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The Champions Trophy format never fails to deliver when it comes to close matches and big strategic calls. The qualifying matches saw four Champions Trophy debutants try their hand at making the main draw, with Nino Merola and Vaughan Hamilton winning all their matches (just.) The main draw broadly went with seedings, with the potential for some players meeting each other twice in the same event. Both finalists Nick Howell and Steve Virgona needed to go through the Friday repechage matches, seeing off the threat from Bryn Sayers and Robert Shenkman respectively. Both semi finals went the full three sets as well, but in Sunday’s Final it was the man from Aiken who put on a show, seeing off Steve Virgona 6/2 6/2 in barely an hour. Many congratulations to Nick on his second title!

Points awarded
With no doubles event, there were only possibilities for Big Win bonuses and 2% pick bonuses. Two Big Win bonuses came from qualifying (one for Zak Eadle against Lewis Williams; and one for Claire Fahey against Will Flynn). In the main draw, Ben Taylor-Matthews earned a big win from his quarter final win against Virgona, who in turn earned a big win over Robert Shenkman in the second quarter final match. Nick’s win over Steve also earned him a big win bonus.
The Champions Trophy only has 14 entrants, so there’s often a fair spread of picks across players - only 2 players (Clare Fahey and Benedict Yorston) were eligible for the 2% pick bonus.

Points run-down
The full points run-down, with all bonuses included, is:
Nick Howell: 48 points+
Steve Virgona: 33 points+
Ben Taylor-Matthews: 24 points+
Claire Fahey: 18 points+^
Rob Fahey: 16 points
Zak Eadle: 9 points+
Robert Shenkman: 8 points
Bryn Sayers: 8 points
Nino Merola: 8 points
Vaughan Hamilton: 8 points
Benedict Yorston: 2 points^
Lewis Williams: 1 point
Will Flynn: 1 point
+ inc Big Win bonus
^ 2% picks bonus applied

The final leaderboard and main headlines from Round 11 are below. Last year’s League winner TopDoy (not me) played their Tournament Boost to immense effect, their huge 200+ point haul barging their way into the overall top 5. But it’s Novak from Hobart, who took the overall lead after the World Doubles Championship in April, that takes the title by 33 points over Men Taylor-Batthews. Congratulations to Novak for winning the 2025-26 Real Tennis Fantasy League!
A shoutout must go to our friends in Hobart for this season. Hobart is represented by three players, and they all finished in the top 4 globally - a very impressive achievement all round, and great to have such strong support from Australia for this game!

What’s next?
Attention will switch shortly to the 26/27 Real Tennis Fantasy League season. The website rtfantasyleague.com will stay live with the 25/26 season for a few more days, so you can check your progress over the last 12 months. Registrations for the 26/27 season will open in mid-August, in plenty of time for the French Open in September. More information to follow soon!

The 26/27 season is likely to follow the same template as the 25/26 season, with really only small rule tweaks if necessary. The main principles will remain the same though - a budget for the season, prices on each player, most points wins. If you have any feedback or rule changes you’d want to see, drop a comment below or get in touch by any other method. I’m all ears and there’s no such thing as a stupid idea!

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Steve Virgona lined up for his first Champions Trophy final against the former winner Nick Howell. The end of their seasons was a repeat of the final of the season opener at the French Open in Paris. Both of them came through the second chance pathway having lost their first round matches. Howell was faster off the blocks, finding his range on his force from the very first ball and immediately throwing Virgona off his service line. Howell’s retrieval from the service end restricted Virgona’s ability to find chases, with the left-hander throwing big boasts into the main wall to try and get the ball to come across his opponent. Virgona tried everything to re-find his groove — including playing out one game and one game only with a cap on. But nothing seemed to work, not helped by all of the 50-50 balls going against him. Howell pushed his early lead into a 6/2 victory in the first set.

Virgona kept experimenting to try and find a chink in Howell’s armour through the start of the second set, but each time Howell had the response ready, and with interest to boot. His serve gave Virgona nothing to work with, with the Chicago pro often finding himself on the back foot from the first stroke of the reste. It took until the fourth game of the set for Virgona to win his first. Howell was unperturbed, taking the last few games with ease. Upon hitting the final point, he raised both arms in the air with a massive grin on his face.

Howell’s victory is his first piece of singles silverware for the season, having reached the finals of both the French and British Opens. It is his second Champions Trophy victory — having previously won in 2024 — and joins Camden Riviere, Rob Fahey and John Lumley each with two wins.

Steve Virgona ends the event just 4,583 points short of Ben Taylor-Matthews in the World Race, where the top four players qualify for the World Championship Eliminators. Taylor-Matthews currently sits in fourth place with three eligible events remaining: the French Open, the IRTPA Players’ Championships and the British Open.

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Match results:

• 11:30 AM: Steve Virgona (4) lost to Nick Howell (1) 2/6 2/6

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The first semi-final saw the two Australian veterans, Robert Fahey and Steve Virgona, take to the court, extending their rivalry into a fourth calendar decade, going back to the 1990s when Virgona was a promising young star from Ballarat. Over their nearly 50 previous match-ups, Fahey had won at a rate of three to one, including in two World Challenges. Given that, one may have expected that there would have been nothing the two former doubles partners wouldn’t know about each other’s games, yet they still spent the first part of the first set trying to outfox each other with unusual boasts or ambitious volleys. Virgona was the more measured of the two, not giving in to Fahey’s antics and maintaining his consistent hitting, gaining the upper hand on the scoreboard. Trailing in the set 5/1, Fahey tapped four balls into the net to give away two double faults in order to start the next set at the service end.

Fahey leant into his force in the second set just as he had done against Nick Howell in his first match. Virgona responded by playing a very high court position, covering both the volley and the missed force. But that gave room for Fahey to play around him, generating the angle into the back of the court. Virgona’s response was to play the easy ball as a drop shot, but that brought with it several unforced or unfortunate errors. Fahey won the first four games of the second set, with the state of the scoreboard alone neutralising Virgona’s attack.

Virgona found better success at the start of the third set, homing in his serve along the bottom plank of the penthouse. He broke his losing streak, establishing a two-game buffer. Fahey was at full stretch trying to recover the deficit, but Virgona was defensively solid, holding on for most of the set. However, Fahey was able to step up to another level, playing shots befitting a former World Champion to bring the scoreline back to 4-all. Then he got too ambitious, launching himself at the ball too often and finding the net or the penthouse, with Virgona happy to mop up the aftermath. In the final game he struck back-to-back grilles to bring up match point, slotting the final ball down the forehand to qualify for his first career Champions Trophy final.

The other semi-final saw the unusual arrangement whereby the top two seeds, Nick Howell and Ben Taylor-Matthews, met before the final — a consequence of Howell’s loss to Fahey in the early rounds. The intrigue around the World Race continued too: with Virgona progressing to the final, a loss for Taylor-Matthews would cost at least 1,784 points — and possibly as many as 4,013 — of the 6,367 point advantage he held at the start of the tournament in the battle for the fourth eliminator berth.

After a nervy first few games, Taylor-Matthews settled into the rhythm of the match, successfully restricting the biggest excesses of Howell’s forcing play through tight railroads and persistent consistency. His backhand-to-backhand play manoeuvered Howell around until Taylor-Matthews saw, and pounced, on his opportunities. Though Howell initially had a 2/1 lead, Taylor-Matthews was ascendant through the rest of the first set, controlling the service end throughout and sealing the set with a grille.

The play got somewhat testy in the second set, with both players chuntering to themselves when their shots didn’t meet their high standards. At one point Howell tossed his racket at the wall, protesting that “it slipped” when challenged by the marker. Though Taylor-Matthews had the early lead in the set, Howell’s target hitting proclivity gave him the advantage instead. Howell got on top of Taylor-Matthews’s railroad, slamming everything he could into the dedans — with anything that missed ending up in the grille instead. He scored four games in a row, which proved the decisive advantage to even up the match. Taylor-Matthews’s shot control fell away through the third set as the match slipped away. Howell sensed blood, sending an almighty barrage of balls at the dedans. Howell won the set easily, qualifying for his third consecutive Champions Trophy final.

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Match results:

• 12:30 PM: Robert Fahey (3) lost to Steve Virgona (4) 1/6 6/1 4/6

• 2:30 PM: Ben Taylor-Matthews (2) lost to Nick Howell (1) 6/3 3/6 1/6

Order of play for Sunday (all times BST):

• 11:30 AM: Steve Virgona (4) vs Nick Howell (1)

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Having lost to Robert Fahey in the previous day’s play, Nick Howell found himself playing in a second chance match against Bryn Sayers, who had defeated Nino Merola in his elimination quarter-final. With the court and balls playing quite slow, Howell was better able to inject pace into the game, using it to win the first four games. But given how large the back wall nick was playing, and the length Sayers was playing, there was enough in the court for the Queen’s club professional to keep interested. They reached an impasse in the seventh game, counting out nine deuces and slowed down by the very regular chases and changes of ends. Though Sayers won the game, Howell quickly reeled off the next, going on to win the set only being slowed down by Sayers’s ability to hit openings when down set point.

Little separated them through the start of the second set. Sayers’s methodical consistency played off against Howell’s all-or-nothing hitting. However, Sayers was still able to break the pattern with a force or target, often against the run of the rally. Howell, meanwhile, wasn’t finding enough opportunities to attack the ball, as Sayers took the pace out of the game. From 2-all, Sayers won the next three games, a decisive lead that saw him go on to close out the set.

Back to the wall, Howell threw his racket after the ball in the third set. Sayers was up to the challenge, neutralising the threat wherever it emerged and always being able to find an equal if not better response. Though at times, Howell seemed consigned to an early trip back to South Carolina, after a few fortunate shots and a few tight railroads he regained a spark, fighting from 2/3 down to within a stroke from a 5/3 lead. Sayers never wavered, going to 5/4 by beating better than 2 on the floor. Howell set up a deciding game with back to back grilles.

Sayers went up 30-0 in the deciding game, with a difficult short railroad followed by a reste he controlled start to finish after a good serve. Howell then changed rackets, using the new one to rip the ball into the corners. Sayers had his chances, missing the grille by inches then failing to punish a sky ball. With two short chases, Howell ripped in a series of tough railroads, winning the match with an ace.

In the other match of the evening, fifth seed Robert Shenkman played fourth seed Steve Virgona. Given it was just the second time the two had shared a court in a competitive singles match, Shenkman was initially uncomfortable with the different angles and spins the left-handed Virgona generates, especially on the return of serve. Though he was positive early, striking the dedans several times in the first two games, he quickly got sucked into Virgona’s play style. From the service end, Virgona gave Shenkman’s defences a thorough examination. Shenkman saved two set points in the 3/5 game, one with a nick railroad, taking the game to deuce, but it wasn’t enough to prevent Virgona establishing the overall lead.

After taking a bathroom break between sets, Virgona returned in a dominant mood. He tested Shenkman time and time again around the base of the tambour, with the amateur champion unable to find a way out of the longer rallies. Virgona was on the precipice of a 3/1 lead when there was an extended medical time out for Shenkman due to a face bleed from running into a wall. Upon the resumption, Shenkman never got going again, with Virgona controlling the play all the way to the match’s conclusion.

Play continues on Saturday with the two semi-finals. Robert Fahey and Ben Taylor-Matthews will return to competition having received a bye through Friday’s play. The tournament will conclude with the final on Sunday.

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Match results:

• 5:00 PM: Bryn Sayers (6) lost to Nick Howell (1) 3/6 6/3 5/6

• 6:15 PM: Robert Shenkman (5) lost to Steve Virgona (4) 3/6 1/6

Order of play for Saturday (all times BST):

• 12:30 PM: Robert Fahey (3) vs Steve Virgona (4)

• 2:00 PM: Ben Taylor-Matthews (2) vs Nick Howell (1)

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The main draw began with a rematch from two years prior — qualifier Nino Merola took on sixth seed Bryn Sayers. Sayers had withdrawn from that encounter after the first set, the last he played before his hip replacement. The initial play was very tactical, with both players opting for slower, tight railroads. Play had to be suspended midway through the fourth game as Sayers took a chunk out of the battery wall on the return. Merola had the better start, having points for a 4/1 lead after playing Sayers up and down the battery wall. But Sayers adapted to the pace of the court, increasing the pace of his shots to counteract the slow pace of the floor. Merola had to cling on defensively to steal the next pair of games, biding his time before an opportunity presented to reposte with a winner. But Sayers kept attacking, sending the set into a deciding game. Having spent most of the set pushing balls into Sayers’s backhand, Merola sent two disguised balls into his forehand instead, earning a point and two short chases and seemingly the advantage in the game. But Sayers beat better than a yard on the floor to nullify the advantage. Sayers put three balls deep into Merola’s backhand for two chases and a point himself. Merola beat better than a yard with a straight force to bring up set point, but he couldn’t convert the three yard chase. Sayers took the set with two winners down the main wall.

Having spent the first set scattering balls around the grille, Sayers opened the second set with back to back shots into the square opening. Across the set, the extra fraction that Sayers was extracting from his shots was enough to maintain the advantage. His target hitting was more accurate, hitting a dozen over the set as compared to a scant few in the first. Merola kept battling but it was ultimately in vain, with Sayers progressing through.

The second of the elimination quarter-finals was between Robert Shenkman and Vaughan Hamilton. Hamilton had had the better of Shenkman in their previous encounter at the Jesmond Dene Cup earlier in the season, so Shenkman was keen to make his fifth seed status felt. Shenkman was clinical in his execution, barely making an error. It pushed Hamilton to overextend on balls that weren’t there for the taking. Shenkman was ready to punish any mistakes, building a big lead in the first set. With nothing left to lose, Hamilton dialled the attack to the maximum, launching himself at every ball he could and pushing Shenkman back onto the defensive. He pulled back a couple of games but Shenkman had enough of a buffer to take the set. Hamilton had the initiative at the start of the second set, but Shenkman was able to suffocate his play instead. Visibly annoyed, Hamilton threw his racket after the ball, spraying shots all over but Shenkman was unphased. He methodically worked through the set, winning the match and moving on to the next round.

The second session saw the non-elimination quarter-finals, with previous winners Nick Howell and Robert Fahey doing battle. Both were keen to get off to a strong start, with the format rewarding the player who can encourage the other to submit and preserve energy for their repechage match. The first game went to seven deuces, with all three targets getting a workout. They were never separated by more than a game throughout the first set, with both players exercising their world-class forces. Eventually they reached a deciding game, with Howell earning a couple of set points with his big cut-volleys. Fahey defended both, taking the game to deuce. Howell brought up another set point with a dedans, before Fahey lost the set with a ball onto the bandeau, losing a second gallery chase.

