Women’s world Real Tennis number 1 Claire Vigrass, 20, from Inworth added the first-ever Neptune British Open women’s championship in the ancient game of rackets to her formidable tally of Real Tennis titles, powering her way through the inaugural event without dropping a game. The tournament at Queen’s Club followed a successful women’s rackets challenge match at Malvern College in November and attracted entries from a group of enthusiastic newcomers mostly accomplished players from other racket sports, among them the Queen’s Club tennis doubles champion Alex Kurkjian, the winner of the Malvern women’s rackets challenge plus South African squash star Barbara Vintcent, triathlete Jo Perriam, and former world Real Tennis champion Sally Jones. Most had been introduced to the game by Queen’s Club professional and former world champion Howard Angus and Alex Kurkjian who organised the first women’s open rackets evenings last summer, which produced growing numbers of converts to the sport.
Claire, the hot favourite won her group in style, her heavy serving, speed around the court and extra weight of shot proving too much for her opponents, although Barbara Vintcent who finished second in the group improved visibly with every match. The other group was decided by a marathon battle in which Sally Jones held her nerve against the fluent Alex Kurkjian, squeaking through the decider 18-13. Claire started in dominant style in her semi-final against Alex who after dropping the 2 opening games began hitting with more power and confidence and found a better length on her explosive serve which paid dividends, although Claire always looked capable of unleashing an untouchable angled drive and came through comfortably. Barbara Vintcent had a far closer struggle against the inexperienced Sally Jones en route to the final, trailing 1-2 before her intelligently varied serve and excellent retrieving off the back wall turned the tide and she closed out the deciding game 15-10. In the final, as expected, Claire was again untouchable, playing near-faultless rackets and growing in confidence as her serve did the damage while anything returned short of a length was dispatched with clinical efficiency. Despite some resourceful rallying from Barbara and brave attempts to vary the pace and angles, there was only going to be one winner and while the tournament proved a friendly and exciting introduction to rackets for most of the field, Claire already looks capable of holding her own with many of her male counterparts. Back in the late ‘90s, sporting all-rounder Alison Cockcroft went into the record books as the first woman to play in the British Open. Will Claire become the second? She is certainly strongly tipped to take her first women's world Real Tennis Championship in Australia in April.
Rackets began in the 18th century in the major London debtors’ prisons, such as the King’s Bench and the Fleet then spread to alehouses and the major public schools, including Eton, Harrow and Malvern College. Today it is widely acknowledged as one of the world’s fastest ball-games, with the ball fizzing through at speeds of up to 160 mph, and it is currently played in 14 British schools and a handful of clubs. It remains a minority sport with around 3,000 regular players in Britain and North America, but it is growing in popularity as most of the schools’ professionals now run evening clubs where anyone can come and try their hand at the game. Once an all-male preserve, growing numbers of women are now taking it up.
Results: Queen’s Club: Neptune British Open Rackets Championships Semi-finals: Claire Vigrass bt Alex Kurkjian 3-0 Barbara Vintcent bt Sally Jones 3-2 Final : Claire Vigrass bt Barbara Vintcent 3-0
