Special Treat for don_budge

[gzhpcu]

Re # 11: Okay, I'll send more body through.

P.S. When I was in Stockholm, I only learned one line of Swedish, taught to me by Malin's mother.

Obviously, I didn't learn it well, can't spell it either, and where's the umlaut over the o in "for"?

"Tak so mikke for met."

That's supposed to mean, "Thanks so much for the food."

Thought it was "Tack sa mycket för maten"...

[gzhpcu]

Budge vs Bromwich...

http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=50413

[bottle]

Wow, this film contains a bullet metaphor for the DB backhand. Guess it was pretty flat.

Tack sa mycket for maten. You know Swedish, too? I guess my Swedish Malapropism was the portent of a doomed 40-year relationship with Malin, the daughter.

Let us all agree, however, on the need for a long smooth take-back on a good down and up serve.

[don_budge]

10splayer's...from Budge to Nadal

No comparison. Not even the same game. Yeah, I said it. Can appreciate the nostalgia, but like every other sport, the game has evolved. And no, I disagree that equipment is the only factor. They're all bigger, stronger, faster. Ok, let me have it.

10splayer...OK, someone has to let you have it. But you are absolutely right it is not even the same game...no comparison. That's a good point to begin with. And 10splayer...this is nothing personal, not with you, not with anybody. More than likely...this is more like me against "The Machine". Please don't misinterpret what I write. It is not about me and you. Not at all. Not one iota. As far as I am concerned we are discussing an idea, a concept. We are not talking "beliefs" here. There is truth...and then there is "truthiness"...and in times of great deceit, telling the truth is considered to be a revolutionary act...or so said George Orwell, something to that effect.

But for the sake of argument or rather let's say discussion...let's take the traditional "great American past time" for instance. Baseball. Evolution...let's see. Hmmm. The bat is still the same. In fact, you are not even allowed to use a metal bat. You cannot put cork in the end of it either. That has pretty much stayed the same. Maybe they juice up the balls too.

Speaking of juice...and the argument about bigger, faster, stronger athletes. I think that it is pretty common knowledge that Steroids are used as a matter of fact. The ball players are pretty much "juicing" as a rule. Afterall, you have to keep up with the "Jones'". They all seem to be bigger, faster, stronger too. You sort of have to apply an * if you want to speak of GOAT in baseball.

There are rumors in the tennis world about performance enhancing drugs as well. They do drug testing, I believe...so I am not just fantasizing or making something up. That aside...the way the game is played since it's reinvention places a bigger demand on being more active physically...it is only a logical consequence, not some extraordinary evolution of the species. Man has not evolved in such a short period...at least not for the better.

The game of tennis did not evolve to the present state of the sport...it was reinvented. And there have been a number of problems associated with the changes and it all comes down to money, greed, arrogance...and television, in the end. One of the nice side effects is that it allows the coach to pontificate with endless discussions about technique. Tradition be damned!

Discussions such as GOAT are meaningless because it is not the same game by definition that was being played up until...well depending upon where you want to draw the line...wood, other than wood, oversized, suped up strings, court surfaces. It will never end, because they will never get it right. Again. It wasn't broken. And it was evolving. It was as it should be. Before the intervention.

Good old Don Budge...he was somehow clinging to the tradition of the sport. He was still wearing his long trousers when he won the Senior Doubles in 1973 at Wimbledon. I doubt that anybody ridiculed him though...I am quite certain that everyone admired him, for his...everything...his Royal Budgeness.

Bobby Riggs looked like he was wearing "hot pants" when standing next to "The Donald" in his long trousers. It was really funny the way Don abruptly terminated the interview in that video. He'd had enough of some silliness, apparently...I guess all tennis players can get a little testy. Testiness is sort of a hallmark of being a tennis player.

It's as if we are speaking different languages. How did this come to pass?

You cannot compare Janis Joplin to Lady Gaga...you cannot compare Jim Morrison to Justin Bieber or whatever his name is. You cannot compare Don Budge to Rafael Nadal. I mean, just look at Djokovic's slow motion forehand in last months issue...that ball is only centimeters from edge of the oversized frame he is using and will undoubtably be headed to his opponents court at the speed of light with an ungodly amount of topspin. But if he were using Don's wooden blunderbuss...that ball would be meekly headed into the net or screaming into outerspace as a result of the mishit.

There...that wasn't so bad 10splayer, was it? It's only me...the voice in the wilderness. don_quixote. Pay no heed.

OK, now let me have it. My turn. Altogether now. There's safety in numbers you know. And in being anonymous too. On the count of three...1,2,3!!!


*pardon the Swedish guys...I have been reading Björn Borg's "Spela Bättre Tennis" (Play Better Tennis) in Swedish and I just had this strange impulse to say something to John...because of his Swedish connections. It was a strange thing to do. I blame it on the full moon. Excusssssse mee.

btw...it is "tack så mycket för maten". Swedish has three extra letters (ä,å,ö) in the alphabet which makes it a real bitch to learn. Thank God...for google.

[gzhpcu]

I like the Budge - Riggs video: I like the classy, old-fashioned grandstand, the way Budge and Riggs casually stroll onto the court together looking at their rackets. Just with 4 rackets, no cover, no bags... Budge in his long pants, and Riggs with his shorts and T-shirt... the nifty, casual stop balls Riggs plays... The court level perspective of the video is nice, more so than the distant, from above view usually used... the voices of the two during the award ceremony... Riggs like an actor from "Our Gang"..

[don_budge]

Drums and cortisone...

Just leave it to you, Phil, to find another great article. Wow, he really was underappreciated. I especially like the part about getting to play drums with Tommy Dorsey after beating Vines in his pro debut. Unfortunately, kids today don't have any idea who Tommy Dorsey was.

I wonder if Steve can fill us in on what that shoulder injury in the war was all about and how bad it was! How about it, Steve?

don

I remember about the drums and the Tommy Dorsey story. My buddy at the camp, Thomass Williamson, who was a "bit" of a long haired red-headed hippie and the head counselor as well, used to get old Don into some pretty interesting conversations and music was a subject they talked about. Don Budge was not opposed to having a good time, I can tell you that. Tom liked The Doobie Brothers (Takin' it to the Streets) and The Allman Brothers (Eat a Peach)...remember those tunes? Tom was also the first guy I saw hit that reverse serve that Phil posted in the other thread about Nadal supinating in post #7. Tom called it his "Jack Frost" serve and he hit it with a Western grip and a Jack Kramer autograph. He was a real character and Don just loved him...maybe because they were both redheads.

That is an interesting note about the surgery and a good question. I think that I remember hearing something about that but knowing a little about him...he wasn't much for discussing that sort of thing or God forbid...making any kind of excuse. Surgery in those days had to be pretty rudimentary compared to today's techniques. I wonder how much it hindered him. Those were a couple of great articles, particularly the second.

I really like the old clips. Budge and Mako was one of the all time great doubles teams. And how about that 19 year old Bromwich, serving right handed, with a left hand forehand and a two handed left handed backhand. I forget what the narrator said about his technique...it was synonymous with unorthodox at any rate. He called him a "freak double handed artist".

I was at his camp in 1973 when he traveled to England and won the Wimbledon Senior Doubles with Vic Seixas. He was having a problem with a muscle in the calf area of the right leg...I remember him telling me that it bothered him when he was serving, and he took a couple of cortisone treatments in the weeks leading up to the tournament. He told me that cortisone was a miracle drug, but it was only to be used in moderation and not excessively.