Fahey’s response to dropping the first set was to go harder at the second. He wowed the crowd with his quick hands, scarcely believable shots, and pinpoint accurate shooting. He piled on the games, with the set passing in the blink of an eye. By the end, Howell was only mustering a token defence of Fahey’s forces, saving his reserves for the final set. He then switched on again, fighting hard and eventually having a chance for a 3/0 lead. However, playing a better-than-last gallery chase, his shot instead slid into the gallery. Fahey was keen to see the job done, pouncing on any slight error in Howell’s railroad and slamming them into the main wall. By the end of the match, one in three of his winning points came from winning openings. Even as he tired in his retrieval, his ability to keep the points short sufficed for victory, securing his slot in the semi-finals.

The last match carried with it big implications for the World Championship Race, with both Ben Taylor-Matthews and Steve Virgona fighting it out for the fourth spot in the eliminators. Ahead of the tournament, Taylor-Matthews held a six-thousand point advantage, and should he walk away from the tournament with more points than his rival, he would be able to pencil in his slot with three tournaments remaining. For Virgona, if he made the final and saw Taylor-Matthews bundled out in his two matches, over half of the deficit would have been erased.

Taylor-Matthews was faster out of the gate, immediately finding a good length on his shots, including beating some very short chases, and getting his railroad to spin tight. He took the first three games of the match before Virgona started to play into the match. Virgona worked Taylor-Matthews side-to-side over and over, but the Westwood professional was up to the task. Despite the adventurous strokeplay from Virgona, as the scoreboard ticked against him, so did the errors. He never stopped fighting, but Taylor-Matthews refused to give him an opening, holding on to win the set.

Virgona seized the initiative for the start of the second set, sending bullet after bullet at Taylor-Matthews. He saw off the initial challenge before the pair locked horns in their epic duel. Taylor-Matthews pushed ahead again, but Virgona was not going to give him any easy games. Taylor-Matthews was stretched defensively, but the form held. With Virgona’s attack now nullified, Taylor-Matthews pushed ahead. He benefited from a pair of double fault railroads from Virgona, the latter of which gave Taylor-Matthews his first match point. Taylor-Matthews didn’t need further invitation, winning the match and avoiding the repechage bracket for the first time since 2023.

Play continues on Friday, where the losers of the non-elimination matches will play the winners of the elimination matches. The winners of the non-elimination matches progress through to play in the semi-finals on Saturday.

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Match results:

• 1:30 PM: Bryn Sayers (6) def Nino Merola (Q) 6/5 6/3

• 2:45 PM: Robert Shenkman (5) def Vaughan Hamilton (Q) 6/3 6/2

• 5:30 PM: Nick Howell (1) lost to Robert Fahey (3) 6/5 0/6 4/6

• 6:45 PM: Ben Taylor-Matthews (2) def Steve Virgona (4) 6/4 6/3

Order of play for Friday (all times BST):

• 5:00 PM: Bryn Sayers (6) vs Nick Howell (1)

• 6:15 PM: Robert Shenkman (5) vs Steve Virgona (4)

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The first match of the day was between Nino Merola and Will Flynn. Both players had different objectives going into the match. Merola was undefeated on the first day, and saw the match as a stepping stone ahead of a match-up against the other undefeated player in the group, Darren Long. Flynn, meanwhile, had lost to Long on Tuesday, so needed victory to try and mix up the results in the group. The play was characterised by defensive serving, as each player was weary of strength of their opponent’s returns, be it on the force or the cut volley. Flynn’s deft touch and dramatic variations in pace took him to within touching distance of a four-game lead, while Merola struggled to perfectly execute his winners. But Merola worked his way back into the match, cutting down his errors and finding success with his wider serves. They battled through 5-all, then 6-all, after Merola had to shake off the disappointment of a grille call having gone against him. The serve dominated the latter stages of the match, with Flynn going 8/7 up. Merola stuck in with some brilliant retrieval around the angles of the tambour, sending the match into a deciding game.

Flynn opened the game with a series of heavy boasts that eventually missed the grille, with Merola leaping in the air to let the ball fall between his legs and out for a hazard. Unsighted, he looked to the galleries for confirmation that it hadn’t fallen a stroke. The next ball he put to the grille elicited a volley error from Merola, before striking the following ball cleanly into the square target. Changing ends with two match points and a hazard chase, Merola landed a nick railroad. On the next, Flynn picked off last gallery from a poor underarm twist. Back at the hazard end, Merola’s force skipped over the net tape, picking up extra spin and beating Flynn around the angles. After Merola nailed a cut-volley into the floor by his feet, Flynn had another match point, but it was Merola’s turn to find the galleries. Merola again kept his railroad tight, forcing Flynn to boast out of trouble on every subsequent ball before Merola could find the winner. Merola brought up his own match point by jamming Flynn on the tambour, winning the match with a ball hitting the nick under the grille on the second bounce.

In the other group, Lewis Williams lined up against Benedict Yorston, both having failed to win a match on the first day of qualifying. Yorston was able to absorb everything that Williams had to throw at him, helped by the bouncy nature of the court. The pressure started to suffocate Williams for ideas and starve him for chases. After Williams won the first two games of the match, Yorston won the next five, with dogged retrieval sapping all of the energy of the match. At 6/3 to Yorston, Williams called for an injury timeout, returning with a calf sleeve. After Yorston won the first game after the resumption, his concentration wavered. A few unforced errors started seeping into his play, letting Williams back into the match. The World Number 10 slowed down the match, keeping the points short, finding the grille on a regular basis, and serving slow and high to force Yorston into generating pace. Williams brought it back to 7-all. Yorston finally broke the run with some good floating balls around the grille. Both players were targeting last gallery incessantly, putting the match into a second consecutive deciding game.

Yorston put the first rally of the last game in to the last gallery. Williams responded with a flush high serve; Yorston’s scooping return was called a carry by the marker. The second was almost as good, but Yorston was able to get enough room to boast onto the wall in front of the tambour and draw the error. Yorston then punished a missed grille with a short chase. Changing ends, Yorston defended the chase with a long, nagging rally in his signature style. Williams left his own mark too, beating the better than a yard chase with a force into the dedans. Two points away from the match, Yorston framed a volley over for a hazard chase, before bringing up match point by tagging Williams off the tambour. Yorston beat the hazard chase by chipping the ball into the first galleries and spreading his arms in celebration.

The next match was the dead rubber fixture between Claire Fahey and Will Flynn, with both having lost their two earlier matches. In contrast to the previous match, the restes was fast and frenetic, with both players trying to finish points quickly either by winning length or winning openings. Though fortune helped her over the line in the first two games, Fahey was clinical thereafter, winning the next three unchallenged. Flynn started to then mount a fightback, looking to hit winners where possible. The next five games were exchanged evenly, but Fahey’s strong start still proved decisive. It brought her maiden Champions Trophy victory, even though she did not progress.

With the news filtering through that Williams had withdrawn from the final match of the day, awarding the group win to Vaughan Hamilton, the next match between Benedict Yorston and Zak Eadle would be a dead rubber. Eadle was not keen to engage in Yorston’s long rallies, looking for a winner wherever possible. The risk-reward payoff meant that for every winner he hit, he gave away an easy shot, with the players exchanging games through the first half of the match. The match came to a crux in the 6/5 game — a tight deuce battle — with Eadle starting to wind up the pace of his forces. Eadle pushed on, reaching an 8/5 lead before Yorston nagged his way back into contention. He brought it all the way back to 7/8, but it wasn’t enough to save the match.

The last match of the day was a live rubber between Nino Merola and Darren Long. Both came into the match undefeated, with the match winner moving into the main draw as the group winner. Across the first two games, Long was firing in difficult railroads, putting Merola’s cut-volley under strain. From the hazard end, he was finding the range on his force, testing Merola’s defensive volley as well. He took the first two games before Merola took the pace out of his serves, eventually settling on a slow, central railroad. It worked a charm, at least initially, notching up five straight games as Long took his time adapting to having to bring the pace himself. Eventually he did, smashing seemingly every ball at the dedans as he brought the scoreline back to 5-all. Merola was forced to change his serve again, moving to a pique, landing the ball on the service line with remarkable precision. Long had no choice but to chip it to Merola’s backhand, giving the Radley professional an opening in the rallies. Merola pushed on, securing qualification for the main draw for the second time in his career.

After the match, the two group winners were drawn into their main draw matches, with Merola to play Bryn Sayers and Hamilton to play Robert Shenkman. The top four seeds will each play against each other in their quarter-finals with a second-chance available for the losers. The first of the quarter-finals will take place at the commencement of the main draw on Thursday.

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Match results:

• 1:30 PM: Nino Merola def Will Flynn 9/8

• 2:30 PM: Lewis Williams lost to Benedict Yorston 8/9

• 3:30 PM: Will Flynn lost to Claire Fahey 2/9

• 4:30 PM: Benedict Yorston lost to Zak Eadle 7/9

• 5:30 PM: Nino Merola def Darren Long 9/5

• 6:30 PM: Lewis Williams lost to Vaughan Hamilton w/o

Group A Standings:

1. Vaughan Hamilton (played 2, won 2, 1 walkover)

2. Zak Eadle (played 3, won 2)

3. Benedict Yorston (played 3, won 1)

4. Lewis Williams (played 2, won 0)

Group B standings:

1. Nino Merola (played 3, won 3)

2. Darren Long (played 3, won 2)

3. Claire Fahey (played 3, won 1)

4. Will Flynn (played 3, won 0)

Order of play for Saturday:

• 1:30 PM: Bryn Sayers (6) vs Nino Merola (Q)

• 2:45 PM: Robert Shenkman (5) vs Vaughan Hamilton (Q)

• 5:30 PM: Nick Howell (1) vs Robert Fahey (3)

• 6:45 PM: Ben Taylor-Matthews (2) vs Steve Virgona (4)

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The tournament began with the Champions Trophy debutant Claire Fahey playing the veteran of every previous edition, Darren Long. Long opened the match with a big force at the dedans, leaving Fahey scrambling for an effective serve in the long opening game. Midway through, she lost her footing, slipping over and splaying on the floor. Her confidence wavered as Long took an early lead. While Fahey avoided railroads like the plague, they were Long’s bread and butter, getting the ball to stick along the side wall. Fahey had little option but to boast out of trouble. Though she was getting the better of the longer rallies, Long’s performance in the set pieces gave him the edge throughout the set. After Fahey started stepping in and cut-volleying Long’s railroads, the Moreton Morrell pro switched up his serve to the underarm twist, while Fahey settled on a high serve. Just as she was getting back into the match, Long stepped up his forcing game again, shifting the tempo of the match. He pushed through the last four games to secure victory.

For the third time in four months, Vaughan Hamilton lined up against Zak Eadle in a major competition. The match saw a frenetic start, with two targets in the first three points. Hamilton had the better of the early exchanges, winning the first four games as his forces had a fraction more accuracy and his open play was a fraction more incisive. Eadle found himself on the back foot more often than he would have liked, with Hamilton controlling play and pressing hard at Eadle. As the match wore on, both players became somewhat hot and bothered, arguing over a not-up call and gesticulating after hitting poor shots. Hamilton settled into a more measured tempo, maintaining a lead over Eadle without overworking. Eadle kept battling, hitting plenty of good winners despite Hamilton’s antics. An excellent service game from Hamilton gave him the decisive break, and he went on to record a straightforward victory.

Darren Long returned to the court in the second session, this time to play amateur Will Flynn. Not to be outdone by the previous match, this one opened with three straight targets, followed by two aces. Long controlled the play with his railroad, keeping the rallies short and preventing Flynn winding up on the force as he built a three-game buffer. Flynn pulled back two games, with some tight games to follow, but Long came out on top of each. With Long now holding a decent buffer, the play fell flat, with Flynn unable to gain any purchase on Long’s railroad. Even if he did manage to muscle it over the net, Long was ready with the follow-up ball as he secured his second victory of the day, putting him in pole position for qualification with one match to play.

In the other group, Vaughan Hamilton lined up for his second match, this time against another Champions Trophy debutant, Benedict Yorston. On a court that doesn’t reward cut, Yorston backed himself to chase down every single ball, getting to the vast majority. Hamilton had to be patient, working through the point without overextending. Hamilton’s deep shot repertoire served him well, as did his railroad, and he eventually found a way through Yorston. Hamilton’s win made it two-from-two in the group stage, with one match still to play.

The final session of the day began with the match between Nino Merola and Claire Fahey. Merola opened proceedings with two worse-than-a-yard cut-volleys, which Fahey responded to by sliding two balls into the dedans. But thereafter, Merola got on a roll, controlling the restes from both ends of the court. He notched up four games before Fahey could get on the board. Unlike the earlier matches in the day, both players were trying to take pace out of the ball, counteracting the lack of action from the walls by refusing to let the ball reach the back. Merola held his early advantage through the middle stage of the match, with Fahey falling away towards the end despite Merola having to search to find the final point.

The last match of the day saw the entry of the highest ranked player in qualifying, Lewis Williams. His opponent was Zak Eadle. For the first time in the tournament, neither player got off to a runaway start. The play was cagey, with both players holding back some of their attack without becoming fully free-flowing. They weren’t separated by more than a game across the first seven games, yet Eadle always went ahead first. Eadle finally got a break, with his superior read of the court helping him find and execute angles that made life difficult for Williams. With the scoreboard at his back, Eadle relaxed into the play, while Williams had to fight for every ball. The lead grew and grew, with Williams getting more desperate in his shots. Eadle ran away with the remainder of the match.

Qualifying matches continue on Wednesday, with the remaining six group matches. The winner of each group will be drawn into the main draw, with the matches to be determined by lot on Wednesday evening.

