THE PRENTICE CUP 2010

The Prentice Cup started in 1921 as the first international intercollegiate tennis event ever held and stands today as the oldest amateur international tennis competition. It is a match between a joint Oxford/Cambridge Team and a combined Harvard/Yale Team that takes place every two years alternately in the UK and the USA.

In 2010 the 6-man combined Harvard/Yale team toured the UK, a trip that culminates in the 3 day Prentice Cup match against Oxbridge held at The All England Lawn Tennis Club in Wimbledon. The Oxbridge side was comprised of 3 Cambridge players Rob Blythe- Captain, Rutger-Jan Lange, and Cameron Johnston) and 3 Oxford players.

Oxbridge hadn’t won the Prentice Cup on home turf for over 20 years but could draw confidence from their resounding 16-5 victory in the US two years previously (a match that Rob Blythe and two of his Oxford counter-parts had played in). Harvard/Yale toured the UK for 6 weeks prior to the fixture and the Oxbridge side had an intensive training camp at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton to ensure that it was a well contested fixture.

Harvard/Yale won 2010 Prentice Cup 12-9. Despite a spirited performance from the home side they lost a couple of crucial 3 set matches and were beaten by a better side. That said, a special mention must go to current CULTC captain, Cameron Johnston, who played the entire match with a broken left wrist after taking a tumble in training.

THE SEABRIGHT CUP 2010 

The female equivalent, the Seabright Cup, started in 2004 and despite its relative infancy is going from strength to strength. It is contested between a 4-women Oxbridge side and its opposing Harvard/Yale team and was held at The All England Lawn Tennis Club over the same 3 days as the Prentice Cup in 2010. The two Cambridge ladies who represented Oxbridge were Laura Morrill – Captain and Alexandra McGoodwin.

Oxbridge were seeking to avenge their defeat in the US in 2008 and were confident in the new players that had strengthened their line-up. In a much closer encounter than the US fixture, Oxbridge competed well against a strong Harvard/Yale team but eventually succumbed to a 9-3 loss, however the 3 wins were to the Cambridge girls!