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St Hugh’s undergraduate student selected for Real Tennis Varsity 2026

Congratulations to St Hugh’s student, Herbert Vallat (Archaeology and Anthropology, 2025), who has been selected to represent Oxford at the Real Tennis Varsity match against Cambridge at Lord’s Cricket Ground (MCC) on 27 and 28 February. The first Real Tennis Varsity was held in 1859, and has been held annually ever since (apart from 1864 and the two world wars), which makes it the oldest annual tennis event.

Herbert said, ‘I started playing real tennis just over 10 years ago at an introductory event held at my local tennis club. I train for about 6 hours a week on-court, sometimes at the Oxford University real tennis court at Merton. I regularly play in open events in America, France and in the UK, and I will be competing in the US Open in Chicago this March.’

Currently, Herbert ranked 22 in the world, holds the U21 and U24 British Open titles and is a two-time finalist in the UK Amateur Championships.

Real tennis looks like a mix of lawn tennis and squash – players hit the ball over a net to each other, but it is only played indoors and the ball is allowed to hit the surrounding walls. It is still played using wooden rackets and handmade balls, but shares the use of the net and the same scoring system with lawn tennis.  Real tennis which started in medieval Europe, is the game from which lawn tennis developed.