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Match results:

• 1:30 PM: Darren Long def Claire Fahey 9/4

• 2:30 PM: Vaughan Hamilton def Zak Eadle 9/4

• 4:00 PM: Darren Long def Will Flynn 9/2

• 5:00 PM: Vaughan Hamilton def Benedict Yorston 9/2

• 6:30 PM: Nino Merola def Claire Fahey 9/2

• 7:30 PM: Lewis Williams lost to Zak Eadle 3/9

Group A standings:

1. Vaughan Hamilton (played 2, won 2)

2. Zak Eadle (played 2, won 1)

3. Lewis Williams (played 1, won 0)

4. Benedict Yorston (played 1, won 0)

Group B standings:

1. Darren Long (played 2, won 2)

2. Nino Merola (played 1, won 1)

3. Will Flynn (played 1, won 0)

4. Claire Fahey (played 2, won 0)

Order of play for Wednesday (all times BST):

• 1:30 PM: Nino Merola vs Will Flynn

• 2:30 PM: Lewis Williams vs Benedict Yorston

• 3:30 PM: Will Flynn vs Claire Fahey

• 4:30 PM: Benedict Yorston vs Zak Eadle

• 5:30 PM: Nino Merola vs Darren Long

• 6:30 PM: Lewis Williams vs Vaughan Hamilton

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The first match of the tournament pitted the Queen’s rackets professional and second seed James Medlow against Leamington’s Jim Ludekens. Ludekens wasn’t bothered by the higher ranking of his opponent, playing high-risk, high-reward tennis from the start. He especially leant into his force from Medlow’s railroad, often garnering a passive response that allowed Ludekens a decent follow-up opportunity. Ludekens pulled ahead early in the first set, but constantly leaked points through the inaccuracy of his hitting. Medlow locked down the service end, becoming more expansive by the end of the set, winning the last five straight games. Medlow eased through the second set, working Ludekens all over the court and barely looking under pressure. He won the set without dropping a game, securing his place in the semi-finals.

Next followed the Bordeaux professional Baudouin Huynh-Lenhardt and the Oratory trainee Henry Henman. Henman, playing on his childhood court, looked completely at home. He read the court excellently, controlling the play and barely letting his opponent have an easy ball. He blitzed the first part of the set, giving away just six points across the first five games before taking his foot ever so slightly off the gas. It allowed Huynh-Lenhardt to get some points on the board, but Henman was never going to go so far as to give up a game. His win locked in a matchup against Medlow, while Huynh-Lenhardt moved into the placement bracket to play Ludekens.

The second session began with the Prested professional and first seed Vaughan Hamilton playing the Oxford professional Nick Jamieson — the latter on a familiar court having previously worked at Radley. Hamilton brought plenty of pace to the game, immediately putting Jamieson on to the back foot. The Oxford pro quickly had to adjust to the speed of the ball, trying to find a way to control his defensive volleys. For a fleeting period during the middle of the first set, he was able to match Hamilton shot for shot. But he ultimately overextended himself, allowing Hamilton to mop up the points he needed to close it out. In the second set, Hamilton sped ahead, picking off Jamieson’s various serves with ease. He repeatedly found the dedans without having to overwork himself, wrapping up an easy victory.

The last match of the day saw the Royal Tennis Court’s Jack Josephs play another Radley alumnus, Leamington’s Josh King. In the opening stanza, Josephs struggled to find the centre of his strings, allowing King to push ahead with his measured, consistent play. Nothing Josephs did made a dent in King, and the scoreboard pressure mounted. King didn’t give an inch conceding just five points across the first set. Though Josephs took the first game of the second set, King’s dominance continued. The Leamington pro never looked under pressure, sealing a dominant win with a winning gallery played from next to the net.

Play continues on Saturday with the semi-finals, with the losing quarter-finalists entering the placement draw. The tournament will conclude on Sunday with a series of placement finals.

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Match results:

• 3:00 PM: Jim Ludekens lost to James Medlow (2) 2/6 0/6

• 4:00 PM: Henry Henman (3) def Baudouin Huynh-Lenhardt 6/0 6/0

• 5:30 PM: Vaughan Hamilton (1) def Nick Jamieson 6/3 6/0

• 6:30 PM: Jack Josephs (4) lost to Josh King 0/6 2/6

Order of play for Saturday:

• 12:00 PM (5-8 semi-final): Nick Jamieson vs Jack Josephs

• 1:30 PM (5-8 semi-final): Baudouin Huynh-Lenhardt vs Jim Ludekens

• 3:00 PM (semi-final): Vaughan Hamilton (1) vs Josh King

• 4:30 PM (semi-final): Henry Henman (3) vs James Medlow (2)

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Singles odds calculator

The IHSC has analysed the quarter-million singles matches in the Real Tennis Online (RTO) database where the match was played off the true handicap difference between players. It found that, at odds worse than receive 15-owe 15, the receiving player is winning anywhere from 16 games out of 30 to 11 games out of 20 — depending on the exact odds at play. For cramped odds, where the owing player is playing one serve, banned tambour, the effect is even stronger, with the receiving player winning up to 6 in 10 games. For a system that purports to give every player an equal chance of winning, such a systemic bias to one side is clearly not acceptable.

The IHSC will therefore implement an update to the singles odds calculator for use in all handicap matches effective 1 August. For matches played between 0 and 10 handicap difference, the odds remain unchanged. As 90% of all matches are within this band, the vast majority of tennis played will be unaffected. Between 11 and 16, the odds will shift to be one band easier for the owing player, and from 17 to 35 the odds will shift to be two bands easier. However, as odds involving chase restrictions appear to be calibrated correctly, the receive 30-owe 15, banned chases worse than 3 and 4 band will be abolished, with all other chase restriction handicaps remaining unchanged. The doubles odds calculator remains mostly unchanged — except that a difference of 2 points will now be Love-Owe 1/4 15 instead of Love-Owe 1/2 15.

The full proposed table is shown below, and will be available in a PDF form from your national association.

Doubles handicap calculator

The IHSC has also investigated the calibration of the doubles handicap calculator — the lookup table that determines a combined handicap based on the pair’s individual handicaps. To do this, 40,000 matches with a handicap difference of zero were isolated. The analysis showed that pairs with a similar handicap to each other systematically defeat pairs with a big difference in handicap between the pair. As such, the IHSC will also amend the doubles handicap adjustment factors applicable from 1 August, as shown in the table below. The table will be available in PDF form from your national association.

Doubles familiar court advantage

The IHSC has found enough evidence to bring familiar court advantage to doubles handicaps, bringing it into alignment with singles handicaps. In singles play, a player on a familiar court will win 11 out of 20 games against a non-familiar opponent when playing the true handicap difference. Consequently, the handicap algorithm gives a 2-point deduction to any familiar court player’s handicap when computing handicap adjustments. For doubles play, a pair with two players on a familiar court will win 16 out of 30 games against a pair of unfamiliar players when playing the true handicap difference.

The doubles familiar court adjustment will work as follows: each player in a doubles pair will bring one point of familiar court advantage, regardless of actual handicap. So if two home players play two away players, there will be a 2-point adjustment in the handicaps. If two home players play against one home and one away player, the adjustment will be 1-point. All symmetric combinations will have no adjustment.

A player may earn familiar court advantage for doubles in the same way as singles. A player will always have familiar court on any court connected to their primary organisation, or will achieve it should they play at least 5 matches on any court in the preceding 23 months. Singles matches will not count towards doubles familiar court and vice versa. Players who have Category 1 status will have familiar court applied to all matches for that handicap.

Global handicap cut

Following the 2.5 handicap point cut to singles handicap in 2025, 2026 will see all active singles handicaps reduced by a further 1.1 points. Doubles handicaps will be reduced by 0.7 points. Both reductions will be applied on 1 August. The reduction is calculated to readjust the median player’s handicap to 55.0 — the standard being determined by the first season after the COVID-19 break. As new players start the game their early improvement will result in established players’ handicaps increasing.

The 1.1-point cut is well above the long-term average. The primary driver for this is that new players are being assigned initial handicaps on average 7 points higher than they were even 5 years ago, and 2 points higher than the 2024/25 season even despite the last cut. The effect is particularly strong in America, which accounts for 5 of the top 7 clubs for increased initial handicaps.

Real Tennis Online updates

1 August will also see the full deployment of the new version of RTO. Some pages have already been deployed in a trial fashion in the first half of the year. Users will enjoy an expanded statistical package, allowing them to track their performances across different courts, opponents and years. Clubs will be able to access an expanded membership dashboard and systems making it easier to manage their membership register. The new RTO Booking system will then follow with much-improved finance integration, with a new all-encompassing tournament management suite thereafter.

Health of the game

The end of the season also gives an opportunity to appraise the global health of the game, based on recorded RTO results across the season. Overall, the news is positive, with the 2025/26 season set to record the largest number of active players globally recording matches for any season this century, with over 4,800 players recording a result since August 2025 including 550 women.

The number of matches recorded is set to be the highest in a decade — albeit below the high watermark set in 2010. The biggest change has been the opening of the new court in Sydney, recording its first full year of data. However, Newmarket and Newport have impressed, each recording 50% more matches year-on-year. Oxford, Melbourne, Queen’s, Wellington, Manchester, Lord’s and Leamington also saw double-digit percentage increases, while decreases were generally seen at clubs that have had turnover in their professional roster in the last 12 months.

The outstanding area of concern is the general aging of the real tennis player base, with the median age of active players now 53 — up from 47 in 2005. Under-25 participation is a real concern, having fallen from its 2015/16 peak at 16.1% of active players to an all-time low of 11.3%. The decline is consistent across countries, and should be a key focus for all clubs and administrators over the coming years.

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The two previous champions who are competing in the draw, Robert Fahey and Nick Howell, will play off in the first round. Fahey holds the better head-to-head record, but Howell came out champion in their most recent encounter — at the 2025 British Open. The winner will progress straight through to the semi-finals, while the loser will get a second chance, playing either Bryn Sayers or a qualifier in the second round. Such a match-up won’t be easy, with Sayers in excellent form having defeated Fahey in the final of the British Over 40’s Open at Seacourt in May and taken Howell to five sets at the Schochet Cup at Newport in June.

In the bottom half of the draw, Steve Virgona will play Ben Taylor-Matthews, a key stepping stone in the former’s attempt to qualify for the 2027 World Eliminators. Virgona trails Taylor-Matthews in the race for the fourth slot by 6,367 points, having reduced the deficit already following Virgona’s win over Taylor-Matthews in the quarter-final of the Schochet Cup. Virgona’s best-case scenario — an overall victory with Taylor-Matthews not winning a match — would see him pull back 5,350 points of the deficit, 84% of the points required. But should Taylor-Matthews win more points than Virgona, it would put him in pole position with three tournaments of the World Race remaining. Taylor-Matthews would back himself to do well, having made four previous Champions Trophy finals, despite having gone through the repechage draw on three of those occasions. The loser of Virgona and Taylor-Matthews will play either Robert Shenkman or a qualifier. Shenkman will be looking to reach the semi-finals for the first time, having been defeated by Taylor-Matthews in straight sets in the previous two editions.

Eight further players will attempt to join the top six via two qualifying groups, playing first-to-nine game sets. Group A is headlined by Vaughan Hamilton, who was two points away from qualifying in 2025 but fell to Darren Long. He comes into the competition in excellent form, having won the US Pro Singles Satellite, the Jesmond Dene Cup and the Category A Open in recent months. All three of his opponents will be making their Champions Trophy Qualifying debuts: Zak Eadle, Claire Fahey and Benedict Yorston. With the Royal Tennis Court being the third-widest court in the country, Fahey and Eadle will back themselves as they represent the only two courts that are even wider as the group promises plenty of tactical floor battles, given each player’s style.

Group B, however, features four of the most prolific dedans-hitters in the game, playing with the widest dedans in the country on a court that traditionally takes a railroad — and hence an attacking game — well. Lewis Williams holds the top seed in the group, but any of Nino Merola, Darren Long or Will Flynn could easily make the case as to why they would be the one to advance, especially given the shorter format that favours faster-starters.

Play will run from Tuesday 14th to Sunday 19th of July. Tickets are available from the Royal Tennis Court’s website (see here) for dedans or upper gallery tickets. A Hampton Court Palace entry ticket is not required for visitors to the tennis court unless they also wish to tour the grounds, as entry is via the security gate on Tennis Court Lane. Tourists and Hampton Court Palace ticket holders are welcome to view from the side galleries. Please note that the upper galleries are not suitable for people with mobility impairments as the historic nature of the building requires climbing a narrow staircase.

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Champions Trophy draw:

• Qualifying Group A:

  • Vaughan Hamilton

  • Zak Eadle

  • Claire Fahey

  • Benedict Yorston

• Qualifying Group B:

  • Lewis Williams

  • Nino Merola

  • Darren Long

  • Will Flynn

• First quarter-finals:

  • Match 1: Nick Howell (1) vs Robert Fahey (3)

  • Match 2: Bryn Sayers (6) vs Qualifier A or B

  • Match 3: Qualifier A or B vs Robert Shenkman (5)

  • Match 4: Steve Virgona (4) vs Taylor-Matthews (2)

• Second quarter-finals:

  • Match 5: Loser Match 1 vs Winner Match 2

  • Match 6: Loser Match 4 vs Winner Match 3

• Semi-finals:

  • Match 7: Winner Match 1 vs Winner Match 6

  • Match 8: Winner Match 4 vs Winner Match 5

• Final:

  • Match 9: Winner Match 7 vs Winner Match 8

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Before the final could be resolved, there were still dead rubbers to play out from the third-place play-off match between Australia and France. For both matches, Australia substituted in their reserves, while France kept their main lineup. In the second-string singles, Australia’s Rhys Williams stepped up — having also played in the doubles with Oliver Pridmore — while France played Clément Depreeuw. Both players had different visions as to how the match would play out. Williams wanted to engage Depreeuw in long, tactical battles on the backhand, but Depreeuw tried to ignore Williams and looked to attack the dedans wherever possible with off-pace drives and volleys. Depreeuw’s raw, expansive style showed up Williams’s technically correct if passive shot-making on the Paris court, where killing the ball is difficult, pulling out to a 5/2 lead in the first set. But Williams adapted to the challenge, saving set point with a railroad ace before battling back to a deciding game. In the crucial game, Williams’s precision abandoned him, putting several balls into the net and ceding the first set to France.

Depreeuw rode the wave into the second set, extending out a small lead while batting away Williams’s attempts to be more expansive in his shots. Seeing the match slip away, Williams switched back to line-and-length play. It worked, picking up a few games and starting to turn the scoreboard pressure onto Depreeuw, who started making more errors as a result. Williams won four straight games before Depreeuw blasted through the next two, leaving the score at 4-all. Over the following two games, every point ended in a Depreeuw winner or error, with Williams sitting in with consistent play to force a third set.

