Live coverage of the 2025 Real Tennis Champions Trophy from the Royal Tennis Court at Hampton Court Palace
Presented by Mitsubishi Electric
Full event details available here: https://www.royaltenniscourt.com/tournaments/champions-trophy/2025
Get your tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/real-tennis-champions-trophy-22nd-27th-july-2025-tickets-1333903233479?aff=website
Order of Play:
Tuesday 22nd July: Qualifying Day One
Wednesday 23rd July: Qualifying Day Two
Thursday 24th July: First Quarter Finals
Friday 25th July: Second Quarter Finals
Saturday 26th July: Semi Finals
Sunday 27th July: Final
Come on. Come on. Okay, we’re on last match of the day. The Day Nighter, Ben Taylor Matthews against Nikki How. A repeat of the Eliminator 2025. What a match this is. Repeat of last year’s final which Nikki How came on out on top 64 in the third. Bert’s here with me. Hi Rob, thanks for the introducing me. Um happy to be commentating alongside you. We look smart, don’t we? Tournament tournament kit. Mitsu Bishy electric tournament jal. Now, good on Mr. Bish Electric. Tell you what, if I cared about cars, I might buy one. There we go. We’ve got We’ve got Nikki How, age 38, looking good for 38. And yeah, world number three, open winner, Aken head professional and a winner of this tournament. So, the title defense. Exactly. You’ll have played Ben loads of times. Yeah. There we go. French Open champion, British Open finalist. open finalist and the US Open finalist. So that’s a pretty good career. Not so bad. He’s got to two final eliminators, I think. So, good on him. Recent matches. Um, yeah, lost to Bobby Fay in the US Pro semi. Wonder if Rob’s watching from holiday. Um, so yeah, been a good season for Nick, I reckon. Then Taylor Matthews, age 40, world ranked number four. So this is world rank number three against world rank number four. Playing out of Bristol for now. Moves to Washington next month which is obviously a very exciting move for him. He’s made a final of every open apart from the US Open and I think he’s a four or five time finalist here at the Champs Trophy. Beno, you going to tell us? Four or five? Four and a half. Four. Yeah. So obviously lost to Rob in the US Pro final last month. Um beat John Lumley in the US Pro which was a fantastic win and obviously won the Jasmine Dean Cup in a hard four straight set win against me. So six matches to Ben, nine to Nick. That’s a pretty like extensive like win loss. Trophy 2025 at the receivers’s end is Ben Taylor Matthews. Serving is Nikki How three game sets. Play. It’s a beauty. Starts with a dead count. 15 up. Wow. Great. The grill. 305. 14. It’s a reallyinical shot for Ben. Seen some a really attacking game start from the receiver side which is something I feel like we’ve seen Ben build into his game more recently relative to his career. Um um looking for taking some really attacking options there. Um being less content with with the early gallery. And yeah, some initial success. So, uh, maybe we’ll stick with that. 405 server leads worse than two. So heavy. Nikki’s body is just 40 out of court, dudes. receive [Applause] advantage. [Applause] Chance there for Nick. Cheers. a little bit too short on that serve from Ben there. Seeing him test out various different options on the serve early on. Nicely done. I think the recurring theme throughout the tournament so far has been I think we’re just seeing everyone have by far the most success with the fast railroad to the back wall. Um and we can see that white patch where the uh paint has been chipped away at growing on the uh battery wall there. Um yeah, guilty. Also guilty. Receivers advantage better than two. Yeah. No, Ben should be at home here having spent a good chunk of his career working on Chase. Nicely done. And the first game to the receiver. One yard. What a shot is that to have Ben so strong off the tambber there from a defensive position the ball behind him and he’s just firm wrist and is able to power that ball back down. Yeah, most players are giving Nikki earns a weak response from most players there, but not them. Wow, 150 all going for the calories and um missing though and ultimately losing the point. [Music] [Applause] He won’t be happy with that one. A choice he takes on Ben. 305. Oh so strong to his kind of stable play I guess just side one and two gentlemanly on court and a chance to finish that match early with a head shot but took the chase instead. I was thinking that. I was like, “Yeah, main