Serge Philippot
France
Bio
Son oeuvre
It was Serge’s fate, a metal worker by the age of 17, to become one of the greatest eyewitnesses of the history of tennis, from Nastase’s greatest years to Roger Federer’s reign. By the age of 23 he was an industrial designer and amateur photographer. He replied to a job ad and became, in part thanks to his knowledge of sport and mostly because of the fact that he belonged to communist youth groups, archivist for Miroir Sprint, a major French sport weekly that was owned by the French communist party.
He filed images and got involved in the dark room. From time to time he was entrusted with a minor feature, but he was dying to do more.
Shortly after, he joined Tennis de France magazine as a freelance journalist and produced his first real feature on the 1971 junior French tennis championships. He saw the young, 11-year old Yannick Noak play there.
Most of the rest of his career was spent with Tennis magazine.
Nowadays Serge, who has 99 Grand Slams, including 34 French Opens, under his belt, has hung up his cameras and if he doesn’t answer his phone its because he is mushroom picking.