Twenty-nine titles in a row: meet sport’s most dominant athlete

Real tennis star Camden Riviere holds the oldest world title in sport, dating back to 1740, and last week the 37-year-old became British Open champion once again.

By Patrick Kidd for The Times, 1 December, 2024

There is a pleasing sound to real tennis. The pop as the hand-stitched ball, smaller, heavier and much harder than in lawn tennis, comes off the super-tense face of the racket. The solid thud as it strikes the wooden penthouse roof that runs round three sides of the court. The esoteric cry of the marker to indicate a “chase” that will bring a change of ends. “Nearly a yard worse than the last gallery,” he says. Or “hazard chase the door”.

Like the Shipping Forecast, it is impenetrable to the casual observer and yet instantly comforting — and it is hard not to be gripped by the rhythm of the game as you watch from behind the netted gallery windows, two of which offer a winning shot, and try not to flinch when the ball is coming straight at your face.

It is a sport that echoes, both aurally on a court where the rafters are 30ft above the flagstone floor and historically. On Monday night, Camden Riviere, the world champion from the United States, beat Australia’s Nick Howell in four sets to become British Open champion on a Queen’s Club court built in 1886. That’s old, but not a patch on the one at Hampton Court, which turns 400 next year.

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Real Tennis Featured in The Times

The Saturday Times included the beloved sport of Real Tennis in its quiz section.

Quiz Time: Can You Guess The Answer to This Times Question About Real Tennis?

On Saturday, 7 January, 2023, The Times featured Real Tennis in its quiz section, asking the following question for number 18: In 2013, Camden Riviere became the world number one in the "real" form of which sport?

Can you guess the answer? ;)

Meet the 'real tennis' star who has won 26 world titles

By Ryan Hooper for The Daily Mail, August 24, 2022

Rob Fahey and Claire Fahey for The Daily Mail

He may be the greatest sportsman you've never heard of. For Rob Fahey's achievements put Roger Federer and Usain Bolt in the shade.

The 54-year-old will seek his 27th world title in 29 years next month. But Fahey's exploits have gone unnoticed because few have heard of his sport, real tennis.

Unlike the lawn variety, it is centuries old and played indoors with a hard ball, on a court with shed-like protuberances known as penthouses.

Henry VIII was a devotee. Fahey, from Reading, is not the only champion in the family.

Wife Claire, 31, pictured with him, has ten world titles. Having had a hip replacement last year, Fahey will retire after September's world championships in Essex...

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