Classic and Modern Tennis Is Don Budge's Forehand Good Enough for You?
Classic and Modern Tennis Is Don Budge's Forehand Good Enough for You?
John Yandell
Who was Don Budge and what was his forehand really like?
Who in this modern era would be crazy enough to model their forehand on Don Budge? Who was Don Budge anyway? Oh right, he was the guy who invented the concept of the Grand Slam (actually he invented the phrase!)--and then went out and one the first one.
OK fine, but Budge played with a wood racket that weighed over a pound! In those days you held onto the racket with naked wooden handles! They didn’t even have leather grips yet! There was no poly string! Not to mention you had to wear long white flannel pants!
Recently one of our subscribers posted something amazing that I had never seen. A link to a Don Budge instructional film made in the mid 1940s. (Click Here to see the whole thing.)
Is this film some curiosity demonstrating the primitive nature of tennis in a distant era? Budge’s technique must be completed antiquated, right?