one.” I was like, “Why would you do that? He’s literally stood at second gallery.” Good night. That could have been a good night, Vienna. But, uh, nice rally so far. I think Nick just not quite found his range. Missing kind of main wall, back wall a little bit. Slightly unlucky. I mean, Ben’s reading it well. Not so long rallies to be honest. Um, I think this is going to be quite an entertaining match. Yeah, Ben’s just looked a little bit more like purposeful I guess with his shots. So, even if he hasn’t pulled all of them off fully committed whereas Nikki is maybe slightly easing into this match 40 30 1 and Two game. Two games to love. Server lead. [Applause] Good honesty from Nikki. Stop watching your railroad that 15 road. There’d be a massive um Michael Jordan powder off the sidewalk. Less than six 15. Go. Oh, I guess I guess it doesn’t matter. I wouldn’t have I think that touch the ceiling. No, I didn’t. I was having a look. No, better than two. Great bite. Absolute joke. It’s a real achievement to be able to get the ball to roll out of the corner like that because on this court when it when the ball um reacts with the back wall. It just seems to give every single shot a new life and the ball stays in play so much. But uh Nikki’s got it ripping down off the back wall. I think it’s a good court for real tennis to be honest. I think it rewards the receiver leads worse than six. Yeah, me too. I think for singles especially when you’ve got these rallies lost the chase from 15 better than two. And I love that um that volley option off the railroad. Very few can do that. Lost chase. That’s good. 30 all Go. [Applause] Last gallery done very very very nicely done to you all. two chases shot. Such great variation, Ben. Yes, great use of like the extra dimensions of the court, right? Yeah, that down the line option just makes the court look so big because Nikki’s anticipated where 99% of players may have hit that shot. Ben looking good at this point. Really good. And with that disguise on that ball, I can didn’t even have to be That hit the back wall first, but Nikki still didn’t really have a look at it just because of um I guess from Ben’s like posture, you couldn’t tell if he was going crosscourt or straight. Anyway, 30. Two decent chases. 30 all last gallery. your last gallery. Oh, wow. So good. 30 better than four. Lost chase. Not better than five. And again, that’s three games to love. Server leaves the door. Oh, Benny Matthew. So good. So good. Finds that width inside the tambber so often in practice. 15. Just knows exactly where to pitch the ball. Bolt. Strange. Careful Mickey. 30 love. Yes. Just really. Wow. Love I mean it can be a pretty lonely place Hampton Court if you’re not returning serve well and to think about Nikki’s return serve is probably one of the best parts of his game and not quite firing at the moment. I think Ben’s serving enough different stuff enough tight stuff that it’s just not easy right and service end is the place to be. That’s where you’re going to accumulate most of your points and uh yeah Ben’s really running away with it at this point. 40 love. The receiver leads the door. We’ve seen real tennis a lot can change and stay there. 1540. Oh my gosh, they hit him in the face. 30 40. Just like that. Back of juice. Juice. broke there’s advantage. Can’t take my eye off this ball just up top in this gallery. Just want to knock it down. six. I find that ball does just keep low. You hit the back wall kind of halfway up and it just stays that little bit lower. Somewhere like Queens, it’s just going to sit up really nicely just to be fed into the Don, but here like you got to contend with that unusual bounce. Ben would have like to uh pick up the gain there, but he’ll have to defend half yard worse than six. Feels like a critical juncture for Nikki in this first set here. Bit of a hill to climb. So good. And again just half finished. I mean to find that angle on the boat by Gon. [Music] That’s for Hamilton 15. Slightly more family friendly version. Wow. See, good players. Oh, better. Oh, no. Close miss. 305. two very unfortunate. Yeah, he’d be disappointed with those two. I think kind of first few games those were going over um just slightly missed. So sometimes that’s the way it goes. Mickey looking to get on the board in this set. Been a good level so far actually. I mean the main carrot, the main motivation is uh to get that day off tomorrow for these guys. 40 15 server leads better than the second gallery. finish. These guys are so good at finding the hazards. [Music] Time to uh for Ben to stamp out this mini resurgence from Nikki. But um as anyone can tell you being four up does not mean that you have won the first set. You can read all about it in real test newslet. 