British Open (real tennis)

The British Open is a real tennis tournament, with the men's draw held annually at Queen's Club in London, England, and the women's draw held at the Seacourt Tennis Club on Hayling Island. The men's event is a national Open carrying ranking points for the Real Tennis World Championship.^[1] The women's event does not carry any ranking points.

The men's event was established in 1931 as the Prince's Club shield, and was originally a challenge format with Edgar Baerlein defeating Marylebone Cricket Club professional William Groom in the inaugural edition 3 sets to 2. A second challenge was held later the same year, with E Ratcliff defeating Moreton Morrell professional Ted Johnson in the same year. The event changed to a best of 13 format in 1932 with Groom defeating Ratcliff, but losing to amateur champion Lowther Lees in 1934.^[2] Lees would hold the title until 1938 where he was defeated by Queen's Club profesional Jim Dear. No challenges would be held during World War II, with Dear resigning his title in 1952.^[3] The title was picked up by rackets professional Ronald Hughes, who held it until 1967, when he retired during the challenge against Frank Willis.

Willis would battle the title against amateur Howard Angus five times during the 1970s, with Angus becoming champion in 1970. An annual doubles Open championship was first contested in 1971, first won by Ronald Hughes and Norwood Cripps. Cripps would win eleven of the first thirteen doubles championships, partnered with Hughes, Charles Swallow and Alan Lovell. In the singles, Angus won the Real Tennis World Championship in 1976, uniting the British Open and World Championships for the first time. In 1979, he was challenged for both titles by professional Chris Ronaldson, to be held at the Royal Tennis Court, Hampton Court.^[4] Ronaldson won both titles, defeating Angus 7–0, and thereafter relinquished the British Open title, allowing it to become an annual event at Queen's Club.^[5]

With the tournament now held annually, the 1980s were dominated by Chris Ronaldson winning six times between 1980 and 1985. In 1984, Ronaldson became the first player to win all four Opens in the same year - a calendar year grand slam.^[6] The era saw a rise in the number of Australian professionals travelling to participate, with Graham Hyland, Lauchlan Deuchar and Wayne Davies competing against Ronaldson in various finals, Davies taking the match to a fifth set on three occasions and Hyland once. Ronaldson's hold on the Championship was broken by Deuchar in 1986, who would go on to win a further five consecutive titles until 1991. Deuchar's dominance prevented Davies from completing a calendar year grand slam in 1988, the latter having held the three other titles that year. Davies and Deuchar won the doubles together on eight occasions, undefeated at the Open between 1984 and 1992.^[7]

A changing of the guard occurred in the early 1990s, with British amateur Julian Snow winning three titles between 1992 and 1994. The tournament saw the early rise of Robert Fahey, retiring from the 1993 final against Snow and thus failing to complete a calendar year grand slam.^[8] Fahey won his first title in 1995, but his dominance started in 2000. Fahey won eleven singles titles between 2000 and 2011, losing only the 2002 final to Tim Chisholm in five sets. He also won nine doubles titles between 2001 and 2012, missing out in 2004 and 2009. Fahey's grip on the Open title was broken by Bryn Sayers in 2012, though he would later win the 2018 as well.^[9]

The 2010s saw the rise of Camden Riviere. Riviere had reached the final in 2008, but it wouldn't be until 2014 that he would win for the first time. Riviere would be undefeated at the British Open from 2014 onwards, though he was absent in 2018 and 2021. Riviere also has been undefeated in doubles since 2013, partnered with Tim Chisholm on four occasions and John Lumley on two occasions.