Patty, John

John Edward Patty “Budge”
Born: February 11, 1924
Hometown: Fort Smith, Arkansas, United States
Citizenship: United States
Handed: Right
Inducted: 1977

Grand Slam Record
French Singles 1950
Singles finalist 1949
Mixed 1946

Wimbledon Singles 1950
Doubles 1957

U.S. Doubles finalist 1957

Tournament Record
Davis Cup Team Member 1951

Italian Singles 1954
Doubles finalist 1950, 53

A rare combination for an American male was “Budge” Patty’s French-Wimbledon double of 1950. Only Don Budge in 1938 and Tony Trabert in 1955 achieved such a double.

John Edward Patty was born February 11, 1924, at Ft. Smith, Ark., and grew up in Los Angeles, the tennis vineyard of his youth. He says a brother gave him the nickname “Budge” because “I was so lazy he said I wouldn’t budge.” It stuck, but he budged gracefully on a tennis court, and graciously in his bearing otherwise, a trim cosmopolitan fellow of 6-foot-1 who preferred to live in Europe after serving there with the U.S. Army in World War II. His smooth groundstroking game played well on the Continent’s clay. He won the Italian in 1954. But he was a sharp volleyer, too, a fine doubles player. Seeded fifth, Patty beat second-seeded Bill Talbert in the quarters and top-seeded Frank Sedgman for his 1950 Wimbledon title, 6-1, 8-10, 6-2, 6-3.

At Paris the same year he overcame lefty Jaroslav Drobny for the title, 6-1, 6-2, 3-6, 5-7, 7-5. Defending in 1951, he was upset by Ham Richardson in the second round at Wimbledon, and by Lennart Bergelin in the fourth round at Paris. Probably his two most renowned matches, both at Wimbledon, were a singles defeat and a doubles victory. In the third round of 1953, despite six match points, he fell to Drobny at dusk in a 93-game, 4-hour-20-minute classic, 8-6, 16-18, 3-6, 8-6, 12-10. Four years later, he, 33, and Gar Mulloy, 43–unseeded–were the oldest team of the post-World War I era to win at the Big W, beating top-seeded Lew Hoad, 22, and Neale Fraser, 23, 8-10, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

They reached the title round of the U.S. Championships that year, the oldest finalists there, losing to Fraser and Ashley Cooper. Patty is remembered in Paris for an incredible defeat, a 1958 fourth-rounder in which Robert Hailet revived from 5-0, 40-0 down, Patty serving, in the fifth set, to win 5-7, 7-5, 10-8, 4-6, 7-5, saving four match points. Seldom appearing in the U.S., Patty was a quarterfinalist in the 1951 Championships, losing to Dick Savitt, 6-4 in the fifth, and played Davis Cup briefly, to get his only Top Ten ranking, No. 10. But he was ranked seven times in the World Top Ten between 1947 and 1957, No. 1 in 1950. He entered the Hall of Fame in 1977.

Over his 15-year amateur career, Patty won 76 singles titles.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 29th, 2008 at 7:39 pm and is filed under Hall of Famer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.