305. Wow. So attacking on that ball. It just really uh you can see him transfer all his weight to his front leg and just carve through it. Second gallery. She chases. Wow. I think a good result there for Ben. Um still 315 down. She’s going to need to work hard in this game. I mean, any chase like against Nikki on the return of serve is just a danger. Yeah, it’s proper pressure. But I I still think like he’s had a little bit of a he’s made a couple of errors that he wouldn’t have liked to make and he’s had a little bit of a a dip in level. Um and I think this is a very timely change of ends for Ben. He’s he’s made a few errors and yet it’s only 305 for one. So he’s he’s actually in a very positive position. Um this first one’s Chase two, right? 30. Yeah, like really leads chase two. If this is the purple patch ending, then it could be much worse. There’s your second gallery. Oh, inches. 40 30 top corner. That’s the game. Two four. Two games to four. Series. Wow. Wow. So strong. 15. Yeah, that’s too good. Yeah. Wow. This is so dangerous. full chest. 40 love. Little bit of fortune there for Nikki, but it’s a very strong shot. All the same. It’s kind of 40 love worse than a yard. I mean, it’s much for much really. I think once you’re 30 love down there, you can kind of just write that kind of bad bounce off, move on. Um, focus on that next game at 4-3 really. I think Yeah. Struggling from here, aren’t you? Yeah. But you never know. Real tennis can change. It’s only three points. 40 love serve leads worse than a yard. Ben the crowd love it. Three games to four receive league. 15 up. Oh, it’s okay. in the first gallery. 15 lock. Oh, he’s perfected it. Second gallery. Two chases. Ben’s experience on this court showing through. um finding the fifth target of the I tell you what, if you’d have picked Bertie Valor on fantasy real tennis, you’d have picked up 28 points. Now, I think maybe if I was looking to win the league, I should have picked Bertie Valot. That actually would have won me the league. Yeah, I mean, always a good pick. Good insider knowledge there. Two big wins and a solo pick. I mean who picture who was mad enough to p you myself for a joke and get solo pick better than the first gallery. Oh, it’s as good as it gets. So good. So good. 15 all better than the second gallery. Changing momentum is really you can really sense it here just these shots that Ben was making earlier. Second gallery. Such a strong shot there from Nikki. That back hand volley pushing up the 15. Not sure expected that one to come back to him. I think Ben thought I was in, but as it happens, 40 15 second gallery to beat and I think a bit of momentum needs to be rested back if Ben’s going to kind of win this set. I mean, we thought it was a done deal, right? 4-1 43rd. What I said, but yeah. No, I think I think most people think, oh my god, four games all for all. How many courts is that possible at? Yeah. 15 low. [Applause] It’s very very wide shot from Nikki finding the floor first there. 30 love. Easy to kind of force a target when it’s not on. [Music] [Applause] Almost 40 love. Okay. Five games to four. Series 15. No. Oh, 67. Oh wow. [Applause] Everything’s just held strong. Vote. Chase and half a yard. 151. Nice 15. That’s it. 305. Sorry for the um early exclamation folks. Incredible main ball defense from Nikki and uh until the very last second it looked like he was he’d found the gorilla as well. Okay. Yeah, we see Nikki change again with a looking at winning this set. after huge shift in momentum from um I’m just having a bit of a texting thing with Ben Y telling him about the way he looks like him in zezys good that he’s watching the match he says kind of love the new unpredictability at the top and yeah I do agree with you mate server leads better than half a That’s the chase. 