Fourth time lucky for St Albans’ Ladies as they lift the Harris Cup
Named in honour of two of the County’s greatest ever servants to tennis, John and Val Harris and now in its 7th year, the Harris Cup is the county’s prestigious 2 pair knockout cup event.
A feature of the competition is that each year the finals are held at a different venue and this year it was the turn of brilliant Barnet LTC. With refreshments galore provided for everyone who came to support the event, the club did a wonderful job of making the large crowd feel welcome….and replete!
Ok, so all that was needed was some decent on court entertainment…and let’s just say we needn’t have worried. The tennis served up was equally tasty on a perfect mid-October Autumn day.
Over the last few years, the Ladies competition has been dominated by the two major St Albans clubs, Townsend and St Albans and this year’s final continued the trend. Townsend had won the Cup for the last four years, beating their local rivals in the last three finals, but this year there was to be no denying St Albans.
The Jersey Lane club had come extremely close to winning in 2025 at Moor Park – missing out by just 2 games – and with the score at 1-1 after the first round the contest looked destined for another nail-biting finish. St Albans’ tennis went from strength to strength though and an exceptional second round saw them home and meant they finally got their hands on the trophy. In doing so they inflicted the first defeat in the competition on Townsend since the inaugural event in 2019.
The Men’s final saw the holders and most successful Harris Cup Men’s team, Welwyn, take on the home club. Barnet had fully earned their place in the final, having beaten a strong St Albans team, 2023 champions Rickmansworth and newcomers Oxhey Hall on the way. By reaching the final they also had the chance to avenge the defeat they had suffered at the hands of Welwyn in the Covid final in 2021. Welwyn clearly had other ideas though and with a team full of county stars all playing fabulous tennis they wrapped up their 3rd Harris Cup title in a row without losing a set. In doing so they also completed the Herts League/Harris Cup double for the 2nd year running.
Huge congratulations to this year’s champions and a big thank you to all four teams and their wonderful supporters and to Barnet’s welcoming hosts for making the day so enjoyable.
