tennisserver.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927031403/http://www.tennisserver.com/lines/lines_07_03_19.html |archive-date=September 27, 2007 }} and by the USPLTA.{{Cite news|date=1942-12-13|title=Don Budge Rated No. 1 Among Pros|page=28|work=Los Angeles Times|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/380822427/}}

File:Don Budge 1937.jpg, Sydney in December 1937]]

In 1942, Budge joined the United States Army Air Forces to serve in World War II. At the beginning of 1943, in an obstacle course, he tore a muscle in his shoulder. In his book 'A Tennis Memoir' page 144 he said:

{{blockquote|The tear didn't heal, and the scar tissue that was formed complicated the injury and made it even serious. Nevertheless ... I was able to carry on with my military duties ... as long as two years afterwards, in the spring of '45, I was given a full month's medical leave so that I could go to Berkeley and have an osteopath, Dr. J. LeRoy Near, work with me.}}

This permanently hindered his playing abilities. During his wartime duty he played some exhibitions for the troops in particular during the summer 1945 with the war winding down, Budge played in a US Army (Budge-Frank Parker) – US Navy (Riggs – Wayne Sabin) competition under the Davis Cup format: the main confrontations were the Budge-Riggs meetings knowing that both Americans were the best players in the world in 1942 just before being enlisted in the U.S. Armed Forces and again when they came back to the professional circuit in 1945. In the first match, on the island of Guam, Budge trounced Riggs. On the island of Peleliu, Budge won again. Riggs won the next two matches against Budge, at the island of Ulithi and the island of Saipan. Budge confided in Parker his disbelief at losing two matches in a row to Riggs. In the fifth and final match on the island of Tinian, scheduled for the first week of August 1945, Riggs defeated Budge. This was the first time Budge had been beaten by Riggs in a series (Riggs also won three matches out of five against the amateur Parker, both holder and future titlist of the U.S. Amateur Nationals at Forest Hills) thereby giving Riggs an important psychological edge in their forthcoming peacetime tours.{{cite book |title=Tennis Is My Racket |last=Riggs |first=Bobby |author-link=Bobby Riggs |year=1949 |location=New York |pages=166–167 }}

;1946

In 1946, Budge lost narrowly to Riggs in their U.S. tour, 24 matches to 22. Riggs thereby established himself as the world No. 1. According to Kramer,

{{blockquote|Bobby played to Budge's shoulder, lobbed him to death, won the first twelve matches, thirteen out of the first fourteen, and then hung on to beat Budge, twenty-four matches to twenty-two. At the age of thirty, Don Budge was very nearly a has-been. That was the way pro tennis worked then.}}

The hierarchy was confirmed at the U.S. Pro, held at Forest Hills where Riggs easily defeated Budge in the last round. There was a tournament circuit in 1946. Budge won events at Memphis in June (beating Riggs in the final),{{cite web|title=The Philadelphia Inquirer, 17 June 1946|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/171451536|website=newspapers.com|date=June 17, 1946 }} Richmond in June (beating Riggs in the final),{{cite web|title=Valley Times (North Hollywood), 24 June 1946|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/579924100|website=newspapers.com|date=June 24, 1946 }} Philadelphia in July (beating Van Horn in the final){{cite web|title=The Philadelphia Inquirer, 8 July 1946|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/171167231|website=newspapers.com|date=July 8, 1946 }} and San Francisco in October (beating Riggs in the final).{{cite web|title=The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 21 October 1946|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/637571463|website=newspapers.com|date=October 21, 1946 }} Budge finished second in the points table behind Riggs.The History of Professional Tennis, Joe McCauley (2003 reprint), p. 43

;1947

In 1947 Budge beat Riggs in two European tours, one early in the year and one in the summer. According to Riggs, Budge still had a very powerful, very deadly overhead and rather than winning outright very many points with his lobbing, he actually achieved two other goals: his constant lobbing led Budge to play somewhat deeper at the net than he would have otherwise, thereby making it easier for Riggs to hit passing shots for winners; and the constant lobbing helped to wear Budge down by forcing him to run back to the backline time after time. Riggs stayed the pro king by defeating Budge in the U.S. Pro final in five sets, so Riggs would face Kramer on the big tour in 1948.