4015. Better than the last gallery. So good. So good. [Applause] Finished with the ball. dodge. It’s a heavy shot. Signaling a potential uh second career in a different sport. What do ball? Yeah. Yeah, that’s cool. Um anyway, it’ be cool to see a five. Actually, I think Ben’s kind of got it together a little bit here. Worse than five to beat. One good cut volley, one good cut shot, and it’s game on. 340 the receiver leads. Worse than five. What a so good from Nick. He’s sure real determination, composure. Yeah, really fighting to not let this go to a deciding game. in the second gallery. Risk shoots, but it pays. Take it out. Any which way he brings up set point. Worse than second to beat. See advantage. Worse than the second gallery. Worse than the second. [Applause] Six games to four. Second set. Walk number two. Six in a row for me. That’s nice. That’s a really nice shot. Really nice shot. And he had to find his target and he did was All over that Mr. brutal. You know, Ben’s really not been far off with that high serve. Just been punished for it. [Music] 30. Such a tough shot. Wow, this has been relentless pressure. I think the tricky bit, you’ve not yet been on the end of it. On the other end, playing against Nikki singles, but the difficult bit is kind of start of a match, he’ll go straight with his forces. They’re all on target. So, you’re like, “Right, okay, I’m ready for the force.” And then he gets his cut volley going. And then you have to run over and get that. And that’s heavy. You can’t leave that for the back wall. that he changes where he hits his force. It’s basically like a nightmare. 15 servings. One and two. So many chases. It’s just one and two server. First game. Maybe not the most insightful commentary, but not a whole lot else to say. Flush 15 up. Nick Railroad. It’s an easy game right now. 150 all equal to it. Show and then went straight. Oh, such a good finish as well. Great length. 30. Ready? Boy, he’s back. 40 30 worse than the last gallery. 4030 in the chase. But what’s the difference between sol? Like what’s the one that’s a liquid? A solvent’s liquid something. Yeah, I just described. There you have it, folks. GCC chemistry. I just described brain as soluble, but that would work. It’s like mush, right? Okay. We’re good at tennis. That’s what counts. 40ish half worse than the last gallery. Chase. J. Oh no. Benn is going to really pay for these errors if Nikki takes his eighth game on the truck. [Applause] Love that ball in the wrong position. It is literally the only shot you can juice. That is an absolute joke. I mean, bent it perfect. Wow. [Applause] Good news. Oh boy. So good from Nick. Tough ball from there. Penthouse advantage. gallery impressive finder. He was kind of looking for it last few points. He was recogniz receivers advantage. Last gallery. So good. When any gallery would do the winning gallery is ideal shot, very honest. [Applause] Chase, great honesty of that. Great respect between these two fantastic competitors of our royal game. Advantage Ben better than two. So, can he get on the board in this set? Yeah, extend the beating a bit would be um crucial here for advantage. Better than two. Better than two. Won it. Great wor. Wow. Juice. It’s a brilliant shot from Nikki. No, it wasn’t on that ball. He almost has no right to get that much work on it off of a surf of that quality, but uh he does a miss target like that at this level. He’s had his opening and failed to capitalize on it. So we change ends at Juice and two chases. Nikki at the server side, he’ll be looking to continue his run of games and make it his eighth in a row. Yeah, it’s been a quite significant streak, hasn’t it? Yeah. Chase two. Just as I feel like he went through that period where he was almost unstoppable now that he’s potentially slowed down a bit. It’s so important for Ben to stay away. Servers advantage half yard worse than the last gallery. Nice job, my bad. [Applause] Just the quality is super super strong. game. Two games to last shots here and not being rewarded. So take something a little bit too much now. [Applause] Pass it off y [Applause] so good. So good all nothing though. If then it’s a easy but noted Nikki’s position on the court 150 all 30 15. Yeah. No chase off the yard. Hazard. It’s great serve though. Great response. Is that you in the last gallery? 