A confident Williams led into the third set, quickly stretching out a four-game lead. But as the finish line approached, the nervous wobbles kicked back in, losing control of the ball. Depreeuw never lost the fight, battling back to 2/4 and then again to 4/5 as Williams couldn’t seem to find the final few points he needed. Along the way, Depreeuw saved two match points at 3/5 with dead balls under the grille and again at 4/5 with winning service returns down the forehand side, with the match coming down to one deciding game. Depreeuw did the hard work from the hazard end, winning points out of Williams’s forehand corner with the help of the penthouse and, separately, the dedans. He secured the match at the first opportunity, notching up France’s first match-win of the tournament.

The remaining dead rubber in the match was between the other Australian reserve Paul Rosedale and the French first seed Jean-Baptiste Rossi. Rossi had the better start, putting his strings on every ball, both outlasting Rosedale in the longer rallies and having the better winners. Knowing that he wasn’t going to out-rally Rossi, Rosedale leant into hitting winners, but found it a difficult task on the Parisian court. Rossi went up 4/1 in the first set, before Rosedale was able to lean on his serving experience — in particular his railroads — to claw the scoreline back to evens. The set went to a deciding game, which followed the pattern of the rest of the set: Rossi had the early lead but after Rosedale found a couple of short chases he successfully held his serve to take the set.

Rosedale powered on, opening a three-game lead in the second set backed by his service-end play. His progress slowed by the fourth game, which saw a long deuce exchange eventually fall the way of the Australian. The fifth game was similar, with the play revolving around regular chases and with both players needing the serve to make progress. This time, it went to Rossi, who kept throwing himself around the court to keep the ball alive as long as possible, often ending up on his knees or front in his retrieval. Rossi pulled the scoreline all the way back to 4/5 but once again Rosedale’s railroad came to the rescue, as he sealed the match, and a 4-1 overall win for Australia.

With the third place playoff out of the way, it was time for the final destination of the Bathurst Cup to be determined. Great Britain were one win away from victory, with their best hopes lying with their first seed, Robert Shenkman in his reverse singles match against the American second seed Noah Motz. Motz took the opening game with a pair of tambour winners and a dedans, but the joy ended there for the American. Shenkman’s world-class dedans defensive skills came to the fore once again, fending off anything on target and turning everything else into an opportunity to put Motz under immediate pressure. Even from the hazard end, Shenkman was able to pick off Motz’s serve with ease as he raced through the rest of the first set, sealing it with a railroad ace.

Motz picked up the first game of the second set as well, again with a good passage of attacking play, but Shenkman was once again quick to dismiss any notions of the set being competitive. He quickly pushed ahead again, leaving Motz with no options but to continue to thrash at the ball in the hope that something would break. Shenkman was too solid, giving up one further game in the second set with Motz letting his frustration with his lack of progress show. By the third set, the match was no longer a contest, with a confident Shenkman blitzing the set, winning without dropping a game.

Both teams agreed not to contest the final reverse singles — the first such instance since the 2006 match between Australia and Great Britain in Melbourne. The 3-1 scoreline meant that America had won a rubber in a final for the first time since since Newport in 1994 — their last appearance in a final had been a whitewash to Great Britain in Manchester in 2004. It extends their Bathurst Cup drought to 53 years, with their last victory coming in 1973 in New York.

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Match results:

• Australia Men def France Men 4-1:

  • 11:30 AM (2nd singles): Rhys Williams (AUS) lost to Clément Depreeuw (FRA) 5/6 6/4 5/6

  • 1:00 PM (1st singles): Paul Rosedale (AUS) def Jean-Baptiste Rossi (FRA) 6/5 6/4

• Great Britain Men def USA Men 3-1:

  • 2:30 PM (1 vs 2 reverse singles): Robert Shenkman (GBR) def Noah Motz (USA) 6/1 6/2 6/0

  • 4:00 PM (2 vs 1 reverse singles): Benedict Yorston (GBR) vs Freddie Bristowe (USA) not contested.

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Going into the four reverse singles matches, the Great Britain team needed to win at least two of four rubbers to secure overall victory, while the Rest of the World team needed to win all four — a 3-1 result would have seen the fixture go to a deciding doubles. The Rest of the World’s best chance for a singles victory fell to their first seed, Saskia Bollerman, in her match against Great Britain’s second seed Georgie Willis. Bollerman had a dream start, trapping Willis at the hazard end and picking off Willis’s returns with ease. Willis never put Bollerman under any pressure, with the Dutchwoman easily stepping across and pressing the ball into the corners. Willis served just three points in the first four games. Once Willis was able to generate chases and spend more time at the service end, the game tightened up, sharing the games evenly, but Bollerman’s head-start was enough for her to win the set. By the second set, Willis had gotten a handle on Bollerman’s serve, with the pair playing out long volley-to-volley rallies until one made an error. Bollerman broke out a small lead, but Willis’s serving brought it back even. Willis had a chance to push ahead, but once Bollerman recovered the serve again, the Dutchwoman was able to regain the upper hand. She pressed through the last three games to reduce the overall deficit to one rubber.

Next, Britain’s first seed Tara Lumley took on the Rest of the World’s second seed, Emma Clyde. Clyde demonstrated that she was able to go toe-to-toe with Lumley in the rallies, but the Brit always seemed to be able to find a release valve —either through skill or fortune — to ease off the pressure in a way that Clyde never could. On multiple occasions Clyde was caught out by the extreme angle off the walls, hitting her legs as she tried to jump out of the way. In the end, Lumley’s steady consistency overcame Clyde’s flashes of brilliance, with the Brit never truly under pressure across the first set. Clyde stepped up in the second, battling with Lumley through eight deuces in the 1/0 game and another six in the 3/1 game, with both eventually being won by Lumley beating short chases. The Australian was constantly one stroke behind Lumley throughout the set but battled hard, extending the second set out to the hour mark before her eventual defeat. Lumley’s win secured the British team a minimum of a deciding doubles match.

Given their position in the match, Great Britain substituted in their reserve player, Alexandra Bryant, for the match against the Rest of the World’s third seed, Jo See Tan. The match was tactical, revolving around the serve and return set-pieces to set up each rally. Tan took the first two games over a nervous Bryant, but the Brit soon settled, backing her own service game. As Bryant pressed on, Tan grew increasingly frustrated in her railroad, which only resulted in her serving it quicker and hitting it harder. The loss of confidence soon boiled over into the rest of her game, giving up the next five games. Tan battled on, but her body language was a stark contrast to the confident and purposeful Bryant.

Bryant took the first set and quickly established a lead in the second. The Rest of the World team tried to spur Tan on, with Bollerman chirping in Tan’s ear through the first gallery netting at every change of ends, trying to get her to lift. She dragged back Bryant’s three-game buffer to 4-all. A series of point-perfect railroads from Bryant stopped Tan’s run, seeing the set into a deciding game. Bryant won the match attacking chase twelve, sending a cut shot down Tan’s forehand side that jagged in off the wall. In doing so, she cemented overall victory for her team, racing to the galleries to celebrate with her teammates.

The final singles was a dead rubber between Britain’s Katherine Carney and the Rest of the World’s Frederika Adam. Carney had a terrible start, with her play often unmotivated and her movement poor. Adam lapped up every easy ball she was given, knowing she could wait out the error from Carney without too much risk. Adam raced to a 5/1 lead, before Carney started to find some fight, pulling back two games before Adam could seal the set with an ace.

In the second set Adam continued to read Carney like a book, positioning herself exactly where Carney intended to hit every shot. Carney tried mixing it up, bringing a bit of heat to the equation. The pair exchanged games throughout the second set, with the Rest of the World squad screaming from the side galleries for every game and point Adam won. They battled all the way to a deciding game, with the pressure clearly showing on both players. Carney was the first to reach set point, winning it with an overhit railroad that jagged awkwardly into Adam’s body off the penthouse. Adam was clearly flustered by the loss of the second set, and it started to affect her play in the third. Carney, meanwhile, was growing in confidence in every stroke. She freed herself from the rigid box she had placed around herself and played with freedom and invention. Carney raced through the final set, finishing off an 8-4 victory for the Great Britain team.

Next followed the doubles match of the third place playoff. Australia substituted in their reserve, Rhys Williams, for Michael Williams (no relation), partnered by Oliver Pridmore. France kept the same set-up as the semi-finals, with Nicolas Victoir partnering Michel Brunoro. It was a high-intensity match from the start, with Pridmore and Williams pounding the ball at the dedans and testing out the reach of Victoir’s wingspan on the volley. Even from the service end, the Australians were on full attack, with Victoir and Brunoro having to weather the storm point after point. Williams was all too happy to take Pridmore’s lead, leaning into the aggressive shots of his own. The French defence and the Australians’ overreach kept the French in the hunt, despite the Australians leading throughout. They got as close as a point for a deciding game, but no closer.

In the second set, the French put Brunoro in on Pridmore’s serve. While the Australians got away a few grilles early, the French were able to turn the initiative, becoming the more attacking players. It put Pridmore on the defensive, which had the consequence of taking Williams out of the game and making him cold — dropping back further and further and getting jammed against the battery wall. This time, the French were able to take the Australians all the way to a deciding game. A couple of tight railroads from Pridmore, followed by persistent attacking of the tambour gave the Australians the edge, finished with a shot into the dedans after a change of ends.

The Australians put Williams back on Brunoro’s serve for the third set. For the first time in the match, they found themselves behind in the set, having to work hard to stay in touch with the French. Victoir and Brunoro went up 5/4, but three consecutive dedans from Pridmore saw the set also go to a deciding game. Brunoro then struck back-to-back dedans himself to put the French ahead again. Changing ends, a tight serve from Brunoro was key in ensuring the French would see a fourth set. The match remained tight, with the French becoming increasingly bold in their volleys at the net, with both players stepping across to intercept shots down the forehand side whenever it was their turn at the front. With no team able to break the deadlock, the French grew more excited and enthusiastic as the prospect of a fifth set loomed. They pulled out a 5/3 lead — the biggest they had held in the match. The Australians won the next game to love, with Victoir having to calm Brunoro down for fear of getting over-excited. The French got their next two chases to recover the service end, the final piece of the puzzle in forcing a fifth set.

From the start of the fifth set, Williams freed up his game, while Pridmore pulled back slightly, focusing on putting the ball in play and spraying less on to the penthouse. The change was enough to give them an edge, extending a four-game lead at the start of the set. With both Australians now contributing their fair share, the French attack was less potent. They saw off the remainder of the set, with their win securing an overall victory in the match, relegating the French to fourth place.

The last match of the day was a crucial piece of the puzzle in determining the new holders of the Bathurst Cup. With the final tied at 1-all, and with the reverse singles to follow — favouring the first seeds of each team — the doubles match-up was the best chance for either team to stake their claim. The Brits once again brought in doubles specialist Will Flynn to partner Robert Shenkman, while the Americans played Freddie Bristowe and Noah Motz again. The match started at ten o’clock, and the forcing barrage from the Americans was immediate. It bought them the first two games as the Brits immediately had to adjust to a defensive footing. But it could not be sustained. Both Brits tightened up their serves to prevent the incoming fire in the first place, before Flynn entered beast mode in his role at the net. From the hazard end, Shenkman was also keen to show that he could match the other three for pace, as the Brits went on a six-game run to take the first set.

In the first game of the second set, with a ball ballooning off the back penthouse, Bristowe shouted to his partner to “go, go, go” up to the galleries as Flynn was lining up to play his shot. Flynn pulled out, and a debate ensued between the players, the marker and the squads in the side galleries about whether a hindrance should be called. In the end, a let was agreed, but the incident led to a change in direction of the match — thereafter the Americans contained the Brits to the hazard end and got the scoreboard ticking in their favour once again. They pressed out a two-game lead but the Brits pulled it back again — again with tight serving and excellent play by Flynn at the net. The set went to a deciding game, with Shenkman serving to Bristowe. Shenkman hit the mark on enough railroads to get the weak response out of Bristowe each time, using it to win the set.

Britain were once again fully in control for the third set. Combined, their defensive skills neutralised the attack brought against them by Bristowe, neither player ever gave away an easy serve and they played into each other’s strengths from both ends. On the American side, Motz was unsure of himself when in volleying position, often leaning on Bristowe to be both attack dog and defenceman. Behind in the set, the Americans brought on one last forcing barrage. Flynn thought he had the game wrapped up on set point with a ball that teasingly came off the opening’s back wall and out to a hazard chase of the line. Despite his disappointment, and despite Bristowe saving a match point with a behind-the-back volley, the end of the match was inevitable — sealed with a Shenkman main wall dedans.

Play concludes on Saturday, with the last four matches of the event. First will be the two dead rubbers from the third-place playoff between Australia, followed by the two reverse singles matches of the final between Great Britain and the United States. Britain needs to win just one match to take the title, while the Americans need victories in both matches.

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Match results:

• GB Women def ROW Women 8-4:

  • 12:00 PM (2 vs 1 reverse singles): Georgie Willis (GBR) lost to Saskia Bollerman (ROW) 2/6 4/6

  • 1:30 PM (1 vs 2 reverse singles): Tara Lumley (GBR) def Emma Clyde (ROW) 6/1 6/3

  • 3:00 PM (4 vs 3 reverse singles): Alexandra Bryant (GBR) def Jo See Tan (ROW) 6/3 6/5

  • 4:30 PM (3 vs 4 reverse singles): Katherine Carney (GBR) def Frederika Adam (ROW) 3/6 6/5 6/1

• Australia Men def France Men 3-0 (two rubbers remaining):

  • 6:00 PM: Oliver Pridmore & Rhys Williams (AUS) def Nicolas Victoir & Michel Brunoro (FRA) 6/4 6/5 5/6 4/6 6/1

• GB Men vs USA Men (two rubbers remaining):

  • 8:00 PM: Robert Shenkman & Will Flynn (GBR) vs Freddie Bristowe & Noah Motz (USA) 6/2 6/5

Order of play for Saturday:

• 11:30 AM (2nd singles): Rhys Williams (AUS) vs Clément Depreeuw (FRA)

• 1:00 PM (1st singles): Paul Rosedale (AUS) vs Jean-Baptiste Rossi (FRA)

• 2:30 PM (1 vs 2 reverse singles): Robert Shenkman (GBR) vs Noah Motz (USA)

• 4:30 PM (2 vs 1 reverse singles): Bertie Vallat (GBR) vs Freddie Bristowe (USA)1

  

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With the tournament entering its second half, Thursday began with the first rubbers of the third-place playoff between Australia and France. First was the reverse singles match between Australia’s Michael Williams and France’s Jean-Baptiste Rossi. Progress was slow, as each player opted to drive at the back wall, generating lots of long chases and changes of ends. They took over half an hour to wrestle the scoreline to 3-all, before Williams started finding a few targets, quickly streaking ahead to take the first set. He carried it on through the second set too. As the scoreboard pressure built on Rossi, his game started to unravel, growing impatient and frustrated as Williams honed his strokes. Rossi didn’t win another game until the second game of the third set. However, Williams struggled to maintain the intensity, while Rossi kept fighting hard for every ball, rarely missing the strings. He pulled out to a 5/1 lead, at which point Williams’s second wind hit. The Australian recovered a couple of games, but Rossi had enough buffer to secure the set. The fourth set was as close as the first but it was clear that Rossi had the better legs. The Frenchman did not give up on any ball — as exemplified by a rally where he managed two return full-stretch dives — meaning Williams had to hit his targets. Fortunately for him, he hit a good run towards the end of the fourth set, pushing on to the win.