;1948-1961

Budge reached two more U.S. Pro finals, losing in 1949 at Forest Hills to Riggs and in 1953 in Cleveland to Pancho Gonzales. In 1954, Budge recorded his last significant victory in a North American tour with Pancho Gonzales, Pancho Segura, and Frank Sedgman when, in Los Angeles, he defeated Gonzales, by then the best player in the world. In April 1955 Budge won the U. S. Pro Clay Court Championships at Fort Lauderdale beating Riggs in the final.{{cite web|title=Nashville Banner, 18 April 1955|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/603847729|website=newspapers.com|date=April 18, 1955 }} Budge was playing very infrequently by now. He continued playing until 1961, when he lost in the Southern Pro final to Jack Arkinstall in straight sets. "He still hits a wonderful backhand, but he's five years older than I am and I guess I just got around too fast for him," said Arkinstall.{{cite web|title=The Courier-Journal (Louisville), 12 October 1961|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/107148609/|website=newspapers.com|date=October 12, 1961 }}

He appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1948 and the Steve Allen Plymouth Show in 1951. He appeared as himself in the 1953 film Pat and Mike.{{Cite web|title=Don Budge|url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0118977/bio|access-date=2021-09-11|website=IMDb}}

After retiring from competition, Budge turned to coaching and conducted tennis clinics for children. According to Riggs' 1949 autobiography as of that writing, Budge owned a laundry in New York with Sidney Wood as well as a bar in Oakland. A gentleman on and off the court, he was much in demand for speaking engagements and endorsed various lines of sporting goods. With the advent of the Open era in tennis, in 1968 he returned to play at Wimbledon in the Veteran's doubles. In 1973, at the age of 58, he and former champion Frank Sedgman teamed up to win the Veteran's Doubles Championship at Wimbledon before an appreciative crowd.

Budge was the resident tennis pro at the Montego Bay Racquet Club in Jamaica in 1977. In October 1978 he became the tennis pro at the Cambridge Towers Hotel in Las Vegas.{{Cite news|date=1979-01-14|title=Nancy Snider Is Betrothed to Jeffrey Budge|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/01/14/archives/nancy-snider-is-betrothed-to-jeffrey-budge.html|access-date=2021-09-11|issn=0362-4331}} After a few months he was terminated but he sued the owner for breach of his five-year contract and was awarded $455,041.{{Cite web|title=Donald Budge, Plaintiff-appellee, v. Troy v. Post, Defendant-appellant, 643 F.2d 372 (5th Cir. 1981)|url=https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/643/372/454248/|access-date=2021-09-11|website=Justia Law|language=en}}

Budge was inducted into the National Lawn Tennis Hall of Fame, now the International Tennis Hall of Fame, at Newport, Rhode Island, in 1964. He was elected to the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame in 1992. The once-gravel tennis courts at Bushrod Park in north Oakland, which he played on as a youth, are named for him.{{Cite web|last=Dragin|first=Burt|date=2000-03-10|title=Budge (Who?) Leaves His Legacy on Oakland Tennis Courts|url=https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Budge-Who-Leaves-His-Legacy-on-Oakland-Tennis-2797468.php|access-date=2021-09-11|website=SFGATE|language=en-US}}

He is referenced in the 1977 Broadway musical Annie in the song "I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here." When Annie says she's never picked up a tennis racket, Daddy Warbucks' secretary tells an underling: "Have an instructor here at noon. Oh, and get that Don Budge fellow if he's available."{{Cite web|title=I Think I'm Gonna Like it Here lyrics by from Annie soundtrack.|url=https://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/annie/ithinkimgonnalikeithere.htm|access-date=2021-09-11|website=www.stlyrics.com|language=en}} The reference is technically an anachronism, as the story is set in 1933, at which time Budge was an undergraduate at Berkeley and had not yet achieved prominence.

