'Real Tennis' is tennis in its original form from which the modern game as we know today derived. The top three Westbourne House Real Tennis pairs played in a Prep Schools tournament hosted by Petworth House in an exciting series of matches. The team played against Cottesmore and Amesbury. Each pair played against their equivalent pair from each of the schools.
The third pair (Isabel and Cassidy) played two tight games but, despite some excellent serving, narrowly lost to both Cottesmore and Amesbury.
The second pair (Jaiyou & Oli) convincingly beat Amesbury, but were unfortunate to lose their lead against Cottesmore; the sliding handicap increased as they had played so well in the early stages of their match.
The first pair (Fergus and Archie) were undoubtedly the strongest pair at the event and convincingly beat both first pairs from Cottesmore and Amesbury.
After all the matches, each of the three schools won three of their six matches and were level on points. The rules decreed that in a tied event the team that had won the most games would win the overall competition. By the narrowest of margins (26 games to 25 games) Cottesmore pipped Westbourne to the title, with Amesbury coming in third. Congratulations to all of our tennis pairs for their skillful playing and sportsmanship! Also, a big well done to Fergus O'C and Archie B, who were our top unbeaten pair.
