Claire Fahey unites rackets and real tennis World Championships for first time in 124 years
Fahey secures crown with 4-0 victory over Sweet
Claire Fahey has become the second player in history to win the Ladies World Rackets Championship, uniting the rackets and real tennis crowns following a 4-0 victory over Cesca Sweet at the Queen’s Club on Sunday.
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.
Match results:
11:00 AM: Claire Fahey def Cesca Sweet 15/12 18/13 15/0 15/4