He wed Deirdre Conselman (1922–1978), the daughter of screenwriter and cartoonist William Conselman, at St. Chrysostom's Episcopal Church in Chicago on June 2, 1941.{{Cite web|title=HD Stock Video Footage - Tennis player Don Budge weds Deirdre Conselman at Chrysostom Church in Chicago, Illinois.|url=https://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675043892_Don-Budge_Chrysostom-Church_wedding-ceremony_Deirdre-Conselman|access-date=2021-09-11|website=www.criticalpast.com}} In his later years he lived in Dingman's Ferry, Pennsylvania, with his second wife, Loriel.{{Cite book|last=Silverman|first=Al|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NcyXDwAAQBAJ&dq=loriel+budge+dingman%27s+ferry+pa&pg=PT43|title=It's Not Over 'Til It's Over: The Stories Behind Most Magnificent Heart-Stopping Sports Miracles of Our Time|date=2004-01-27|publisher=ABRAMS|isbn=978-1-4683-0431-2|language=en}}

In December 1999, Budge was injured in an automobile accident from which he never fully recovered. He died on January 26, 2000, at a nursing home in Scranton, Pennsylvania, aged 84.{{Cite news|last=Finn|first=Robin|date=2000-01-27|title=Don Budge, First to Win Tennis's Grand Slam, Dies at 84|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/01/27/sports/don-budge-first-to-win-tennis-s-grand-slam-dies-at-84.html|access-date=2021-09-11|issn=0362-4331}} He had two sons, David and Jeffrey.

Budge is a consensus pick for being one of the greatest players of all time. He had a graceful, overpowering backhand that he hit with a slight amount of topspin and that, combined with his quickness and his serve, made him the best player of his time. E. Digby Baltzell wrote in 1994 that Budge and Laver "have usually been rated at the top of any all-time World Champions list, Budge having a slight edge."Baltzell, E. Digby: Sporting Gentlemen: Men's Tennis from the Age of Honor to the Cult of the Superstar Will Grimsley wrote in 1971 that Budge "is considered by many to be foremost among the all-time greats."Grimsley, Will: Tennis: Its History, People and Events Paul Metzler, in his analysis of ten of the all-time greats, singles out Budge as the greatest player before World War II, and gives him second place overall behind Jack Kramer.Metzler, Paul: Tennis Styles and Stylists In 1978, Ellsworth Vines ranked his all-time top 10 in Tennis Myth and Method and rated Budge number one.Tennis Myth and Method, Ellsworth Vines & Gene Vier, 1978, Viking Press, p.6

Jack Kramer himself has written that Budge was, in the long run, the greatest player who ever lived although Ellsworth Vines topped him when at the height of his game.In his 1979 autobiography, Kramer considered the best player ever to have beaten either Don Budge (for consistent play) or Ellsworth Vines (at the height of his game). The next four best were, chronologically, Bill Tilden, Fred Perry, Bobby Riggs, and Pancho Gonzales. After these six came the "second echelon" of Rod Laver, Lew Hoad, Ken Rosewall, Gottfried von Cramm, Ted Schroeder, Jack Crawford, Pancho Segura, Frank Sedgman, Tony Trabert, John Newcombe, Arthur Ashe, Stan Smith, Björn Borg, and Jimmy Connors. He felt unable to rank Henri Cochet and René Lacoste accurately but felt they were among the very best. Kramer said:

{{blockquote|Budge was the best of all. He owned the most perfect set of mechanics and he was the most consistent... Don was so good that when he toured with Sedgman, Gonzales, and Segura in 1954 at the age of 38, none of those guys could get to the net consistently off his serve—and Sedgman, as quick a man who ever played the game, was in his absolute prime then. Don could keep them pinned to the baseline with his backhand too.}}

In his 1979 autobiography, Kramer considered the best player ever to have been either Don Budge (for consistent play) or Ellsworth Vines (at the height of his game). The next four best were, chronologically, Bill Tilden, Fred Perry, Bobby Riggs, and Pancho Gonzales. All of these sources were written, after Rod Laver completed his second, and Open, Grand Slam in 1969.