The other singles rubber was between the Australian first seed Oliver Pridmore and the French second seed Clément Depreeuw. Pridmore was keen to see the match off quickly, slotting two winning galleries for his first two points of the encounter. He didn’t let up, with around a third of the points he won during the set coming from winning openings. Depreeuw’s best counterplay came when Pridmore sprayed the ball onto the penthouse, especially above the grille, allowing him to attack the ball and try and beat Pridmore on the floor. Although Depreeuw had some early success in the second set, they reached the prearranged suspension time and walked off with the score at 3/2 to Pridmore.

The suspension allowed the women’s doubles to start on time, with Britain’s Tara Lumley and Nicola Doble playing the Rest of the World’s Saskia Bollerman & Xanthe Ranger. Bollerman sent Ranger forward to the galleries, taking on the Herculean task of attacking both Doble and Lumley from the back of the court. Despite backing herself to accomplish it, she too often found that the Brits had enough defensive might to see her off. Ranger’s railroad bought the Rest of the World pair a few early games, but the British pair quickly established control of the play. They won eight straight games, taking the first set in the process. Bollerman and Ranger managed one more game in the second set, their final tally of three being equal to their haul in the same match-up at the previous edition in Melbourne.

The last of the women’s doubles matches saw the British second seeds Georgie Willis and Jess Garside take on the Rest of the World’s first seeds, Lea Van Der Zwalmen and Frederika Adam. Van Der Zwalmen was not as clinical as she would normally expect of herself, with Willis and Garside testing out her forehand over and over again. It took Adam taking on a more active role to allow Van Der Zwalmen to ease into the play. After running them close through the first half of the set, Willis and Garside struggled to keep the ball fully under control, hitting hard on the back wall and out to many hazard chases. Van Der Zwalmen and Adam broke away at the end of the first set, their play becoming the most synchronised it had been in the competition. By the second set, they were giving Garside a serious workout in her role at the galleries. She found herself having to play her double-handed volley both on the forehand, backhand and everything in between. But she couldn’t hold back the storm, her vigil broken by the nagging consistency of Van Der Zwalmen and the round-arm volleys from Adam. Van Der Zwalmen and Adam led the second set from start to finish, keeping the Rest of the World with an outside chance of the overall victory.

The evening session was the first rubbers in the Bathurst Cup final, with the first string pairs taking to the court. Britain were represented in the final by Robert Shenkman, while America’s champion was Freddie Bristowe. Both held the amateur championship titles of their respective countries. Bristowe opened the encounter by launching an all-out attack on Shenkman’s serve, knocking him off his line immediately and sending him searching for something else to serve. Shenkman’s best option seemed to be to go down the hazard end and counter-attack Bristowe’s serve instead. Bristowe kept attacking throughout the set, with Shenkman retreating into a defensive shell. There were several long rallies with Bristowe attacking again and again while Shenkman spooned everything back, each waiting for the other to crack. Bristowe held the advantage, winning the first set by a comfortable scoreline.

Bristowe began the second set with a flurry of dedans. Shenkman wasn’t doing enough with the free balls that Bristowe did give up, often opting to safely continue the rally in the hope that his opponent would eventually miss. Bristowe, on the other hand, made sure that every free stroke that he got that the ball he sent wasn’t coming back. Bristowe stretched out a two-game lead early in the second set. But then the cracks in Bristowe’s game that Shenkman had been betting on started to appear. The errors mounted, while the disciplined Shenkman tightened up his serve and refused to give Bristowe any opportunities to attack. Shenkman won four straight games to gain what proved to be the decisive lead in the second set.

The third set saw plenty of long, tough rallies. That fact alone favoured Shenkman’s play-style, but there were enough unexpected bounces and Bristowe was talented enough to keep it interesting. Neither player established a lead in the set until Shenkman broke away to 5/3 with a ball boasted into hazard the line, letting out an audible celebration that surprised even himself. He wrapped up the set moments later with a series of high-intensity rackets-style boasted rallies.

Shenkman’s serving continued to improve through the fourth set but Bristowe refused to give in. The American always had a way of releasing the pressure with a couple of back-to-back targets. He was fighting hard for every point, while Shenkman continued to try and work him over. Again, they were locked together through the first phase of the set until Bristowe broke away to 5/3. Earning the lead freed up Bristowe, as he battered three dedans in the last game alone to secure the set and send the match into a decider.

Bristowe stole an early march in the fifth set, stepping once again into his more aggressive posture. It seemed that the tennis gods were on his side, getting more than his fair share of fortunate bounces or lucky shots, not least a force into the dedans off the second gallery ledge. Still, he broke out a two-game lead on the back of his target hitting, knocking up a half-century of winning openings by the match’s end. Shenkman had to dig deep to pull the scoreline back to 3-all, backing his method to beat Bristowe’s brashness by the end. They exchanged games again to 4-all. With the tension mounting, every shot was vital. The margins were small: a nick railroad, a lucky net cord or a marginally high force onto the penthouse seemed to swing the favour of the match every moment. The 4-all game alone saw nine deuces, each player with several chances to take the lead. Shenkman took the game with a ball hitting the back ledge of the winning gallery to beat a chase.

Bristowe then sent the match into a deciding game, defending a chase while breaking a string. Both players were now at full stretch, refusing to let any ball die. Bristowe thought he had a 30-0 lead but for the ball hitting the bottom ledge of the dedans. Shenkman struck the grille two balls later to bring up the first two match points. Bristowe saved both, the second with a grille. A long rally at deuce followed, with Bristowe again finding the grille. Now with his own match point, Bristowe nailed a tight railroad — the only thing Shenkman could do was boast it into the net — putting to bed a three-and-a-half-hour epic and securing Bristowe’s first career victory over Shenkman. Bristowe turned to his supporters in the gallery and screamed, racing over to them to share in high-fives, the win giving the Americans a key advantage in the match.

Bristowe’s win is the third time a match has been won 6/5 in the fifth set in the last three times the Bathurst Cup has visited Paris. In 2017, France’s Nicolas Victoir defeated Australia’s Pete Boyles, while in 2008, Britain’s Spike Willocks overcame Australia’s Michael Happell. Such a scoreline happens, on average, twice a year, and it marked the second occasion for Shenkman in his career — being on the losing side of a deciding game against Jamie Douglas at the 2023 MCC Gold Racquet.

With the time approaching ten o’clock, Bertie Vallat stepped on court to recover the situation for Great Britain. Looking to seal the night for the Americans was Noah Motz. Vallat got down to business early, moving quickly through the points and depriving Motz of his biggest strength — his force. Vallat’s compact style and consistent length saw him quickly establish a three-game lead which he was able to hold on to for the rest of the set.

Motz finally got his force firing at the end of the first set and into the second. Soon they were flying past Vallat’s ears, leaving the Brit searching for a serve to contain things. Pulling his railroad back, Vallat weathered the storm, happily mopping up anything loose and seemingly being the only player of the week to be able to hit regular, short chases. Once Vallat was back in the lead, Motz started thrashing at the ball again, forcing Vallat to wait through six set points before eventually winning the set.

Motz kept fighting on, taking the first two games of the third set, meaning Vallat had to go back into a rebuilding phase. Even though he recovered to 2-all, Motz stole the initiative, once again finding his range on his force. Vallat then truly fell into a slump, and Motz was all over him. The American dictated the play, with Vallat lucky to scrap for whatever he could. Motz breezed through the last four games, sending the match to a fourth set.

Vallat built a solid foundation for the fourth set, winning the first two games. Then Motz hit yet another run of golden form, triggered by three back-to-back dedans and aided by three flush back walls from missed forces. With the Americans in the galleries getting vocal, the battle was on. Motz pushed ahead, as it wasn’t always clear where Vallat’s next point was coming from. Motz extended to 5/3 up, taking the set two games later with yet another main wall dedans.

The match entered a fifth set, with the time well past midnight. Vallat found a confidence not seen since the second set, and started to muster an effective defence to Motz’s forces, even if he did have to contort into strange positions to get his strings to meet the ball. His play onto the tambour finally gave him a method for winning points, with Motz misreading the angled wall more and more. He rediscovered his length as well, pressuring Motz into both corners. By the end of the set, he finally broke Motz’s spirit, winning the set without dropping a game. At the end, he threw his head back at the heavens, relieved to have successfully accomplished his task.

Before the night could end there was still the loose end of the third place playoff match between Pridmore and Depreeuw — ten hours after it had been suspended. Depreeuw recommenced the same way he had left off: with a double fault. Pridmore saw the early hours of the morning as a chance for target practice. The Australian quickly mopped up the remaining games of the second set, but started spraying balls all over the place in the third, allowing Depreeuw to win a few games. But the result was never in doubt, with the Australians taking a 2-0 overall lead in the fixture.

Play continues on Friday. A winner of the women’s event is likely to be crowned. Britain need to win two rubbers to secure outright victory, whereas Rest of the World face the difficult challenge of needing to win three of the four reverse singles to force the match into a deciding doubles match on Saturday — though they could win it outright by winning all four matches. In the men’s competition, the doubles match will likely prove decisive for the direction of the trophy, as Saturday will see the two reverse singles matches, where the first seeds are favoured to win for their respective teams.

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Match results:

• 3rd place playoff: Australia Men lead France Men 2-0 (three rubbers remaining)

  • 11:00 AM (2 vs 1 reverse singles): Michael Williams (AUS) def Jean-Baptiste Rossi (FRA) 6/3 6/0 3/6 6/3

  • 1:00 PM (1 vs 2 reverse singles): Oliver Pridmore (AUS) def Clément Depreeuw (FRA) 6/1 6/2 6/3

• GB Women lead ROW Women 5-3 (four rubbers remaining)

  • 3:00 PM (1 vs 2 reverse doubles): Tara Lumley & Nicola Doble (GBR) def Saskia Bollerman & Xanthe Ranger (ROW) 6/2 6/1

  • 4:30 PM (2 vs 1 reverse doubles): Georgie Willis & Jess Garside (GBR) lost to Lea Van Der Zwalmen & Frederika Adam (ROW) 3/6 2/6

• Final: GB Men level with USA Men 1-1 (three rubbers remaining)

  • 6:00 PM (1st singles): Robert Shenkman (GBR) lost to Freddie Bristowe (USA) 3/6 6/4 6/3 3/6 5/6

  • 8:00 PM (2nd singles): Bertie Vallat (GBR) def Noah Motz (USA) 6/2 6/3 2/6 4/6 6/0

Order of play for Friday (all times CEST):

• GB Women vs ROW Women:

  • 12:00 PM (2 vs 1 reverse singles): Georgie Willis (GBR) vs Saskia Bollerman (ROW)

  • 1:30 PM (1 vs 2 reverse singles): Tara Lumley (GBR) vs Emma Clyde (ROW)

  • 3:00 PM (4 vs 3 reverse singles): Jess Garside (GBR) vs Jo See Tan (ROW)1

  • 4:30 PM (3 vs 4 reverse singles): Katherine Carney (GBR) vs Frederika Adam (ROW)2

• Australia Men vs France Men:

  • 6:00 PM: Oliver Pridmore & Rhys Williams (AUS) vs Nicolas Victoir & Michel Brunoro (FRA)

• GB Men vs USA Men:

  • 8:00 PM: Robert Shenkman & Will Flynn (GBR) vs Freddie Bristowe & Noah Motz (USA)

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With the USA already holding an unassailable 3-0 lead over France in their semi-final, the two reverse singles matches were dead rubbers. As a result, following Bathurst Cup rules, the format was reduced to a best-of-3 set match. Noah Motz was a fairly relaxed figure in his match against Jean-Baptiste Rossi, leaning into his exhibitionist streak with behind-the-back or between-the-legs as he channeled his inner Edmond Barre. However, Rossi was out to play, scampering all over the court and covering everything that Motz could throw at him with his round-arm, ambidextrous style. Motz stalled, while Rossi strung together three straight games. Across the passage of play, the bouncy Paris court saw each winning opening struck from a ball off the floor. Rossi won the first set as Motz never really found his groove. It took Motz firing three back-to-back grilles at 1/2 down in the second set for him to rediscover his form. From there, he didn’t lose another game in the set, finishing with back-to-back main wall dedans. The third set was a tough battle, with the Parisian heat rising, both players were keen to finish things quickly. They fought to 3-all, but Motz stepped forward to finish off the match, securing the last three games and another victory for the USA.

The last rubber of the fixture saw America’s Freddie Bristowe play France’s Clément Depreeuw. Bristowe was in full control of Depreeuw’s serve, pressuring the Frenchman from the very first stroke of the reste. From the service end, his main weakness was hitting too many hazard chases, both in general play and directly off the serve, as his enthusiasm for boasting and slamming the ball around got the better of him. It mattered little, as he was in control regardless of the side of the court he was on. The closest Depreeuw came to winning a game was at 40-0 up in the 0/5 game of the second set, playing a first gallery chase, he hit the back wall of the last gallery only for the ball to bounce out to chase the line.

The women’s match resumed with the first of two days of doubles play. In the second string doubles, British Open finalists Georgie Willis and Jess Garside teamed up to play the Rest of the World’s Saskia Bollerman and Xanthe Ranger. Bollerman took command of the match early, not letting Garside or Willis make any progress at the service end. She was aided by some punishing cut-volleys from Ranger, beating the Brits into the corner. The Brits’ cause wasn’t helped when Garside wore a ball to her hand. Willis needed to step up to save situation and she did, rallying out with Bollerman up and down the main wall. But by that point, Bollerman and Ranger had already built a 4/0 lead, which proved too strong for the Brits to chase down.

