Watson Washburn

Watson McLean Washburn aka “Watty” was a professional tennis player from New York, United States. He was born on June 13, 2894 in New York, New York, and was a graduate from Harvard University.

Washburn was one of the players who had participated in the Davis Cup tournaments right around the time it was still starting out. In fact, he had been a part of the U.S Team for the Davis Cup for seven tournaments. His participation in the Cup began in 1920, and by 1921, he was paired with Dick Williams. Through his partnership with Williams, they won the clinching match at the Cup while playing against Ichiya Kumagae and Zenzo Shimidzu of Japan. The match went on a 6-2, 7-5, 4-6, and7-5 game.

Standing at 6 feet tall, Washburn played tennis while he was still in college. He participated in intercollegiate games for Harvard starting in 1913. While he did play tennis well, Washburn was not last in signing up to serve in the U.S. Army during World War I.

Throughout his career, Washburn made an appearance at the U.S. Top Ten 7 times in the span of 8 years (1914-1922). He even managed to reach as high as No. 5 in 1921. His performance never really wavered as Washburn continued to do splendidly even as he reached his 50s.

During his time playing in the U.S. Seniors 45s, he owned the singles title in 1940. In the doubles category, however, he did better and won the doubles title thrice (1940, 1943, and 1944). He served as a committeeman for the USTA for some time afterwards.

Washburn was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1965. A few years later, specifically in December 2, 1973, Washburn passed away in the same state he was born.