The Royal Melbourne Tennis Club is hosting a ‘Battle of The Sexes’ tennis match between ladies world champion Claire Vigrass and Julian Snow – 18 times British Amateur Singles Championships. The event will be held at the RMTC, located in Sherwood Street in Richmond, Melbourne. The event starts at 6.30pm on Monday 20 February 2012, and ticket are priced from $25 – $100 and are available by calling the club on (03) 9429 9788.

Proceeds from the event will raise funds to promote junior real tennis in Australia. The funds will be used to encourage and subsidise new talented youngsters, as well as  existing juniors, by way of sponsorship of their tennis costs – including necessary elite coaching and training and overseas travel to tournaments.

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Despite having no court to practice on, the Sydney Real Tennis touring team played out of their skins to beat the might of the Royal Melbourne Tennis Club, to win back the Barry Toates Trophy in Melbourne on Saturday 17th September 2011. Breaking a drought of 5 years, Sydney posted a surprise win of 7 matches to 3 to regain the coveted trophy. The match was played at Melbourne’s real tennis club in Richmond, with plenty of friendly barracking from both sides to add to the atmosphere in the Dedans.

“I’m not quite sure where we pulled this win from,” admitted team captain James Willis, “but it was definitely unexpected given our lack of match practice. These days we tend to play just twice a year – once here in Melbourne, and once in a match against Hobart. However we always have practice the day before the match, so we managed to get our eye in early. We’re very grateful to Melbourne for hosting this annual event, and we look forward to many years of close competition in the future.”

Royal Melbourne Tennis Club were kind enough to post their own report on the match, with, of course, a touch of spin, to continue the banter beyond the match.