By the second set, the Brits had fully wrestled the initiative. As Garside’s volley came good, she and Willis were able to push on to a three-game lead. But the run couldn’t last, with Willis’s backhand starting to struggle. Bollerman was excellent at picking volleys out of the air, with Garside and Willis unable to challenge her up against any of the walls. They pulled the score back to level. In the back end of the set, Bollerman was winning her service games against Willis, but Garside was winning hers against Ranger. It went to a deciding game, playing chase the line, when a ball trickled over the net. Bollerman ran forward to cover it, but left Ranger exposed at the back of the court for Willis to pick off. That shot proved the difference, with the Brits winning the set moments later, with Willis letting out an almighty scream.

Britain carried on into the third set, again establishing a three-game lead. But Bollerman again had to step up to recover the situation for the Rest of the World — knowing that a loss would put overall victory almost out of reach. A tight battle for the 3/1 game saw the Rest of the World back into contention for the match. The service end was the only way for either team to make progress — especially as winning openings were few and far between — making each of the regular hazard chases ever more excruciating for the players. The teams were in a deadlock, with multiple deuces featuring in every game from 3-all to 5/4 to the Rest of the World. A confident leave call proved fatal for Britain, with Bollerman beating a chase 8 on the floor to bring up match point. They only needed one opportunity, sealing the match and the first point for the Rest of the World. All players walked off court exhausted, with the match taking two and a half hours to complete.

The first-string doubles followed, with a cameo appearance for the Rest of the World by Lea Van Der Zwalmen, who missed the singles matches. She partnered with Frederika Adam, while Britain subbed in Nicola Doble in place of Katherine Carney to partner Tara Lumley. For Britain, the objective was clear: hit the ball at or through Adam to keep the play away from Van Der Zwalmen. Through the early stages of the match, the Rest of the World pair didn’t get the balance right, with Adam dropping back too far and neutering Van Der Zwalmen’s greatest strength — her world-class backhand. Van Der Zwalmen had to assert herself in order to pick up more of the play. Yet Lumley was getting the better of the Van Der Zwalmen service games, with the pairs exchanging games through the back half of the set until they reached a deciding game. The game hinged on Adam’s volley. She got two clean ones away to earn set points, but framed it on each of the first three set points. Finally, one went over, which Doble put into second gallery, which Van Der Zwalmen could beat on the floor to claim the set.

Lumley and Doble lifted for the second set. Together, they were out-rallying Van Der Zwalmen and often out-serving her as well. The Frenchwoman could not control the play like she had through the first set. As a result, Adam become more exposed as well. Doble was getting plenty of weight out of her volleys while Lumley looked at home at the back of the court. Britain led the set throughout, evening the match at 1-all.

The third set was a slow grind. Changes of ends were frequent, with the teammates running errands up and down the side galleries to top up water bottles and fetch sustenence. Van Der Zwalmen and Lumley were locked in an engrossing battle over who could better control the service end. But once again, the match hinged on Adam’s volley, which snuck the Rest of the World team a slight advantage in the set. Finding the final point was tough work, with Lumley and Doble fighting to the end. Adam found enough good volleys coupled with Van Der Zwalmen’s powerful backhand to take the match after a gruelling two hours, keeping the Rest of the World alive in the fixture.

It was well past eight o’clock that Robert Shenkman and Oliver Pridmore took to the court for the Great Britain vs Australia singles matches. Britain led the fixture 2-1, needing to win one of two matches to ensure progression, while Australia needed to win both rubbers. Pridmore unleashed on Shenkman’s serve, aiming to bust the ball out of its stitches. He outright refused to get into the positional rallies Shenkman prefers, instead ripping winners and daring Shenkman to retrieve them. Shenkman had to hold himself back to avoid getting pulled into the aggressive play. Pridmore’s plan hinged on the bet that he would hit the winners more often than he would give up a loose ball. At first, it worked, building out a lead in the set. But Shenkman dug in, refusing to give up on any ball, and battled back to 5-all. The final game was a battle of long chases, with Pridmore framing a ball off the neck of the racket and lobbing into the dedans to secure the set.

Pridmore was still dictating the terms of the engagement into the second set even if he wasn’t in full control of the proceedings. His shots weren’t as menacing, allowing Shenkman to pick off targets and apply some pressure the other way. After taking an age to reach 1-all, Pridmore’s dam burst and Shenkman came flooding through. He took the last 5 games of the set in quick fashion, leaving Pridmore with plenty of questions to answer. As the third set rolled around, it was now Shenkman who was in command of the play, putting the ball in difficult areas that Pridmore kept trying to blast his way out with little success. It didn’t work out well; he did not picking up another game until 0/2 down in the fourth set. There wouldn’t be another, as Shenkman secured the fixture victory for his team, sending them into the final to face the USA.

With the match result beyond doubt, both teams substituted in their reserves for the second string singles. Off the bench for Great Britain was Benedict Yorston, replacing Bertie Vallat, while for Australia, Paul Rosedale stepped in for Michael Williams. A small contingent of supporters for each country stayed to watch, with the match starting around eleven o’clock in the evening. Rosedale found it difficult to control the ball on the bouncy Paris court, meaning Yorston faced no difficulty in chasing everything down to spoon back over the net. Rosedale had little go his way through the first set — apart from saving set point with a tambour winning gallery — as Yorston raced ahead. However, by the second set, Yorston grew ill-disciplined, ceding straight three games to Rosedale, who put together a good string of targets. Yorston quickly recovered by refusing to accept the physical reality that it was possible for a ball to strike the ground twice. Unless he hit an opening, Rosedale couldn’t find a way to end the rally in his favour. Such was Yorston’s keenness to win that he sprinted around the last change of ends. He won the last six games of the match to put the icing on the cake of Great Britain’s victory.

Play continues on Thursday. Great Britain will play the United States in the first two singles rubbers of the final, while Australia will play France in the third-place playoff match. In the women’s event, the doubles matches continue, with the reverse doubles pairs.

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Match results:

• USA Men def France Men 5-0

  • 11:00 AM (2 vs 1 reverse singles): Noah Motz (USA) def Jean-Baptiste Rossi (FRA) 4/6 6/2 6/3

  • 1:00 PM (1 vs 2 reverse singles): Freddie Bristowe (USA) def Clément Depreeuw (FRA) 6/0 6/0

• GB Women lead ROW Women 4-2 (six rubbers remaining)

  • 3:00 PM (2nd doubles): Georgie Willis & Jess Garside (GBR) lost to Saskia Bollerman & Xanthe Ranger (ROW) 3/6 6/5 4/6

  • 4:30 PM (1st doubles): Tara Lumley & Nicola Doble (GBR) lost to Lea Van Der Zwalmen & Frederika Adam (ROW) 5/6 6/2 3/6

• GB Men def Australian Men 4-1

  • 6:00 PM (1st singles): Robert Shenkman (GBR) def Oliver Pridmore (AUS) 5/6 6/1 6/0 6/1

  • 8:00 PM (2nd singles): Benedict Yorston (GBR) def Paul Rosedale (AUS) 6/2 6/3

Order of play for Thursday (all times CEST):

• 11:00 AM (2 vs 1 reverse singles): Michael Williams (AUS) vs Jean-Baptiste Rossi (FRA)

• 1:00 PM (1 vs 2 reverse singles): Oliver Pridmore (AUS) vs Clément Depreeuw (FRA)

• 3:00 PM (1 vs 2 reverse doubles): Tara Lumley & Nicola Doble (GBR) vs Saskia Bollerman & Xanthe Ranger (ROW)

• 4:30 PM (2 vs 1 reverse doubles): Jess Garside & Georgie Willis (GBR) vs Lea Van Der Zwalmen & Frederika Adam (ROW)

• 6:00 PM (1st singles): Robert Shenkman (GBR) vs Freddie Bristowe (USA)

• 8:00 PM (2nd singles): Bertie Vallat (GBR) vs Noah Motz (USA)

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The women’s Bathurst kicked off with a team representing Great Britain playing a Rest of the World team. The first match was the second singles contest between Britain’s Georgie Willis and Australia’s Emma Clyde — playing for the Rest of the World. The start was slightly delayed as the teams debated who was permitted to provide coaching advice to the players. The court brought an extra complication to proceedings — the high windows brought in bright sunlight and glare across the middle of the court. Clyde took the initiative early, backing her tight serving to force Willis into giving away a loose ball, enabling Clyde to pick off a good volley. However, for every ball that Clyde hit out of the centre of the strings for a clean winner, there was another that ended up in the net or on the penthouse that enabled Willis to find a winner instead. The Brit played herself into the match, patiently waiting for the mistake to come and backing her execution of the shot. As Willis established the lead in the set, Clyde’s shotmaking become more erratic, compounding the problems for the Australian. Willis secured the set for Britain, but needed five attempts at set point to do so.

The pattern largely continued through the second set. Even though Willis couldn’t pin down Clyde with her serving, Willis backed herself to retrieve Clyde’s first aggressive stroke. Clyde was often too impatient, trying to force an outcome on the next stroke or two, giving away an unforced error or an easy ball to Willis. Willis dug in, slowly establishing her lead in the set. As the match slipped away Clyde tried a few “Hail Mary” shots, which, when coupled with good execution and a bit of fortune, helped bring her back into contention for the match. The match came down to a tense 5/4 deuce game. Nerves skyrocketed, including Clyde chasing a ball towards the net on a hazard chase she could have left but for her uncertainty about French chase names. Willis won the match with a lob that settled on the grille ledge for a moment before falling into the backboard.

Next on was the battle of the first seeds: Britain’s Tara Lumley and the Rest of the World’s Saskia Bollerman. It was a closely matched affair, with Lumley holding the better head-to-head record but it was Bollerman, who was the victor in their most recent encounter at the US Open in March. Lumley had the better start, extending a two-game lead. However, Bollerman’s defensive play came to the fore and nullified Lumley’s play, as Bollerman and outlasted Lumley in the backhand exchanges. Bollerman took the last five games of the first set, as Lumley was left searching for a way through.

Lumley tightened up her serve for the second set, putting Bollerman immediately on the back foot. Her drags were effective in restricting Bollerman’s ability to control the play. Bollerman tried to counteract with a railroad, but she wasn’t able to get it tight enough which let Lumley have the advantage from both ends. Lumley won a key deuce game at 3/1, characterised by several tight chase calls. Her lead stretched out to 5/1 before Bollerman mounted a brief comeback. She had two points to bring the scoreline back to 5/4, but again, Lumley’s serving dismissed any thought that Bollerman had of making the set tight. Lumley sent the match into a deciding set instead.

Bollerman improved for the third set, with her strokeplay becoming more incisive, especially from the service end. Play was paused briefly at 2-all to clean up a scattering of debris that had fallen from the ceiling. After the next change of ends, Lumley had her best run of serves of the match, not giving a point away for a couple of games before Bollerman could next find a chase. The stint proved decisive, with Lumley taking the match and a 2-0 lead for Team GB.

The men’s Bathrust resumed with the doubles rubber in the semi-final between the USA and France. The USA, with their team of just two players, were forced to pick Noah Motz and Freddie Bristowe, while the French team substituted both of their singles players out for Nicolas Victoir and Michel Brunoro. At the start of the match, the Americans lacked coordination, often going for the same ball as each other or not moving well to cover their partner’s weaknesses. The French, meanwhile, were solid in their attacking play, constantly forcing for the dedans or sending Brunoro forward to dance around the door line. The French duo pulled out a 3-0 lead before the Americans started to find a groove. Once they got going, there was little the French could do in response. They held full control of the play, blasting the ball around while Victoir and Brunoro desparately tried to hold on. A few bursts of counterpunching saw them nab a couple of games, but American victory was largely assured at the end of the second set, leaving the players to go through the motions for the next hour. The win secures an unassailable 3-0 lead for the Americans, sealing their qualification into the Bathurst Cup final with the two reverse singles rubbers to play on Wednesday.

Back to the women’s event, and it was the turn of the third seeds for each respective team. For Britain, it was Katherine Carney, while the Rest of the World was represented by Australia’s Jo See Tan. The match was characterised by the service battle — Carney was able to use the steep Parisian penthouse to generate uncertainty over the width of her serve, leaving the left-handed Tan to hold back and stretch to reach the return of serve. Meanwhile, Tan’s go-to railroad wasn’t causing many problems for Carney, popping up off the back wall and letting Carney lean into a force. It took Tan serving wider and shorter for her to eat into Carney’s early lead, eventually evening the set at 4-all. Carney pushed ahead with a solid stint at the service end, and by the time Tan had recovered the serve, Carney was too close to the finish line. A couple of untimely unforced errors from Tan gave Carney the break she needed to seal the set. In the second set, Carney throttled any scoring opportunities that Tan had, with patient, persistent play proving the Australian’s undoing. By the end, Tan had run out of ideas, with a confident Carney winning the second set without dropping a game. Her win took Britain to an unenviable 3-0 lead in the fixture.

The last of the regular singles matches for the women’s trophy was between Britain’s Jess Garside and the Rest of the World’s Frederika Adam. Garside was in control of the match from the start, with her serving restricting Adam’s round-arm volley, backed up by consistent play on and around the tambour, often catching Adam out of position. However, the heat was taking its toll on Garside, removing the sting of her best shots and letting Adam play into the match. Adam found it easy to lay plenty of chases as a result, with Garside not covering the court as she may have done in cooler weather. Garside battled through the first set, but found a second wind for the second, winning the first two games before conceding the service end. The fight then fell out of Adam’s play, with Garside pushing on to victory, bageling the second set.

The final match of the day was the doubles rubber of the Australia vs Great Britain men’s semi-final. With the fixture tied at 1-all, Great Britain subbed out Bertie Vallat from the singles for doubles specialist Will Flynn — partnering Robert Shenkman. Meanwhile, Australia kept the same players as the singles rubbers — Oliver Pridmore and Michael Williams — especially given the pair recently secured the Victorian Open doubles together. Williams elected to receive Shenkman’s serve for the first set. Shenkman was the only player on court with any sense of self-control or moderation, the other three launched themselves at the ball at every opportunity. At first Flynn was overexcited and Shenkman got suckered into the ping-pong play, letting the Australians out to an early lead. But they soon found their composure, bringing the first set scoreline back to 4-all. However, a spell of effective and piercing power hitting from the Australians was enough for them to win the last two games and the first set.

