The amateur years
United States · born Washington, D.C., 1913 · died 2016 · right-handed · Wimbledon doubles champion at 43
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43
Age when he won the 1957 Wimbledon doubles, the oldest men's doubles champion
4
US doubles titles with Bill Talbert, 1942 to 1948
3
Davis Cup wins, 1946, 1948 and 1949
128
Matches played at Wimbledon across singles, doubles and mixed
1952
US No. 1, at 38
Gardnar Mulloy was born in Washington, D.C., in 1913, grew up beside the Miami River and began playing at eight on a court in the family's backyard. At the University of Miami he played football, boxed and dived before starting the university's tennis team; he took a law degree in 1938 and coached the team.
He entered the US top ten in 1939, then spent four years in the Navy in the Second World War, commanding a tank landing ship in the Mediterranean. With Bill Talbert he won the US doubles in 1942, 1945, 1946 and 1948, and he was on the Davis Cup winning teams of 1946, 1948 and 1949, with a record of 11 wins and three defeats. In 1952, at 38, he was ranked US No. 1 and reached the US singles final, losing to Frank Sedgman.
In 1957, aged 43, he won the Wimbledon doubles with Budge Patty. He kept playing senior events into his nineties, won well over 100 US age group titles and founded the Mulloy Cup for men aged 80 and over. He entered the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1972, was made a knight of the French Legion of Honour in 2015 for his wartime service and died in Miami in November 2016, aged 102.
| Wimbledon doubles 1957 | Unseeded with Budge Patty, beat the top seeds Neale Fraser and Lew Hoad in the final 8-10, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4; Queen Elizabeth II presented the trophy on court |
|---|---|
| Wimbledon finals lost | Doubles 1948 with Tom Brown, lost to John Bromwich and Frank Sedgman 5-7, 7-5, 7-5, 9-7. Doubles 1949 with Ted Schroeder, lost to Pancho Gonzales and Frankie Parker 6-4, 6-4, 6-2. Mixed 1956 with Althea Gibson, lost to Vic Seixas and Shirley Fry 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 |
| Wimbledon singles | Semi-finalist in 1948 |
| US Championships 1952 | Beat Ken Rosewall 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 in the quarter-finals, then lost the final to Frank Sedgman 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 |
| US doubles 1945 | With Bill Talbert beat Bob Falkenburg and Jack Tuero 12-10, 8-10, 12-10, 6-2 in a 70-game final. In 1948 the pair won the clinching rubber of the Davis Cup final against Australia at Forest Hills |
| Wimbledon | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1957 | Men's doubles | with Budge Patty |
| US Championships | ||
| 1942 | Men's doubles | with Bill Talbert |
| 1945 | Men's doubles | with Bill Talbert |
| 1946 | Men's doubles | with Bill Talbert |
| 1948 | Men's doubles | with Bill Talbert |
| Newport, Rhode Island | ||
| 1946 | Men's singles Newport Casino Invitational | |
| Southampton (Meadow Club) | ||
| 1946 | Men's singles Southampton Invitational | |
| Seabright Invitational | ||
| 1947 | Men's singles | |
| South Australian Championships | ||
| 1947 | Men's singles | |
| Eastern Grass Court Championships (South Orange) | ||
| 1949 | Men's singles | |
| Kent Championships (Beckenham) | ||
| 1949 | Men's singles | |
| Northern Championships | ||
| 1951 | Men's singles | |
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 went out for the team my freshman year in high school, and in about 20 minutes I was No. 1"
The person behind the player.
University of Miami, 1930s
He went to Miami on a football scholarship but rarely played. He told the university president he was too skinny, kept getting beaten up and that his father disliked it, then asked why there was no tennis team. The president told him to start one, and the football players called the new team sissies.
Source: Associated Press obituary, Sports Illustrated, 2016Reputation
In his prime he took defeat badly and feuded with the US association and with Wimbledon, earning the name "Miami Mouthpiece". A London columnist once wrote that he "should throw his racquet over a cliff and forget to let go."
Source: Associated Press obituary, Sports Illustrated, 2016Centre Court, 1957
1957 was the first year Queen Elizabeth II attended the Championships, and she presented the men's doubles trophy on court to Mulloy and Patty. During their final a campaigner for a new banking system walked on to Centre Court with a banner, wearing flat white shoes so as not to damage the grass, before the referee and a policeman led her away.
Source: Wimbledon Compendium 2025 (AELTC)Longevity
"I was older than most of the players of my era, and usually I was in better shape than them," he said in 1997. "I didn't drink or smoke, and I watched my diet." In his eighties he was still giving about six lessons a week on Fisher Island, and his hitting partners included Boris Becker and Jim Courier.
Source: Associated Press obituary, Sports Illustrated, 2016Paris, 2015
In 2015, past his 100th birthday, France made him a knight of the Legion of Honour for his four years of Navy service in the Second World War, in which he commanded a tank landing ship in the Mediterranean.
Source: Associated Press obituary, Sports Illustrated, 2016; WikipediaFree membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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