Don Budge's Forehand: Good Enough for You?

[stotty]

A very interesting aspect of the Budge forehand is that he converted it from a Western forehand to an Eastern forehand relatively late in his tennis development. He won the U.S. 18 and under championships with a Western forehand and then went on to play the Eastern grass court summer circuit. He found the Western to not be as effective as on hard courts, due to the lower bound of the grass courts. The famed Bay area tennis coach Tom Stow worked with Don to convert Don's forehand from a Western to an Eastern. I think that resulted in the Budge forehand looking a little more "studied" than the glorious totally natural backhand - but the forehand is still terrific.

Well noted, Ed.

Don Budge has always looked equally solid on both wings to me. It has been well noted, from various sources, down the years that Don Budge hit a very heavy ball. Maybe he was the first player to hit heavy...it's possible, even likely.

If you look at this clip around the 1:34 mark, you will see Sidney Wood, aged 16, using a more extreme grip (you can make the grip out if you look closely on replays) than when you next see him, aged 20, in the same clip a few seconds later. The shape of the forehand has also changed.

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/tennis-greats#

It's looks probable that juniors back then developed strong grips during their formative years, but switched to more conservative grips as adults.

I could watch these reels of old tennis film all day long. I just wish there were more close range, clear clips out there.

[privas]

A Terrible Splendor

This is a beautiful article about the timelessness of perfection. I'll never forget that last flying forehand Don Budge hits to win that fifth set against von Cramm in that famous Davis Cup match, as described by my friend Marshall Fisher in his amazing book, "A Terrible Splendor." But, as Mr Norman A. points out, the Budge backhand was something special as well. I would love to see an article deconstructing this one! Thanks. Pedro

[johnyandell]

I need to read that and yeah maybe we'll bring in the ghost of Budge again for the backhand...