In 1983, Fred Perry ranked the greatest male players of all time and put them in to two categories, before World War 2 and after. Perry's pre-WWII nominees all below Tilden and excluding himself “Budge Cochet Ellsworth Vines ’so powerful!’ Gottfried von Cramm Jack Crawford Jan Sato Jean Borotra Bunny Austin Roderick Menzel Baron Umberto de Morpurgo”.{{cite web|title=The Miami Herald, 25 April 1983|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/624261568|website=newspapers.com|date=April 25, 1983 }}

In early 1986 Inside Tennis, a magazine edited in Northern California, devoted parts of four issues to a lengthy article called "Tournament of the Century", an imaginary tournament to determine the greatest of all time. 25 players in all were named by the 37 experts in their lists of the ten best. The magazine then ranked them in descending order by total number of points assigned. The top eight players in overall points, with their number of first-place votes, were: Rod Laver (9), John McEnroe (3), Don Budge (4), Jack Kramer (5), Björn Borg (6), Pancho Gonzales (1), Bill Tilden (6), and Lew Hoad (1). McEnroe was still an active player and Laver and Borg had only recently retired. In the imaginary tournament, Laver beat McEnroe in the finals in five sets.

In 1988, a panel consisting of Bud Collins, Cliff Drysdale, and Butch Buchholz ranked their top five male tennis players of all time. Drysdale listed Budge number three behind Laver and Borg. Buchholz and Collins did not include Budge on their lists.{{cite web|title=The Miami News, 10 March 1988|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/298214058|website=newspapers.com|date=March 10, 1988 }}

More recently, an Associated Press poll conducted in 1999 ranked Budge fifth, following Laver, Pete Sampras, Tilden, and Borg. Even more recently, in 2006, a panel of former players and experts was asked by TennisWeek to assemble a draw for a fantasy tournament to determine who was the greatest of all time. The top eight seeds were Roger Federer, Laver, Sampras, Borg, Tilden, Budge, Kramer, and McEnroe.

In the early years of the 21st century, Sidney Wood compiled his list of the Greatest Players of All Time (later published posthumously in a memoir "The Wimbledon final that never was and other tennis tales from a bygone era"). Wood first entered Wimbledon in 1927 and won the title in 1931. "From that time on, through to the late 1970s (doubles only towards the end), I was privileged to compete against virtually every top player in the world" said Wood. Wood ranked Budge number one in his list, saying the decision was a "no-brainer" and said Budge was "recognized by his peers as the one player to have commanded not only every shot in the book for every surface, but also to have been blessed with the single most destructive tennis weapon ever- a bludgeon backhand struck with a sixteen ounce 'Paul Bunyan' bat."{{cite web|title=World Tennis Magazine, December 16, 2011|url=http://www.worldtennismagazine.com/archives/6007|website=worldtennismagazine.com|date=December 16, 2011 }}

Don Budge joined professional tennis in 1939 and was unable to compete in the Grand Slam tournaments.

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{{unreferenced section|date=February 2022}}

Singles (1934–1938) : 26 titles

• These records were attained in pre-Open Era of tennis.
• Records in bold indicate peer-less achievements.

• All-time tennis records – men's singles
• Open Era tennis records – men's singles

{{Reflist|2}}

• Sporting Gentlemen: Men's Tennis from the Age of Honor to the Cult of the Superstar, (1994), E. Digby Baltzell
• Tennis: Its History, People and Events, (1971), Will Grimsley
• Tennis Styles and Stylists, (1969), Paul Metzler
• The Game, My 40 Years in Tennis (1979), Jack Kramer with Frank Deford ({{ISBN|0-399-12336-9}})
• Tennis Is My Racket, (1949), Bobby Riggs

• Fisher, Marshall Jon (2009). A Terrible Splendor: Three Extraordinary Men, a World Poised for War and the Greatest Tennis Match Ever Played. {{ISBN|978-0-307-39394-4}}

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• {{ATP}}
• {{ITF profile}}
• {{DavisCup player}}
• {{Tennis Hall of Fame}}

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