“There was no one who could beat me. Just think of how many more Wimbledons I could have won.”
- #wikipedia
- #quote
- #trusted-source
- #www.washingtonpost.com
- #corroborated
Figure timeline
Don Budge
John Donald Budge was an American tennis player. He is most famous as the first tennis player—male or female—to win all four Grand Slam tournaments in one year and complete the Grand Slam. Budge was the second man to complete the career Grand Slam, after Fred Perry. He won ten majors, of which six were Grand Slam events and four Pro Slams, the latter achieved on three different surfaces. Budge is…
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
sports · American tennis player (1915–2000) · tennis player · also Don Budge, Donald Budge, John Donald Budge, John Donald "Don" Budge, Budge
Born 13 June 1915 · Died 26 January 2000 · Q53343
34 published statements · 0 followers
See & hear
Photos & media
2 photos
Media from Wikimedia Commons, hotlinked at the source under its own licence — see each file for author and terms.
Live now
In the news
Pulling headlines from trusted outlets — this usually takes a few seconds
Checking the wires…
Feed scan
These are live links, not archived citations — they only join the timeline once a collect run verifies and archives them.
Live pulse
Recent highlights
Most recent outstanding titles, awards, and quotes
- Quote
- Quote
2026· 1 entry
2006· 1 entry
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
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2000· 2 entries
At a nursing home in Scranton, Pennsylvania, aged 84
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Died 2000-01-26.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #death
1999· 1 entry
Ranked Budge fifth, following Laver, Pete Sampras, Tilden, and Borg
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1994· 1 entry
That Budge and Laver "have usually been rated at the top of any all-time World Champions list, Budge having a slight edge
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1988· 1 entry
A panel consisting of Bud Collins, Cliff Drysdale, and Butch Buchholz ranked their top five male tennis players of all time
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1983· 1 entry
Fred Perry ranked the greatest male players of all time and put them in to two categories, before World War 2 and after
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1978· 1 entry
Ellsworth Vines ranked his all-time top 10 in Tennis Myth and Method and rated Budge number one
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1973· 1 entry
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
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1971· 1 entry
That Budge "is considered by many to be foremost among the all-time greats
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1968· 1 entry
Returned to play at Wimbledon in the Veteran's doubles
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1963· 1 entry
“, Bitter Winter (2023) Following in the footsteps of the great Protestant theologian H. Richard Niebuhr and his posthumously published book “The Responsible Self”
Text from Wikiquote, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikiquote
- #quote
1954· 2 entries
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
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
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
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1949· 1 entry
At Forest Hills to Riggs and in 1953 in Cleveland to Pancho Gonzales
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1948· 1 entry
And the Steve Allen Plymouth Show in 1951
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1947· 1 entry
Budge beat Riggs in two European tours, one early in the year and one in the summer
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1946· 1 entry
Budge lost narrowly to Riggs in their U
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1942· 2 entries
Budge won his last major tour over Bobby Riggs, Frank Kovacs, Perry and Les Stoefen
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Budge joined the United States Army Air Forces to serve in World War II
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1941· 1 entry
Budge played another major tour beating the 48-year-old Bill Tilden, the outcome being 47–6 plus one tie
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1940· 1 entry
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
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1939· 2 entries
And was unable to compete in the Grand Slam tournaments
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Beat the two reigning kings of professional tennis, Ellsworth Vines, 22 matches to 17, and Fred Perry, 28 matches to 8
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1938· 3 entries
Awarded Associated Press Athlete of the Year (1938).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
In winning the French singles, two days before his 23rd birthday
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
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
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1937· 3 entries
Awarded Associated Press Athlete of the Year (1937).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
And 1938, and the US Championships in 1938), and the only man to have achieved it twice in one year
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
And 1938 and world Number 1 professional in 1939, 1940 and 1942
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1935· 1 entry
Played for United States Davis Cup team (1935–1938).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #team
- #sports
1933· 1 entry
At which time Budge was an undergraduate at Berkeley and had not yet achieved prominence
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1915· 1 entry
Born 1915-06-13.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #birth