List of real tennis world champions
Encyclopedia
Below are the lists of real tennis
world champions.
gained popularity.
Except in cases where the champion has retired, the championship has always been on a challenge basis — the champion retains the title until losing an official challenge or retiring. Originally, the champion had the right to accept or reject a challenge, usually depending upon the prize money put up by the challenger's sponsor. Several years could thus go by between challenge matches. Today, however, the title must be defended every even-numbered year. The top four ranked players in the world (excluding the champion himself) play off for the right to challenge. The champion and challenger then play a match of up to 13 sets over multiple days. In theory this is the only match the champion has to play in the two years since winning the last one.
The most recent men's world championship match was on May 4, May 6, and May 8, 2010 at the Royal Melbourne Tennis Club
in Melbourne, Australia where Robert Fahey
won a record tenth consecutive title match, beating challenger Steve Virgona
, 7 sets to 2. The game scores were: 6-4, 6-2, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-5, 3-6, 6-2 , 6-1.
, Australia
, France
, and the United States
. The championship match uses a best of 9 sets format. The 2009 World Championships was held at the Seacourt Tennis Club in the UK from 12 to 16 May 2009. Robert Fahey & Steve Virgona beat Bryn Sayers & Ricardo Smith in the final: 6-3, 6-3, 6-2, 6-1, 6-3.
in Newport, RI.
Real tennis
Real tennis – one of several games sometimes called "the sport of kings" – is the original indoor racquet sport from which the modern game of lawn tennis , is descended...
world champions.
Men's singles
Men's singles in "real" tennis is the oldest world championship in sports. It predates the use of the term "real tennis," as the sport was simply "tennis" until lawn tennisTennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
gained popularity.
Except in cases where the champion has retired, the championship has always been on a challenge basis — the champion retains the title until losing an official challenge or retiring. Originally, the champion had the right to accept or reject a challenge, usually depending upon the prize money put up by the challenger's sponsor. Several years could thus go by between challenge matches. Today, however, the title must be defended every even-numbered year. The top four ranked players in the world (excluding the champion himself) play off for the right to challenge. The champion and challenger then play a match of up to 13 sets over multiple days. In theory this is the only match the champion has to play in the two years since winning the last one.
The most recent men's world championship match was on May 4, May 6, and May 8, 2010 at the Royal Melbourne Tennis Club
Royal Melbourne Tennis Club
The Royal Melbourne Tennis Club is one of only five real tennis clubs in Australia, and the site of one of less than fifty real tennis venues in the world. The RMTC is the second oldest in Australia and the largest...
in Melbourne, Australia where Robert Fahey
Robert Fahey
Robert Fahey is an Australian real tennis player.On 27 April 2006, at the Oratory Tennis Club in Woodcote, South Oxfordshire, he matched the great Pierre Etchebaster's feat of seven consecutive defenses of the real tennis singles World Championship, which he has held since 1994...
won a record tenth consecutive title match, beating challenger Steve Virgona
Steve Virgona
Steve Virgona is a professional real tennis player based in Philadelphia. He is currently ranked number two in the world and is a world doubles champion. Virgona's victories include the Australian Open in 2007, the British Pro and the US Open.-Career:...
, 7 sets to 2. The game scores were: 6-4, 6-2, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-5, 3-6, 6-2 , 6-1.
- 1740 Clergé, The ElderClergéClergé was the greatest player of real tennis in the mid 18th century, with the height of his career being about 1753 in France. He is credited with being the first world champion of any sport, holding the real tennis title from 1740 until 1765, when Raymond Mason succeeded him. He was...
- 1765 Raymond Mason
- 1785 Darion Dyson
- 1816 MarchisioMarchisioMarchisio is an Italian surname, and may refer to:* Claudio Marchisio , Italian footballer* Luigi Marchisio , Italian cyclist* Rita Marchisio , Italian runner* Rosina Lawrence Marchisio , Canadian-American actress...
- 1819 Philip Cox
- 1829 Edmund Barre
- 1862, 1871 Edmund Thompkins
- 1871 George LambertGeorge Lambert (tennis)George Lambert was a British real tennis player.Lambert was the world champion of the sport , succeeded by Tom Pettitt.-See also:* Real tennis world champions...
- 1885, 1890 Tom PettittTom PettittTom Pettitt was the real tennis world champion from 1885 to 1890.-Biography:Born in Beckenham, Kent, England, Pettitt emigrated to Boston, Massachusetts as a penniless teenager. He quickly rose from being the dressing-room boy at a private court on Buckingham Street, to being its head...
- 1890 Charles SaundersCharles Saunders (tennis)Charles Saunders was an English real tennis player.Saunders was the world champion of the sport from 1890, when Tom Pettitt retired, and remained so until 1895.-See also:* List of real tennis world champions...
- 1895, 1898, 1904 Peter Latham
- 1905, 1906 Cecil Fairs
- 1907 Peter Latham
- 1908, 1910 Cecil Fairs
- 1912 Fred CoveyFred CoveyFred Covey , born Geoffrey Frederick Covey, in Woolwich, England, was world champion from 1912 to 1914 and from 1916 until 1928 at real tennis, the original racquet sport from which the modern game of lawn tennis , is descended.Covey was a professional, who, apart from service in the Great War,...
