The European Open was a real tennis tournament held annually at Lord's Cricket Ground in London, England. It was a ranking point tournament for the purposes of qualifying for the Real Tennis World Championship.
The event was first established in 1992 as a doubles tournament at the Queen's Club in London. In 1995 it was converted as an invitational singles tournament in Bordeaux, with the first edition won by Lauchlan Deuchar. It continued to be hosted on an irregular basis at Fontainebleau and Paris in 1996 and 1998 before moving to the United Kingdom in 2003 at Prested Hall. In 2005, the event became an Open and moved to its permanent venue at the Lord's Cricket Ground. Since the event became an Open, it has only been won by Robert Fahey and Camden Riviere, both of whom would be World Champions during their career. Notable matches included the 2008 final, the first match that Riviere would win against Fahey in their careers across all competitions and the 2013 final, with Riviere overcoming Fahey in 5 sets and three and a half hours. The event has not been held since 2015 due to a lack of sponsorship.
Past finals
Singles
Year VenueChampionsRunners-upScore Invitational era1995 Bordeaux Lachlan Deuchar Mike Gooding 1996 Fontainebleau Mike Gooding Chris Bray 1997 Not held1998 Paris Nick Wood Chris Bray 1999–2002 Not held2003 Prested Hall Robert Fahey Chris Bray 6/0 6/2 6/1 2004 Not held Open era2005 Lord's Robert Fahey Nick Wood 6/4 6/5 6/22006 Lord's Robert Fahey Steve Virgona 6/3 6/3 6/02007 Lord's Robert Fahey Ruaraidh Gunn 5/6 6/2 6/1 6/12008 Lord's Camden Riviere Robert Fahey 6/3 6/2 6/22009 Lord's Robert Fahey Camden Riviere 6/3 6/3 4/6 1/2 2010 Not held2011 Lord's Robert Fahey Bryn Sayers 3/6 6/3 6/0 6/52012 Lord's Camden Riviere Bryn Sayers 6/1 6/1 6/22013 Lord's Camden Riviere Robert Fahey 6/4 5/6 3/6 6/2 6/3 2014 Not held2015 Lord's Robert Fahey Chris Chapman 6/0 6/5 6/3
Doubles
Year VenueChampionsRunners-upScore 1993 Queen's Club Lachlan Deuchar / Wayne Davies Julian Snow / Nick Wood 5/6 6/1 6/4 5/6 6/4 1995 (March) Queen's Club Lachlan Deuchar / Wayne Davies Mark Devine / Kevin Sheldon 6/3 6/5 6/2 1995 (September) Queen's Club Lachlan Deuchar / Jonathan Howell Mark Devine / Kevin Sheldon 6/5 6/3 1/6 6/5 1996 Queen's Club Julian Snow / James Male Chris Bray / Mike Gooding 6/2 3/6 3/6 6/3 6/2
References