Philippe Washer (; 6 August 1924 – 27 November 2015) was a Belgian

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player. He competed in the Davis Cup a number of times, from 1946 to 1961.

Early life and family

Philippe Washer was born on 6 August 1924 in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

. He was the son of

Jean Washer Jean Marie Octave Constant Washer (; 22 August 1894 – 23 March 1972) was a Belgian tennis player successful in the 1920s. He was the father of Philippe Washer. Tennis career Washer reached the semifinals of Roland Garros in 1925, beating Hen ...

, another Belgian tennis player and textile industry mogul. His mother, Simone van der Straeten, was the granddaughter of

Ernest Solvay Ernest Gaston Joseph Solvay (; 16 April 1838 – 26 May 1922) was a Belgian chemist, industrialist and philanthropist. Born in Rebecq, he was prevented by his acute pleurisy from going to university. He worked in his uncle's chemical fac ...

, founder of Solvay International Chemical Group. Philippe had three brothers: Paul Washer, president of the Chemical Industry Federation of Belgium and director of the Solvay company; Jacques Washer, antiquarian who died in the

Swissair Flight 316 On 7 October 1979, a Swissair DC-8 crashed while attempting to land at Athens-Ellinikon International Airport in Athens, Greece. Of the 154 passengers and crew on board, 14 were killed in the accident. The crash Swissair Flight 316 was an in ...

crash; and Edouard. They were also the cousins of famous sportscar racer

Olivier Gendebien Olivier Jean Marie Fernand Gendebien (12 January 1924 – 2 October 1998) was a Belgian racing driver who was called "one of the greatest sportscar racers of all time". Rally racer Gendebien spent some years in the Belgian Congo. On his return ...

. Philippe started playing tennis at the age of six. He was coached by his father. He won his first tournament on 9 May 1940 in La Rasante just one day before the Battle of Belgium during which he volunteered to join the

Belgian Army The Land Component ( nl, Landcomponent, french: Composante terre) is the land branch of the Belgian Armed Forces. The King of the Belgians is the commander in chief. The current chief of staff of the Land Component is Major-General Pierre Gérard. ...

. In 1942 he won the French junior championships.

Tennis career

Washer won the Belgian National Championships nine times between 1945–1954, the only exception being 1950 when he was forced to retire from the competition due to illness. In 1952, he reached the semifinal of the Royal Belgian Tennis Federation Fiftieth Anniversary tournament. In 1957, he reached the Inter-Zonal Zone Finals of the Davis Cup with the Belgium Davis Cup team. The same year he won the Lebanon international tennis championships by defeating Warren Woodcock. In 1967 he came back from retirement to win the Belgian National Covered Courts Championship doubles, partnering with Jacky Brichant. Also after retirement, he won the Wimbledon Veterans' Doubles with

Jaroslav Drobný Jaroslav Drobný (; 12 October 1921 – 13 September 2001) was a World No. 1 amateur tennis and ice hockey champion. He left Czechoslovakia in 1949 and travelled as an Egyptian citizen before becoming a citizen of the United Kingdom in 1959, w ...

four times from 1968 to 1971.

Golf career

Washer did not play in the

1960 Davis Cup The 1960 Davis Cup was the 49th edition of the Davis Cup, the most important tournament between national teams in men's tennis. 28 teams entered the Europe Zone, 6 teams entered the America Zone, and 6 teams entered the Eastern Zone. South Korea ...

match against Great Britain as he was competing in the Belgium Open golf championship. Later in 1960 he played for the Rest of Europe against the British Isles in the

St Andrews Trophy The St Andrews Trophy is a biennial men's team golf tournament contested between teams of amateur golfers representing Great Britain & Ireland and the Continent of Europe. It takes its name from St Andrews in Scotland. It was first played in 1 ...

and for Belgium in the 1960 Eisenhower Trophy. He represented Belgium again in the

1964 Eisenhower Trophy The 1964 Eisenhower Trophy took place 7–10 October at the Olgiata Golf Club in Olgiata, north of Rome, Italy. It was the fourth World Amateur Team Championship for the Eisenhower Trophy. The tournament was a 72-hole stroke play team event with 33 ...

Personal life

Washer retired from tennis in 1961 and moved to Switzerland. In 1955 he lent his own Ferrari 250 Europa GT Pinin Farina Coupe car to

who drove it in the

Liège–Rome–Liège Liège–Rome–Liège (nicknamed The Road Marathon) was a rally road race over some of Europe's toughest mountain roads held from 1931 to 1971. It was reserved for so-called tourism cars.Delsaux, Jean-Paul. ''Marathon de la Route 1931/1971'' (Jea ...

rally and finished third. After retiring he served as the president of the Royal Léopold Club between 1983 and 1994, which his family saved from bankruptcy in 1948. He remained its major shareholder afterwards. Washer died on 27 November 2015 at the age of 91.

Footnotes

Works cited

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External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Washer, Philippe 1924 births 2015 deaths Belgian male tennis players Belgian male golfers Sportspeople from Brussels Belgian military personnel of World War II