Regular Tournaments
Regular Tournaments
There are a considerable number of tournaments arranged on an annual or biennial basis at Club, National and International level, for both amateurs and professionals, both singles and doubles, on a level and handicap basis, for the young and not-so-young, for ladies and gentlemen, and mixed; unless otherwise specified, all tournament are open to male and female participants.
Juniors, Schools and Universities
The British Open Junior tournaments comprise the Under 12, 14, 16, 18, 21 and 24 Singles; there are also the Under 15, 19 and 24 Doubles, all on a level basis.
Between Schools, there are Singles and Doubles, both level and handicap, in different age groups, and for both boys and girls. In addition to the traditional Oxford v Cambridge Varsity match, there is also an Inter Universities tournament on an annual basis. For Schools’ alumni, there are both level and handicap doubles tournaments
Adult National Tournaments
For top amateurs, the National Amateur Championships (Singles and Doubles) are held at Queen’s in February, the annual MCC Gold Racquet Singles competition is played at Lord’s in May and the British Ladies Masters Singles at Manchester in March.
There are level singles tournaments within handicap ranges, i.e. for those with handicaps of 0 to 9, 10 to 19, 20 to 29, 30 to 39, 40 to 49, 50 to 59 and 60+. At the more mature end of the game, there are singles and doubles tournaments on a level basis for the Over 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s. There is also an annual Fathers & Sons competition played both on a level and a handicap basis. For the Ladies, there is the Mothers & Daughters Handicap Doubles event as well as a number of other singles and doubles tournaments on a handicap basis. The Invitation Mixed Doubles for the Billy Ross-Skinner is a particularly popular event
Inter Club
At a club level, there are various team events played throughout the season.
These include: the National League of eight divisions played level on a Pro/Am basis with two singles and one doubles; the Field and Pol Roger amateur knock-out tournaments with three singles and two doubles (level); and the Brodie Cup played at different levels of handicap. There is also a competition played amongst the winners of each club’s own handicap tournament. The Brigands tournament is an annual handicap doubles competition amongst peripatetic clubs
Club Matches and Internal Tournaments
All clubs have their own internal singles and doubles tournaments.
These are on a level and/or handicap basis as well as friendly matches with other clubs with full male, female and junior participation
International
The international schedule includes the annual Australian, French, US and British Open Singles and Doubles; the World Singles and Doubles Championships are played in alternate years; there are similar tournaments for Ladies.
For top amateurs, there is the biennial Bathurst Cup for national teams on a level basis as well as the Masters’ team and individual tournaments at Over 50, 60 and 70 age groups for the Cockram, Bostwick and Danby trophies are played on a rotating basis in alternate years. There is also the national Under 26 teams which competes in the biennial Van Alen, Clothier, Limb event.
There are two particular handicap doubles tournaments which attract teams of varied abilities from around the world in alternate years: The Boomerang Cup played in Melbourne, Australia, and Les Trois Tripots played on ancient trinquet courts in the Basque Country in South West France.
Simon Flynn, Chris Davies/RAD, October 2019