Whether it be pickleball, squash or tennis, as long as there’s a racket and ball involved it’s “game on” for sports-loving Chris Doucas.

A lifelong tennis player and now accredited pickleball coach, Chris’ real passion, however, is the more ancient sport of “Real Tennis”, also known as “Royal Tennis.” Played on a walled court with an asymmetrical wooden racket and a cork-core ball, real tennis is the ancestor of modern tennis and has a fanatical following from those who have the opportunity to play, but courts are few and far between.

But this month, Chris and fellow Real Tennis fans from NSW made the trip to the Royal Melbourne Tennis Club (RMTC) to take on the Victorians at the annual interstate invitational Paul Wheeler Trophy.

“RMTC is one of the few clubs in the world to have two real tennis courts,” Chris said. “The others are the Cambridge University Real Tennis Club, The Queen’s Club, and Prested Hall Racket Club in the UK and The New York Racquet & Tennis Club in the US.

“Sydney does not yet have court facilities to practise on, so NSW was at a considerable disadvantage in the competition, but we came away with a fantastic win! Myself and my partner, Damien O'Meara won three out of our four matches in the tournament for Sydney.”

While Chris’ ultimate dream would be to see a Real Tennis court built in the Central West, things are looking up for the sport of Real Tennis in NSW, with a new court currently being built at the Cheltenham Tennis Courts due to open in January 2025.