Los Angeles, 1930s
Failure to budge
The nickname came from his older brother, who joked that young John Edward showed so little urgency that he would not budge. It stuck for the rest of his life.
Source: International Tennis Hall of FameThe amateur years
Budge Patty
United States · born Fort Smith, Arkansas, 1924 · died 2021 · right-handed · Wimbledon and French champion in 1950
Hall of Fame 1977
All playersBack to the rankings
1950
Won the French Championships and Wimbledon, finishing the year world No. 1
6
Match points he held against Jaroslav Drobný at Wimbledon in 1953, and lost
76
Singles titles between 1947 and 1957
33 and 43
His age and Gardnar Mulloy's when they won the 1957 Wimbledon doubles
7
Years ranked in the world top ten, 1947 to 1957
Playing career
John Edward Patty was born in Fort Smith, Arkansas, on 11 February 1924 and grew up in Los Angeles. His older brother called him Budge because he would not budge. He practised as a junior with Pauline Betz, took lessons at the Beverly Hills Tennis Club, and with the backing of the actors Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Taylor won the national boys' 18 singles in 1941 and 1942. Four years of military service followed.
After the war he based himself in Paris. He won the French mixed doubles with Betz in 1946, lost the 1949 French singles final to Frank Parker, and in 1950 won both the French title, beating Jaroslav Drobný in five sets, and Wimbledon, beating Frank Sedgman. Only Don Budge before him, and Tony Trabert after, had done that double among American men. He won the German title in 1953 and 1954 and the Italian in 1954, and the Wimbledon doubles with Gardnar Mulloy in 1957.
He stayed an amateur and played his last Wimbledon in 1960. He lived in Europe for more than 70 years, working in travel and real estate, married Marcina in Lausanne in 1961, and died in Lausanne on 3 October 2021, aged 97. He entered the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1977.
On grass
| Wimbledon 1950 | Seeded fifth. Beat Bill Talbert 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 and Vic Seixas 6-3, 5-7, 6-2, 7-5, then Frank Sedgman in the final 6-1, 8-10, 6-2, 6-3, without playing a five-set match all fortnight |
|---|---|
| Wimbledon 1953, third round | Lost to Jaroslav Drobný 8-6, 16-18, 3-6, 8-6, 12-10 after holding six match points, in 93 games and 4 hours 20 minutes, from 5 pm to 9.20 pm. At the time it was the longest continuous match on record |
| Wimbledon 1957 doubles | With Gardnar Mulloy, beat the top seeds Lew Hoad and Neale Fraser 8-10, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, the oldest pair to win the title since the First World War. They lost the US doubles final to Fraser and Ashley Cooper two months later |
| Other Wimbledon singles | 1947: beat the second seed John Bromwich 6-4, 0-6, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 in the fourth round, then lost the semi-final to Tom Brown 6-3, 6-3, 6-3. 1955: lost the semi-final to Tony Trabert 8-6, 6-2, 6-2 |
| Irish Championships 1956 | Won at Fitzwilliam, Dublin, beating Hugh Stewart 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 in the final |
Every grass title: 2
Show every title, tournament by tournament
| Wimbledon | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1950 | Men's singles | |
| 1957 | Men's doubles | with Gardnar Mulloy |
Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. † single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions
"I could hardly see a thing and I was so tired I barely knew where I was."
Anecdotes
The person behind the player.
Beverly Hills
Sponsored by film stars
Pauline Betz, his childhood practice partner, sent him to Bill Weissbuch at the Beverly Hills Tennis Club. There he caught the eye of Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Taylor, who paid for his trips to the national junior championships. In 1946 he and Betz won the French mixed doubles together.
Source: International Tennis Hall of FameParis, from 1946
Half in evening dress
Based in Paris from 1946, he became a man of tailored jackets and ties. In 1953 World Tennis described an Egyptian artist's drawing of him: "One half of the tall young man was dressed in tennis garb with a racket in one hand; the other half was impeccable in full evening dress, with a cigarette in his fingers." John Barrett called him "the most suave of champions".
Source: International Tennis Hall of FameWimbledon 1953
Into the dark
His third-round match with Jaroslav Drobný started at 5 pm and finished at 9.20 pm. Patty had six match points on Drobný's serve and lost the fifth set 12-10. He told The Daily Telegraph in 2000 that by the end he could hardly see.
Source: International Tennis Hall of FameLausanne
A patrician voice
He spent more than 70 years in Europe, working in real estate and playing social tennis. Christopher Clarey wrote in a 1997 Tennis magazine profile: "Patty's is a patrician voice, one that conjures up cocktails in the clubhouse, summers on the coast and winters on the slopes."
Source: ITF obituaryJoin Grass Tennis Club
Free membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
Join freeExplore
Where they won on grass
- All England Club, Wimbledon
- Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club, Dublin
- Find a grass court near you
Rivals and partners
On Grass Tennis Club
Elsewhere online
Sources
- Budge Patty, International Tennis Hall of Fame
- "In Memoriam: Hall of Famer Budge Patty", International Tennis Hall of Fame, 2021
- "Obituary: Budge Patty", ITF, 2021
- "Tribute to Budge Patty", Roland-Garros, 2021
- "Budge Patty, 1950 Wimbledon, Roland Garros champ, dies at 97", Associated Press via theScore, 2021
- Irish Championships 1956, Tennis Archives
- Budge Patty, Wikipedia
- GTC roll of grass champions, checked against a second source where one exists
Page updated 4 November 2026. Spotted an error? Send a correction.