30 or two chases. So Ben has lost eight games, but he’s been in a lot of them, right? He’s got to 30. Got to 40. Yeah. Nikki went through maybe a three or four game stretch where it was I mean, I’ve got no idea how you defend against that um onslaught that he threw at Ben, but um for the rest of these games, I think it’s been 30 all or juice in most of them. So, yeah, Ben’s Ben’s definitely been hard done by a hit. I mean, he moves very very doesn’t look unsettled. So, I think he’s experienced enough to know that score can change. So, good. 40. I absolutely love that. Worse than the last gallery. Pushing up the court, taking on the half volley, taking the game to them. Surf J. receivers advantage [Applause] game. That’s three games to love the receiver leagues. to ask in the same gallery. What do I think about the grippiness of the forehead? Uh, not much. Uh if you make grippiness of battery wall maybe uh with the repainting but uh the floor uh red and green reminds me of Queens definitely feel at home as you see Ben uh absolutely annihilate the growth. Yeah, that’s one thing I think Ben you noticed. I’m just getting some input from Beng. One thing that makes this repainting even trickier is that the the green the green numbers and the but on the but also you were saying how they react differently the the letters in the black corner. Not Ben and two Ben. Is that right? Or have I made that up? All right, they do. Okay, cool. I still I’m not getting kicked off just yet. Okay, so yeah, I’ve not had any issues with the grippiness, I must say. It’s just been like grippy the whole time. Boat all the corners. Don’t know what you’re talking about. I think you need to come here and see for yourself. Better than the second gallery. No, the floor I’ve got. I don’t know. But the people have me people have mentioned it but I just think the court is actually it’s the dust mate. It’s the dust on the plates fairly consistently. Serve leads better than the second gall. Wow. Mr. Four games, 10 in a row. lead. [Music] [Applause] Wow. I just love being helped out by a by a almost flash penthouse there, but and looks all bit done with that rally. 150 uh walked away from it with a point. But uh he is looking a little bit deflated and I think understandably given the the level of play he’s executed and the uh the lack of reward on the scoreboard finish in the game. Jason, five six. Oh my god, another one. 40. What? Eight girls now, Ben. Nine girls. It’s a lot. Eight grills. Wow. And a whole host of dead ons for Nick How. And that is how you execute when you get points at this level. Um yeah, Ben looking a little bit out, but that’s valid because he’ll still be in the tournament if he loses his life. Five and six. [Music] Chase and again that’s five games to love receive 15 15. BTM channeling his inner local RTC hero Phil D. these drags having a bit of success with There you go. Nicely done. Ready. There you go. Stroke chase. Chase 40 and a J. I mean his level I mean slight slightly has dropped I’d say but I think it’s worth reminding viewers that uh in this in this match the loser is still very much in the tournament and can win the whole event. So um it’s tricky isn’t it because Ben’s like I don’t want to extend myself too exactly. What’s the point in running into a wall? Yeah. Um but uh this might be Yeah. I mean the number of balls he’s given Nikki to finish the match there says it all. Um, but I think this is maybe use this opportunity to experiment as we’re seeing him doing better than he wor. Not much seeming to go Ben’s way as of yet despite the very high level he’s brought to this match backand to backand rally. I mean just so what I what I live for advantage that intent I’m trying to tell you to do wow match a great six games in a row high level from both players I don’t think 64 six leg tells the story of this match but um as I said both players can look forward to a second good final I suppose we’d Nikki’s in the semi. Ben’s got his second quarter final against me. Second year in a row. Probably thinking I’d absolutely smash him. Why was the point extending myself too much today? I like the other half of the draw anyway. So, we’ll never know either way. And tomorrow at six, but um and over to Nikki now for the targets. Over to Nikki now for the postmatch interview, I believe. Yeah. Yeah. So obviously we’ve got seven deadons, eight grills for Nikki, and that’s it’s pretty heavy target hitting. Um Ben won the majority of his points in the first set, I imagine. But uh yeah, great days tennis at the Hampton Court Palace. Uh 10 minutes to nine we finished, so not too antisocial. Hope you’ve enjoyed at home, guys. Sorry Giles will just be uh rushing downstairs for the postmatch interview, which has been a nice little addition to today’s play. But um yeah, B, what what do you reckon? Good tournament for you. That’s been unbelievable. I’m still not really sure what happened. Um neither to be honest. Yeah. Uh I I think apparently I’d never won a match at Hampton Court