Christiane Mercelis (5 October 1931 – 14 June 2024) was a Belgian tennis player. She was active from 1947 to 1969 and won 47 career singles titles. Mercelis died on 14 June 2024, at the age of 92.

Career

In 1949, Mercelis won the Girls' Singles of the

Wimbledon Championships The Wimbledon Championships, commonly called Wimbledon, is a tennis tournament organised by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in collaboration with the Lawn Tennis Association annually in Wimbledon, London. It is chronologically the ...

. She competed every year at

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

between 1951 and 1968, and at the

French Open The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...

between 1952 and 1965. In the French Open, she reached the quarter-finals in 1957. Her main international career singles highlights included winning the South of France Championships two time (1956–1957), the Cannes Carlton Club Championships (1957), the Trophée Raquette d'Or (1957), the Moscow International Indoor Championships two times (1958–1959), the French Covered Court Championships (1958), the German Covered Court Championships (1959), the Belgian International Championships three times (1959–1960, 1964), the Kent Championships (1960), the Dutch International Championships and the Cannes Gallia Club Championships (1961), the Le Touquet International Championship (1963), the Knokke Le-Zoute International two times (1961, 1964). Mercelis played for

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

in the Federation Cup from 1963 to 1964 and from 1966 to 1969, losing all five singles matches, and winning two of her eight doubles matches. She is the oldest player to have played for Belgium, at 37 years 231 days in her last doubles match against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

on 24 May 1969, which she won partnering Michele Kahn. In addition she also won the Belgian National Indoors Championships (closed to Belgian players only) 13 times consecutively (1956–1968) as well as, 14 women's doubles titles, and 16 mixed doubles titles, of which 13 were partnering Jacky Brichant, and the Belgian National Championships (closed) singles event 12 times ( 1951, 1953–1961, 1963–1964, 1966).

Other titles

Doubles

*1955:

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*1957:

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

*1960: Knokke,

Gstaad Gstaad ( , ) is a town in the German language, German-speaking section of the Canton of Bern in southwestern Switzerland. It is part of the municipality of Saanen and is known as a major ski resort and a popular destination amongst high society ...

*1961:

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

Hilversum Hilversum () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands. Located in the heart of the Gooi, it is ...

*1962:

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

Cannes Cannes (, ; , ; ) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions Internatio ...

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million Ostend Ostend ( ; ; ; ) is a coastal city and municipality in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerke, Raversijde, Stene and Zandvoorde, and the city of Ostend proper – the la ...

*1964: Knokke,

Menton Menton (; in classical norm or in Mistralian norm, , ; ; or depending on the orthography) is a Commune in France, commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the French Riviera, close to the Italia ...

*1965: Knokke *1968:

Ostend Ostend ( ; ; ; ) is a coastal city and municipality in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerke, Raversijde, Stene and Zandvoorde, and the city of Ostend proper – the la ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mercelis, Christiane 1931 births 2024 deaths Belgian female tennis players Grand Slam (tennis) champions in girls' singles Place of birth missing Wimbledon junior champions 20th-century Belgian sportswomen