A4 Spotlight: 2025 Real Tennis World Championship

(Real Tennis World Championship Poster)

This week, a sporting legacy unlike any other will be contested in Newport, Rhode Island, as the two best Real Tennis players in the world vie for the most historic title in sports. The 2025 Real Tennis World Championship, held at the National Tennis Club, pits defending champion Camden Riviere against challenger John Lumley in a best-of-13-sets match spanning three days.

This is more than just a tournament; it is the continuation of a tradition stretching back nearly 300 years. The Real Tennis World Championship is the longest continuously contested world championship in any sport, with its roots tracing back to the first world champion, Clergé the Elder, who won the title in 1740. Since that time, there has always been just one single individual recognized as the best in the world. This unmatched heritage gives the event a gravitas and sense of history that few other sporting events can match.

The stage for this competition is the National Tennis Club at the International Tennis Hall of Fame, a fitting venue for a sport often referred to as the “Game of Kings” and the precursor to modern lawn tennis. The sold-out venue will be filled with fans from around the world who are journeying to Newport to watch a high-stakes rematch. Riviere, a dominant force in the sport and the world’s number one player, is defending the title he first won in 2016. His challenger, John Lumley, is a formidable opponent who pushed Riviere in their 2023 World Championship match and has had a stellar year, vanquishing all other competitors to challenge the Champion in the biennial competition.

The format will be a test of physical and mental endurance, with the two players battling it out over three days—Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. With four sets scheduled for each of the first two days and the remaining sets to be played on the final day, the championship will be a marathon of extraordinary volleys, precise serves, and seemingly impossible shots off the many angled, playable surfaces of the Newport court.

This is the third time in the last two decades that Newport will serve as the venue for the Real Tennis World Championship. In 2004, Australian Rob Fahey was victorious over American Tim Chisholm. In 2016, Camden Riviere won the world championship, finally besting Fahey. The question this year is whether Riviere, now 38 years old, can continue his dominance over the competition or whether the younger John Lumley, who has been climbing the world rankings in recent years, will demonstrate the necessary fitness and skill to displace him from his throne.

While seating for the play is already sold out, the matches are going to be broadcast live on the YouTube channel of the US Court Tennis Association, thanks to the technological skill of Mr. Ryan Carey. Real Tennis (which is sometimes described as a mix of tennis, chess, and pinball) is played in a court with 26 playable surfaces, and is the ancestral game of all racquet sports. It is believed to have originated in 13th-century France. For those dedicated to the sport, it offers a unique blend of physicality, strategy, and historic tradition. Please enjoy introducing yourselves to the sport at its best and witness sports history in the making this week at Newport’s magnificent Real Tennis Court!

Ross Cann is an author, historian, and architect living in Newport. He is the founding principal of A4 Architecture and is the former president of the National Tennis Club and frequently plays real tennis on the Newport Casino’s historic court, first built in 1881.