The second set was tight throughout, with neither pair gaining much of an advantage. Shenkman kept serving to Williams, pushing Flynn up to attack at the net. There were plenty of long chases being set, as each pair would drive at the bakc wall — above or below the penthouse — as their only real way of ending a reste. It was Flynn who eventually broke the deadlock, with a booming series of return of serve volleys that beat through Pridmore’s defense to break to a two-game lead at 5/3. Then, from the service end, it was Flynn’s fast feet and quick hands that carried the Brits over the line to even the match at 1-all.

Shenkman lined up against Pridmore’s serve for the third set. Flynn and Shenkman were successful in dragging Pridmore into an ego contest playing shots up and down the main wall. Pridmore over-extended, often trying to do too much to beat both his opponents at once as Britain pulled out a two-game lead. Still, Pridmore was determined to generate counterplay, even if it meant icing out Shenkman and Williams and focusing his attack on Flynn. Pridmore carried the scoreline back to 4-all again. But yet again, it was Flynn who stepped forward, belting in some accurate return of serve forces at the key moments to put Britain ahead, winning the third set.

Pridmore stayed on Shenkman’s serve for the fourth set. Early in the set, Flynn took a ball in the face while trying to defend the winning gallery. Despite his insistence on playing on, the shock ruined his hot streak as the Australians piled on a lead. The Brits didn’t win another game in the set, while the Australians pulled back a little, making sure they executed their finishes well. The Brits put Flynn on Pridmore’s serve for the final set. Shenkman then took a leadership role, corralling Flynn back into form, constantly giving Flynn reinforcing feedback, while playing the anchor role himself to perfection. The Australians fell away, barely winning a point in the back half of the set. The rally of the match was preserved for the first match point, with Pridmore barely holding on, Flynn at full stretch to find the finish and Shenkman ending up on the floor. Even though the Australians saved the game from 0-40 down, the Brit’s 5/0 lead was enough to see them over the line. Their victory put them one rubber away from the final, with the Australians needing to win both of the singles fixtures on Wednesday in order to progress.

Play continues on Wednesday with the remaining matches in the men’s semi-finals, as well as the reverse doubles of the womens’ Bathurst Cup. The USA and France will play out two dead-rubbers in their reverse singles, while Great Britain will have two shots at beating Australia in their regular singles. The Great Britain women’s team can secure a minimum of a deciding doubles match should they win their two reverse doubles fixtures.

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Match results:

• GB Women lead ROW Women 4-0 (eight rubbers remaining)

  • 11:00 AM: Georgie Willis (GBR) def Emma Clyde (ROW) 6/3 6/4

  • 12:30 PM: Tara Lumley (GBR) def Saskia Bollerman (ROW) 3/6 6/3 6/3

  • 4:00 PM: Katherine Carney (GBR) def Jo See Tan (ROW) 6/4 6/0

  • 5:30 PM: Jess Garside (GBR) def Frederika Adam (ROW) 6/3 6/0

• USA Men def FRA Men 3-0 (two rubbers remaining)

  • 2:00 PM: Freddie Bristowe & Noah Motz (USA) def Nicolas Victoir & Michel Brunoro (FRA) 6/4 6/2 6/1

• GB Men lead AUS Men 2-1 (two rubbers remaining)

  • 7:00 PM: Robert Shenkman & Will Flynn (GBR) def Oliver Pridmore & Michael Williams (AUS) 4/6 6/3 6/4 0/6 6/1

Order of play for Wednesday (all times CEST):

• 11:00 AM (2 vs 1 reverse singles): Noah Motz (USA) vs Jean-Baptiste Rossi (FRA)

• 1:00 PM (1 vs 2 reverse singles): Freddie Bristowe (USA) vs Clément Depreeuw (FRA)

• 3:00 PM (2 vs 1 reverse doubles): Georgie Willis & Jess Garside (GBR) vs Lea Van Der Zwalmen & Frederika Adam (ROW)

• 4:30 PM (1 vs 2 reverse doubles): Tara Lumley & Nicola Doble (GBR) vs Saskia Bollerman & Xanthe Ranger (ROW)

• 6:00 PM (1st singles): Robert Shenkman (GBR) vs Oliver Pridmore (AUS)

• 8:00 PM (2nd singles): Bertie Vallat (GBR) vs Michael Williams (AUS)

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The tournament began with the hosts, France, playing the second seeds, the USA. The first match was between the first-string players, with the French Raquette d’Or champion Jean-Baptiste Rossi taking on the American Amateur Champion Freddie Bristowe. It was to be Rossi’s first outing on the international stage, meaning Bristowe had to quickly find a way to adapt to Rossi’s unconventional style, playing forehands on both sides of his body with a round-arm technique. Serving with both hands as well, Rossi posed a threat with every ball on the bouncy Parisian court. Bristowe concentrated on playing traditional real tennis strokes, reining in his aggressive rackets instinct. In particular, his railroad was a great asset, getting the ball to bite and spin aggressively, pulling Rossi out of position. Bristowe raced to a five-game lead in the first set, before stalling out in the Parisian heat. Rossi was able to fight back for three games, battling for every ball and hitting his targets well, while Bristowe was perhaps too conservative.

Bristowe reestablished control by the second set, stepping up his target hitting from both ends of the court. He also realised that Rossi’s style didn’t permit him to hit many outright winners, allowing Bristowe to rally it out before receiving a free ball he could hit at a target. As the second and third sets wore on, the match increasingly became a procession for Bristowe.

The second-string singles match saw Noah Motz — playing outside America for the first time since the 2019 Clothier Cup — take on France’s Clément Depreeuw. Motz’s approach to the unfamiliar court was to not bother with figuring out how the bounce and balls worked, instead launching everything he could at the dedans. For the most part, it worked from the hazard end, but whenever he was at the service end he was forced into playing more conventional restes. Depreeuw knew he needed to dig in and wait for the inevitable loose balls, occasionally putting his racket between the ball and the dedans in whatever way he could. Motz held a two-game lead through the first set, but his wild shots let him down against the ever-consistent Depreeuw. Depreeuw took the last four games to take the first set, leaving Motz to question his decision-making while receiving a verbal beating from his coach from the winning gallery.

Motz, still struggling to read the court, decided to let his natural talent do the talking for the second set. He backed himself to get out of difficult situations or court misreads with his quick hands and fast feet. For Depreeuw, consistency was no longer enough, and his lack of powerful offensive weapons did him a disservice against a still-loose Motz. Motz powered on, breaking away midway through the set and pushing on until he had levelled up the match.

By the third set, Motz’s straight forcing had become a notable highlight, even if it did get closer and closer to tagging Depreeuw. But he also was now able to add enough variety to his play to wrestle full control of the proceedings. He wrapped up the third easily with a long run of games, but by the fourth, things started to slow down again. The heat and the French-language marking didn’t do favours for Motz, leaving him often disorientated or lackadaisical. He let Depreeuw fight the fourth set deep, pounding balls down the centre in the hope that Depreeuw would miss. Depreeuw saved two match points in the 3/5 game and another three in the 4/5 game, before finally Motz hit the dedans one last time to secure an American victory.

The second semi-final was between Team Australia and Team Great Britain. Unlike the first fixture, the matches played were the reverse singles — the second seed for each team playing the first seed of the other team. The fact that the two protagonists, Australia’s Oliver Pridmore and Britain’s Bertie Vallat, were separated by half a handicap point presented Britain with an excellent opportunity to stamp their authority on the fixture from the first rubber. Pridmore was determined not to let that happen, teeing off from the start and blasting the ball all over the court. He didn’t mind if he sprayed a few, as he backed himself to be quick enough to cover any attempted winner Vallat played from a loose ball. Importantly, Pridmore suckered Vallat into playing hyper-aggressively as well, a departure from his natural style. Vallat was blown off court in the first set, which Pridmore easily secured, dropping just one game.

Vallat changed tack for the second set. He concentrated on his set pieces — serves and returns — and tried to pull Pridmore into backhand-to-backhand rallies. It was effective in neutralising the biggest of Pridmore’s extravagant shots. Vallat’s calm and patient play saw him lead the set from start to finish, even chucking in a few good, positive forces at the dedans for good measure.

The first four games of the third set were tight deuce games, with Pridmore grabbing a narrow advantage as a result. He moderated his strokeplay without becoming too passive. Vallat tried to rein in Pridmore’s excesses by pulling him into the tempered restes that had been the theme of the second set. But Pridmore wasn’t interested, backing himself to hit enough outright winners to stay ahead of the play. He successfully found the grille on a regular basis, putting him a set in the lead once more.

The match turned again for the fourth set, with Pridmore’s attacking game going through the motions rather than having any serious intent. Meanwhile, Vallat’s game was purposeful, pressing out to a three game lead. Pridmore clawed back all three with some excellent return of serve volley drives at the dedans, hitting both sides of the back netting. From the service end, his attacking of the tambour was incessant, eventually drawing the error from Vallat no matter how good the Brit was on the volley. Pridmore won the last five games to draw first blood in the fixture for Australia.

The final match of the evening saw Britain’s first seed Robert Shenkman play Australia’s second seed Michael Williams. Williams wasn’t interested in playing Shenkman’s tactical and positional rallies, instead blasting the ball at the dedans at every opportunity he got. Even with Shenkman’s usually strong defensive volley holding, Williams was able to generate enough pace such that Shenkman couldn’t get near it. It was a potent enough weapon that Shenkman had to restrict his ball placement, avoiding attacking shots of his own. Williams kept Shenkman in check all the way through the set, reaching a 5-all deciding game for the first time in the tournament. Shenkman opened the deciding game with two last gallery chases, winning both but conceding the service end again to a pair of Williams back wall drives. Shenkman beat one with a gallery, then secured the set moments later with a main wall dedans, screaming a big roar at the tambour in celebration.

The regularity and potency of the Williams attack continued to trouble Shenkman through the second set, making him retreat into the defensive game he had worked so hard to break free from in the last few seasons. Yet slowly, Shenkman wore Williams down. It wasn’t backed by extravagant strokeplay or counter-attacking flair, instead, Shenkman showed discipline and purpose. By the end of the set, Williams was unravelling, playing shots by desparation, not calculation. Williams didn’t have anything left in the tank for the third set, with Shenkman cruising to victory and evening up the fixture with three rubbers still to play.

Play continues on Tuesday with the doubles fixtures of each of the semi-finals, alongside the first four singles rubbers of the women’s Bathurst Cup.

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Match results:

• USA Men leads France Men 2-0:

  • 2:00 PM (1st singles): Freddie Bristowe (USA) def Jean-Baptiste Rossi (FRA) 6/3 6/0 6/0

  • 4:00 PM (2nd singles): Noah Motz (USA) def Clément Depreeuw (FRA) 4/6 6/2 6/2 6/4

• GB Men level with Australia Men at 1-1:

  • 6:00 PM (2 vs 1 reverse singles): Bertie Vallat (GBR) lost to Oliver Pridmore (AUS) 1/6 6/2 2/6 4/6

  • 8:00 PM (1 vs 2 reverse singles): Robert Shenkman (GBR) def Michael Williams (AUS) 6/5 6/2 6/0

Order of play for Tuesday (all times CEST):

• 11:00 AM: Georgie Willis (GBR) vs Emma Clyde (ROW)

• 12:30 PM: Tara Lumley (GBR) vs Saskia Bollerman (ROW)

• 2:00 PM: Freddie Bristowe & Noah Motz (USA) vs Nicolas Victoir & Michel Brunoro (FRA)

• 4:00 PM: Katherine Carney (GBR) vs Jo See Tan (ROW)

• 5:30 PM: Jess Garside (GBR) vs Frederika Adam (ROW)

• 7:00 PM: Robert Shenkman & Will Flynn (GBR) vs Oliver Pridmore & Michael Williams (AUS)

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Don’t forget to send in your stories or match reports to get featured on Real Tennis News. In particular, we are looking for photographers and correspondents for any major event around the world. Get in touch at ben.geytenbeek@gmail.com.

Tournament results and reports:

• 4-11 Apr: World Masters. Nicholas Victoir def Pete Boyles 4/6 6/2 6/4 (Over 50’s Singles), Nicholas Victoir & Michel Brunoro def Pete Boyles & Tony Simpson 6/2 6/1 (Over 50’s Doubles), Luke Danby def Guy Devereux 6/0 6/1 (Over 55’s Singles), Guy Devereux & Jeremy Wintersteen def Simon Barker & Peter Holmes 6/2 6/3 (Over 55’s Doubles), Bill Barker def Ed Popplewell 5/6 6/4 6/4 (Over 60’s Singles), Michael Happell def Geoffrey Russell 6/0 6/0 (Over 65’s Singles), John Prenn def Richard Hince 6/3 6/3 (Over 70’s SingleS), Jonathan Hamer & Richard Hince def John Prenn & Mark Nicholls 6/2 6/4 (Over 70’s Doubles), Alan Oliver def Simon de Halpert 6/3 6/1 (Over 75’s Singles), Philip Shaw-Hamilton & Nigel Draffan def Simon de Halpert & Alan Oliver 64 61(Over 75’s Doubles), Simon de Halpert def Dick Tanfield 6/4 6/5 (Over 80’s Singles), Simon de Halpert & Richard Pettit def Dick Tanfield & Jonathan Pardee 6/5 6/1 (Over 80’s Doubles)

• 10-12 Apr: Category A Open. Vaughan Hamilton def Zak Eadle 4/6 6/4 6/0

• 10-12 Apr: NSW Amateur. Kieran Booth def Oliver Pridmore 3/6 6/3 6/2 (Singles), Olvier Pridmore & Michael Williams def Kieran Booth & Ben Hudson 2/6 6/4 6/4 (Doubles), Jesse Lauechli & Graeme Blundstone def Ted Alexander & James Cannon 9/4 (B Grade Doubles), Ben Dickinson def Sammy Legg 9/8 (Singles Plate), Sammy Legg & Ben Dickinson def Alex Rackham & Darcy Webster-Jones 9/4 (Doubles Plate)

• 22-26 Apr: World Doubles Championship. Camden Riviere & Tim Chisholm def John Lumley & Steve Virgona 0/6 6/2 6/2 0/6 6/0 3/6 6/3 6/4