before this event. Yeah. Well, that’s changed. But yeah, that has changed. Definitely healed my relationship with this court. You still never won a best of three, though. You’ve won a few sets to nine at Hampton Court. You never won a best of three. Yeah, but everyone knows it’s set to nine is what matters, not best to three. I got through that actually. That was quite quick. Um, but yeah, no. Um, Ben knowing all the balls. Um, so we have three more days of the tournament left. We got the second quarter final repage day. We got the semis. We got the final to come which is awesome. Um, so Nikki’s earned himself a rest day for tomorrow. I wonder what he’ll do. I mean, what would you be doing but if you had a day off? No. Nikki booked himself a theater ticket probably. Yeah, as he is known to love. He does love the theater. He loves it. I mean, lots of colorful costumes and dancers and sing along. The world’s his oyster tomorrow. I mean, he can do absolutely anything. He could head to Scotland, play at Folkland. And if you haven’t noticed, we are really struggling to fill the time. But now, we’re not struggling that much. I mean, Charles is knocking around. He’s got his questions, got his polo. Um, yeah, guys, keep going. Tomorrow, it’s got two matches to watch. Plenty of action. Um, two matches scheduled half 4 and 6 pm. So, uh, note that in your diaries. Um, but yeah, um, fantastic stuff. But, what are you on this weekend? What you doing this weekend? Uh, I will not be playing tennis. That is for sure. Maybe you’ll be at the theater. I’ll be at the theater with Nikki. Yeah. Um, and you’ll be playing the uh I’ll be watching you when the win the Champions Trophy 2025 is what I’ll be doing with some popcorn on the sofa. Hope so. Anyway, looks like we’re nearly ready for Giles. As soon as you lose to someone, what you want I always want the person that beats me to do well. Makes me look good. And we are nearly ready. I need to come close to you and we’re all stations. Thank you. Thank you Robert and uh Bertie down here on court with Nick who has just come through match 64 61. Um Nick, you are defending champion here. You’ve obviously How’s the court playing this year compared to your victory last year? Uh good question. To be honest, today I thought I played played well. Um, in the first three days it took me a while to get used to a few shooting different bounces, but hasn’t seen too bad today. Uh, feel like the railroad program is more more successful this year last year. That’s the notable difference for me. But yeah, other than that, it’s pretty good. Um, and I think we’ve seen quite a few players kind of starting to starting a bit slowly and then kind of moving kind of starting to move through the gears. start the, you know, first set you go four love down, then you win 12 games in a row. What what what happened at four love what happened at four love down? So, um well, I felt that four love down it was I didn’t feel I was that outplayed. It just, you know, Ben won the important points to to win the game. So, I was like, well, I’ll just just keep playing and, you know, stay stay in this set and see what happens. But, yeah, I never expected to win 12 games on the bounce. Um but yeah. Um and obviously you’ve played Ben quite a few times. You played him quite recently um in in Akin. Obviously you played him here last year’s last year’s final. Um how much of that did you kind of bring from you how much of that did you bring knowledge and kind of experience from that bringing into this tournament and into this match? Uh yeah well um Ben’s a terrific player. Uh but I do sort of know his game style and I know that I have to play really well to beat him. He’s a very very tidy player and if you’re not on your game, he will capitalize. Um, so it’s just about hanging tough and hopefully I get enough chances to find my targets and if I’m on if I’m on on form then normally it’s it’s been quite successful last few times. Awesome. Thank you very much. Thank you very much Nick. Congratulations. We’ll see you on Saturday. Back up to you Rob and and Bur to wrap up. Uh not sure they’re still in the country bitter. This is Ben Gates speak just signing off here from the Royal Tennis Court for the day. Um do join us again tomorrow for the second quarterfinals, the repercharge round. Um we will have plenty of exciting tennis for you. For now, thanks once again to Mitsubishi Electric for sponsoring us and we will see you next time. Hey, hey, hey.
