Budge Patty, a former No. 1-ranked tennis player who won back-to-back major titles at the French Championships and Wimbledon in 1950, died Oct. 3 at a hospital in Lausanne, Switzerland. He was 97.
Mr. Patty lost in the final at Roland Garros in 1949 before beating future Hall of Famer Jaroslav Drobny in five sets for the title the following year. He then defeated another Hall of Famer, Frank Sedgman, in the Wimbledon final.
The only other Americans to win men’s singles titles at the French Championships — which later became the French Open — and Wimbledon in the same year were Don Budge in 1938 and Tony Trabert in 1955.
Mr. Patty’s amateur tennis career was interrupted by service in the Army Air Forces during World War II. He won 76 singles titles between 1947 and ’57, and was known for a superb forehand volley as well as for his handsome appearance and elegant clothing. Tennis commentator John Barrett once called him “the most suave of champions.”
“Budge Patty was one of the great American players of the 1940s and ’50s,” International Tennis Hall of Fame President Stan Smith said in a statement Friday. “Winning over 70 tournament titles is remarkable, and to win Wimbledon and Roland Garros back-to-back is a massive feat.”
John Edward Patty was born in Fort Smith, Ark., on Feb. 11, 1924, and grew up in Los Angeles. The nickname Budge came from his older brother, who quipped that Mr. Patty scarcely displayed much urgency and therefore wouldn’t “budge.”
Mr. Patty won two Grand Slam titles in doubles. He teamed up with childhood practice partner and future Hall of Famer Pauline Betz Addie to win the 1946 mixed-doubles title at Roland Garros. Eleven years later, at age 33, Mr. Patty and 43-year-old Gardnar Mulloy made a surprising run to the Wimbledon doubles championship.
He was also known for an epic third-round match at Wimbledon in 1953, when he held six match points but couldn’t defeat Drobny, his former opponent at the Roland Garros final. The match lasted a then-record 4 hours and 20 minutes before ending at 9:20 p.m. “I could hardly see a thing and I was so tired I barely knew where I was,” Mr. Patty later told the Daily Telegraph.
Mr. Patty lived for more than 70 years in Europe, and in 1961 he married Marcina Maria Sfezzo, the daughter of a Brazilian engineering magnate. In addition to his wife, survivors include two daughters, Christine and Elaine.