- 1914 Jay Gould II
- 1916, 1922, 1923, 1927 Fred CoveyFred CoveyFred Covey , born Geoffrey Frederick Covey, in Woolwich, England, was world champion from 1912 to 1914 and from 1916 until 1928 at real tennis, the original racquet sport from which the modern game of lawn tennis , is descended.Covey was a professional, who, apart from service in the Great War,...
- 1928, 1930, 1937, 1948, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1952 Pierre EtchebasterPierre EtchebasterPierre Etchebaster is widely considered history's greatest player of real tennis , the original racquet sport from which the modern game of lawn tennis , is descended.Born in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, France, a Basque fishing village, he served in the French Army during World War I before...
- 1955 Jim DearJim DearJames "Jim" Dear was an English racquets, court tennis, and squash player who effectively won world titles in three different sports during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s....
- 1957 Albert "Jack" JohnsonAlbert Ariel Bedwin JohnsonAlbert Ariel Bedwin Johnson was an English real tennis player.Johnson was real tennis world champion from 1957 through 1959.-References:...
- 1959, 1966, 1968 Northrup R. KnoxNorthrup R. KnoxNorthrup Rand Knox , was a Buffalo banker, sportsman, and community leader who, along with his brother Seymour, brought the National Hockey League franchise the Buffalo Sabres to Buffalo, New York. Knox is the third generation of the Knox family to serve as chairman of Marine Midland Bank and its...
- 1969, 1970 G.H. "Pete" Bostwick, Jr.
- 1972, 1974 Jimmy Bostwick
- 1976, 1977, 1979 Howard Angus
- 1981, 1983, 1985 Chris Ronaldson
- 1987, 1988, 1991, 1993 Wayne Davies
- 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010 Robert FaheyRobert FaheyRobert Fahey is an Australian real tennis player.On 27 April 2006, at the Oratory Tennis Club in Woodcote, South Oxfordshire, he matched the great Pierre Etchebaster's feat of seven consecutive defenses of the real tennis singles World Championship, which he has held since 1994...
Men's doubles
The men's doubles title is earned in a tournament, played off among the sport's eight top-ranked pairings. Competed every odd-numbered year, it is hosted in rotation among the countries with active courts in the following order: the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The championship match uses a best of 9 sets format. The 2009 World Championships was held at the Seacourt Tennis Club in the UK from 12 to 16 May 2009. Robert Fahey & Steve Virgona beat Bryn Sayers & Ricardo Smith in the final: 6-3, 6-3, 6-2, 6-1, 6-3.
- 2001 Tim ChisholmTim ChisholmTim Chisholm is a semi-retired American real tennis player. Tim is currently Racquets Director at The Tuxedo Club in Tuxedo Park, New York. A former lawn tennis player, Chisholm switched to the original game of tennis around the year 2000...
/Julian SnowJulian Snow (real tennis)Julian Snow is a champion amateur real tennis player.He has won 18 British Amateur Singles Championships , eclipsing Howard Angus' previous record of 16 wins.... - 2003 Robert Fahey/Steve Virgona
- 2005 Robert Fahey/Steve Virgona
- 2007 Robert Fahey/Steve Virgona
- 2009 Robert Fahey/Steve Virgona
Women's singles
Unlike the men's singles title, the women's title is earned in a tournament. The title holder must win her way through the draw for the right to defend the championship. The championship tournament is held every odd-numbered year. The most recent women's singles world championship was held May 4-9, 2009 at the National Tennis ClubNational Tennis Club
The National Tennis Club is a club for enthusiasts of a branch of tennis called court tennis in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. Its home is the reconstructed Court Tennis Building at the Newport Casino and is perhaps the busiest court in the United States that houses court tennis...
in Newport, RI.
- 1985 Judith Clarke
- 1987 Judith Clarke
- 1989 Penny Fellows (Lumley)
- 1991 Penny Lumley
- 1993 Sally Jones
- 1995 Penny Lumley
- 1997 Penny Lumley
- 1999 Penny Lumley
- 2001 Charlotte Cornwallis
- 2003 Penny Lumley
- 2005 Charlotte Cornwallis
- 2007 Charlotte Cornwallis
- 2009 Charlotte Cornwallis
Women's doubles
The women's doubles world championship is held at the same time and venue as the women's singles championship. It is also a tournament format, rather than a challenge.- 1986 Judith Clarke/Anne Link
- 1987 Lesley Ronaldson/Katrina Allen
- 1989 Sally Jones/Alex Garside
- 1991 Sally Jones/Alex Garside
- 1993 Penny Lumley/Charlotte Cornwallis
- 1995 Penny Lumley/Sue Haswell
- 1997 Penny Lumley/Sue Haswell
- 1999 Penny Lumley/Sue Haswell
- 2001 Penny Lumley/Jo Wood (Iddles)
- 2003 Penny Lumley/Jo Wood (Iddles)
- 2005 Charlotte Cornwallis/Sue Haswell
- 2007 Charlotte Cornwallis/Penny Lumley
- 2009 Charlotte Cornwallis/Karen Hird