• 24-26 Apr: Australian Amateur Women’s. Emma Clyde def Jo See Tan 6/1 6/2 (Singles), Emma Clyde & Jo See Tan def Louise Field & Rose Blanden 6/0 6/1 (Doubles), Rose Blanden def Julia McCahey 9/6 (B Grade Singles), George Lewis & Anna Yates def Eve Filippelli & Isabella Lo Presti 9/6 (B Grade Doubles), Isabella Lo Presti def Anna Yates 9/5 (C Grade Singles), Julia McCahey & Prue McCahey def Amanda Murphy & Julie Shenstone 9/1 (Doubles Plate)

Real tennis in the popular press:

• Warwickshire tennis club to host real tennis world championships — via BBC News

• Warwickshire club to host World Doubles Championships for first time — via Leamington Observer

• “I was the first woman to present sports news on the BBC” — via BBC News

• World Real Tennis Doubles John Lumley, British Number 1, receiving from Rob Fahey at Moreton Morrell Club semi-final — via Warwickshire World

• Last surviving real tennis court of its kind in Scotland under threat — via The Scotsman

• INTERVIEW: Get to know the T&RA’s New CEO, Nick Orr — via Tennis & Rackets Association

• INTERVIEW: Cesca Sweet Preps for the World Challenge — via Tennis & Rackets Association

• 2027 Ladies World Championship News — via the Tennis & Rackets Association

• INTERVIEW: Claire Fahey on her rackets journey and prepping for the Ladies World Challenge — via Tennis & Rackets Association

Unofficial Real Tennis World Rankings:

• Biggest rise (top 100): Charlie Braham (+22) — Reshuffle after end of National League season

• Biggest fall (top 100): Zack Smart (-30) — Reshuffle after end of National League season

Unofficial Real Tennis World Championships:

• Level:

  • Camden Riviere (not challenged)

• Handicap:

  • 26 Mar: Bertie Vallat def Rory Giddins (Queen’s Club Championship)

  • 27 Mar: Bertie Vallat def Jamie Giddins (Queen’s Club Championship)

2027 IRTPA World Race (after 9/14 events — approx 51,300 points remain1)

1. John Lumley (62,822 points)

2. Nick Howell (39,832 points) (+1)

3. Robert Fahey (37,500 points) (-1)

4. Ben Taylor-Matthews (33,013 points)

Real tennis online media:

• realtennisflair — via Instagram

• palacepov — via Instagram

• lady chiswick — via Instagram

Real Tennis Fantasy League (after 8/10 events)

1. Novak (759 points, played boost)

2. CryMeARiviere (747 points, played boost)

3. Men Taylor-Batthews (737 points, played boost)

4. nick r (656 points, played boost)

5. Cone (649 points, played boost)

Upcoming major events:

• 30 April-15 May: Moore Family Office £20k Challenge. Oratory. Details & tickest via this link.

• 23-31 May: Bathust Cup. Paris.

• 5-14 June: US Professional Singles playing for the Schochet Cup. Newport. Enter here.

• 14-19 July: Champions Trophy. Royal Tennis Court.

Upcoming tournaments and entry forms:

• 1-3 May: Over 40’s Open Singles. Seacourt.

• 1-3 May: US Women’s National Amateur. Newport.

• 8-10 May: US Amateur. Tuxedo.

• 9-10 May: Jesmond Dene Cup. Jesmond Dene.

• 26 April: U16 Handicap Doubles. Bristol.

• 15-17 May: British Amateur Doubles. Queen’s.

• 16-17 May: Oratory 20-29 Open Singles. Oratory.

• 16-17 May: Leamington 20-29 Open Singles. Leamington.

• 16-17 May: Prested Hall of Fame Handicap Doubles. Prested.

• 16 May: Cambridge Handicap Mixed Doubles. Cambridge.

• 16-18 May: Fortune Decanter (Handicap Mixed Doubles). Petworth.

• 30-31 May: British Over 60’s Amateur (Kershaw Cup). Manchester. Enter here.

• 4-7 June: LRTA Mixed Handicap Doubles. Seacourt.

• 6-7 June: Scottish National Handicap Championships. Radley. Email scotlandrealtennis@outlook.com

• 12-14 June: The Rosebowl. Newmarket.

• 18-21 June: King’s Goblet. Royal Tennis Court.

• 19-21 June: US Mixed Doubles. Tuxedo.

• 25-28 June: Pineapple Cup. Newport.

Save the date:

• 22 May 2026: Manchester Tennis and Racquet Club Sesquicentennary, Manchester. More information via this link.

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Robert Fahey stepped onto court having not won a handicap title for 22 years, with his last victory coming at the 2004 Roo Trophy against Julian Snow. His opponent, Nino Merola, was after his first piece of silverware since the 2024 Category A Open. Merola received a handicap of Rec 1/2 15, Owe 1/2 15, which while beneficial was still going to be an uphill task against a player of Fahey’s calibre. Nevertheless, Merola started well, finding difficult angles and jamming Fahey up against the wall multiple times. But anything loose and Fahey was able to seize the advantage immediately, putting Merola back under pressure again. Merola held a narrow 3/1 lead early in the first set, but Fahey quickly cut out the errors he was making to start a solid four-game run. Fahey’s giraffe serves were particularly potent, forcing Merola to boast his way out of trouble in a way that easily set Fahey up for the next ball. Merola found a spell of good railroads to bring back the score to 4/5 and threaten setting up a deciding game, but once Fahey recovered the serve he shut down any notion of a Merola comeback, sealing the set.

Being a set down, Merola kept experimenting with his serving to try and find a chink in Fahey’s gilded armour. Fahey was aware of the challenge, and saw his assignment as doing everything in his power to throw Merola off his length for every one of his serving varieties. Fahey mixed it up unpredictably, sometimes charging forward to take a short serve on the volley or holding back to carve a long serve into the corner rather than forcing. Merola’s return of serve was hot and cold; lacking the variety of Fahey, Merola leant into his best option — the cut-volley. Fahey stormed through the set, reaching set point at 5/1 which Merola defended with a sizzling cut shot into the backhand. Merola battled hard, working side-to-side as Fahey tried to work him over but Merola’s defence held. Merola gradually started pulling back the set reste by reste, defending another set point with a sweet backhand winning gallery. He eventually fell one game short of a deciding game again, with Fahey beating a 1 and 2 chase to take a two set lead.

Merola kept fighting into the third set of the best-of-5. He carried his run from the second set into a 2/1 lead. At game point in the fourth game, playing second gallery, Merola launched a main wall force that struck the bandeau, seemingly assured of beating the chase. But Fahey dropped his racket head at the last moment to delicately maneouvre the ball off his ankles and under the grille on the second bounce. Fahey took the lead again but as the end approached, so did the errors — each time, Fahey would take a swipe at the air with his racket. Even so, Fahey’s forcing was strong enough to make it up, as they exchanged games throughout the set. Merola saved a championship in the 5/4 game — albeit off a short chase — to send the set into deciding game instead. Fahey lost the first point after putting the ball into the hazard galleries, dropping to his knees in frustration. Shortly after, Merola was 30-0 up after beating a chase 2, and almost had a set point had the net not interjected in Fahey’s favour. Fahey’s play at the grille corner gave him the advantage, winning the match with a tight but fair not-up call on Merola.

Fahey will next be in action at the US Pro Singles in Newport, while Merola’s season draws to a close having established himself in the top strata of UK-based professionals across the course of the season.

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Match results:

• 6:00 PM: Robert Fahey (Owe 1/2 15) def Nino Merola (Rec 1/2 15) 6/4 6/4 6/5

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The evening began with the much anticipated semi-final between Radley pro Nino Merola and the tournament wildcard Jack Josephs. An anxious start from Merola saw him concede the first three games of the match. He was experimenting with his serve, but no matter what he tried, Josephs was able to step inside the ball with his open-stance foorehand, playing it under the galleries and engaging in a backhand rally. With the rally established, Josephs’s retrieval was solid and dependable, while Merola’s unforced errors began to bite. Eventually, Merola struck a vein of form, beating game point in the fifth game with a series of heavy cut shots to beat worse than 2. But at game point at 3/2, playing better than the door, Merola slid the ball into the door gallery instead to lose the chase. Josephs now had the advantage again, using the handicap as wind at his back as he went on to take the first set.

Merola was more more positive at the start of the second set, but at the expense of more errors. Josephs was unphased by Merola’s antics at the other end, going about his business as he had done for the whole match. Both players were in search of the right balance in their play. For Merola, he needed to find the right level of attack without giving away too many free points or letting Josephs into the rally. For Josephs, it was about not getting suckered in to playing an expansive shot and deviating from his game plan. Josephs went up 4/1 in the second set before Merola’s balance finally got established. He brought the deficit back to one game. Josephs had a match point in the 5/4 game, which Merola defended with a cut-volley that curved into Joseph’s body, cramping him for room and sending the set into a deciding game again. Merola opened with back-to-back galleries, before stepping up to serve an ace on a pique serve. His play on the tambour gave him the advantage, winning the set after the second change of ends.

Merola carried his run through to reach 2/0 in the third before hitting another fallow patch. Josephs was ready to capitalise, fighting through the next three games and holding the lead again. He was just about to make the advantage decisive, with Merola setting a ball up off the back wall on game point in the 3/2 game and giving Josephs a clear shot at the open grille. However, he missed high, with Merola able to step in and play the ball deep into Josephs’s backhand instead. Merola finally stepped up to finish the match off, winning the last four games and securing his place in the final.

The galleries packed out for the second semi-final to see two of the most prolific players in the history of the game face-off. 13-time World Champion Rob Fahey played 8-time Ladies World Champion Claire Fahey for just the third time in the careers in a competitive context, and for the first time in eight years. From the first ball, it was clear that both had put their pride on the line and were not treating it as a light exhibition. Rob Fahey was keen to control the play, finding an extra step in his movement across the court — something he normally only brings out in decisive games late in a set, but this time it was from the first ball onwards. Claire Fahey was having to deal with the extra heat, not helped by some poor serving early in the set, setting up Rob for repeated shots at the main wall dedans. Nevertheless, she brought her best defensive play out, with few mistakes in open play meaning each rally had to end in a winner one way or the other. Rob Fahey won the first four games before dropping off his intensity slightly, allowing Claire Fahey to get back into the match with her extreme cut shots. She came within one point of levelling the scoreline at 4-all but Rob Fahey was able to find yet another main wall force at the decisive moment, pressing on to win the set.

Though the early stages of the second set were once again even, sharing the games to 2-all, Rob Fahey was too strong on any ball given to him in open space. Even when Claire Fahey did manage to generate some difficulty with a ball jamming against the wall or off the tambour, he was able to dance across and play it back safely, backing himself to recover the rally again at a later point. Despite Claire Fahey’s repeated winners and fast forces, Rob’s shot quality was superior, as he marched home with the final four games of the match. After the match, they embraced in the middle and took a moment to appreciate the crowd, applauding them for several minutes before leaving the court.

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The tournament concludes on Friday with the final, which will be played as a best-of-5 set match. Fahey will attempt to win his first handicap competition since the 2004 Roo Trophy, where he defeated Julian Snow in the final, while Merola searches for his first piece of silverware since the 2024 Category A Open.

Match results:

• 5:00 PM: Jack Josephs (Rec 1/2 15) lost to Nino Merola (Owe 1/2 15) 6/2 5/6 6/3

• 7:00 PM: Robert Fahey (Owe 15) def Claire Fahey (Rec 1/2 15) 6/3 6/2

Order of play for Friday:

• 6:00 PM: Robert Fahey vs Nino Merola

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A new name was guaranteed to be etched onto the World Championship plate, since the inaugural and only previous winner, Lea Van Der Zwalmen, had retired the championship having won the previous five editions. The two competitors were the top two players in the World Rankings, with real tennis World Champion Claire Fahey having won the 2026 British Open and Hampshire cricketer Cesca Sweet having won the 2025 British Open. Fahey won the toss and served first. Through the first game, both players had trouble picking up the return of serve on the backhand, meaning their opponent could bank on winning the point whenever serving from the right box. Meanwhile, the left box was a much more even proposition. Fahey used the early advantage to stretch out a 7-1 lead. Sweet then discovered some rhythm, pulling back the next four points. The play was high-quality and entertaining, with both players having to venture forward to cover drop-shots and having to quickly move back to cover deep balls into the corners — a particular highlight was a between-the-legs shot off the back wall from Fahey. The scoring then evened off, with short runs starting in the right box and ending in the left. Sweet levelled the game at 12-all, but a pair of aces from Fahey followed by a crisp backhand finish gave the real tennis champion the first game.

Sweet took the early lead in the second game, with both players developing their backhand returns to make the play an even contest. The packed galleries at Queen’s were in full voice throughout, egged on by Fahey’s emotive fist-pumps. Sweet held the advantage through the first phases of the game, holding at most a four-point lead. Fahey took a new ball at 7-3. On the first rally thereafter, Sweet caught the frame, holding her racket on the back of her neck in anguish. Fahey’s serving saw her win the next seven points, putting her in the lead for the first time in the game. Sweet brought it back even at 10-all, getting the ball to spit out of the back wall and catch Fahey with a bad angle on her backhand. Fahey put herself up 13-11, before Sweet played a full-stretch forehand volley that stuck against the side wall to regain the hand. Sweet served two aces to 13-all, with Fahey opting to play a set to 5. She immediately recovered the serve. Her serving was the most accurate it had been in the match, picking off all five points to secure the second game.

Fahey dominated the third game. Combined with the last five points of the second game, she put together a run of 18 points before Sweet could finally take her out of the service box. Sweet wasn’t close to challenging Fahey on the return of serve, as she tried to scrape the ball back, but even when she did get the ball back it set Fahey up for an easy finish. Even when she did recover the serve, Sweet couldn’t make progress, as Fahey won the third game without dropping a point. Sweet’s last hurrah came at the start of the fourth game, when she won the first three points, but the result by this point was inevitable. Fahey steamed ahead, dropping her racket to the floor and throwing her outstretched arms at the gallery after she served her final ace.

Fahey’s win makes her the first player since Peter Latham in 1902 to hold the real tennis and rackets World Championships simultaneously, becoming just the second player in history to achieve the feat. She becomes the first player to win both championships since Howard Angus in the 1970s though he never held both titles simultaneously. The only other person to acheive the feat was Jim Dear in the 1950s. She becomes the second women’s World Champion, winning on her third attempt having lost the final on two previous occasions to Lea Van Der Zwalmen.

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Match results:

• 11:00 AM: Claire Fahey def Cesca Sweet 15/12 18/13 15/0 15/4