At the start of July, a small group of students travelled under the Channel to France. Their intention? To play tennis in the country of its creation, renew links between clubs, and lay the groundwork for a larger trip of representative students in the future.

After experiencing a little more Belgian countryside than expected, outgoing women’s captain Stacey, Phoebe, and myself arrived in Paris – soon seeing evidence of Olympic preparation. With a packed schedule of Tennis, we were on court within a few hours, having passed near the Arc de Triomphe which was sporting the Paralympic logo! We spent a couple of hours getting used to playing tennis two floors up – practising our serves and some back wall drills borrowed from Kees.

The next day, we journeyed to the beautiful Château de Fontainebleau – home to the largest court in the world; apparently it was intended to be suitable for three players at each end! Having walked through the grounds, we located the court by hearing the sound of a ball on the back wall! Guillaume (their lovely pro) had kindly organised singles, but the highlight was when he generously stepped in to play doubles with the Cambridge contingent!

On our third day we returned to the Paris court, where Rod (the wonderful Pro) had in absentia organised a mammoth day of Tennis – we used the court from 10 am to 6 pm! First up was my singles match against a fit and fast Frenchman, and after many deuces the score ended at 7-6 to Cambridge. Next was a doubles tournament, comprising one Cantabrigian pair, one Parisian pair, and one mixed pair. There were many impressive comebacks and numerous 4-3 victories, as the mixed pair of Stacey and Damien prevailed! We sampled a traditional Croque Monsieur for lunch, after which the Cambridge women took centre stage. Stacey played an experienced opponent, but proved too strong with her consistent serving and movement around the court, winning 6-3. Phoebe volleyed exceptionally during her match, and earned a deserved 6-3 victory.

Finally, despite giving away 10 handicap points, Phoebe and Stacey served up a double bagel with a strong display, and we hope for a potential rematches in future to demonstrate our progress! Having played many rests over accumulative 25 hours on court, we all enjoyed a rest on our onward journeys – and are all very much looking forward to more real Tennis next year.

Our memories of playing real tennis at these unique and historic courts well last forever, and we hope that our new friends from across the channel will visit us at home in Cambridge. We intend to organise a larger tour for students in future years, with more players and extending south to Bordeaux to represent the students of CURTC. Currently all the students started their real Tennis journey at our club, which is an achievement to celebrate, and we believe a future tour will encourage more strong racquet players to join the club, strengthening us for future years.

Oliver Anderson-Shah, CURTC Varsity Captain 24/25