Lea Van Der Zwalmen (born 15 February 1996) is a French rackets and

real tennis Real tennis – one of several games sometimes called "the sport of kings" – is the original racquet sport from which the modern game of tennis (also called "lawn tennis") is derived. It is also known as court tennis in the United Sta ...

player and the current rackets

World Champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

. She is undefeated in rackets since the inaugural Ladies World Championship in 2015. In real tennis, she represents the Jeu de Paume de Bordeaux in Mérignac,

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

and is women's world number 2. She has contested two

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

singles finals and has won two Open doubles titles at the

2022 French Open The 2022 French Open was a Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was held at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 22 May to 5 June 2022, comprising singles, doubles and mixed doubles play. J ...

and the 2025 US Open. At the

2025 Australian Open The 2025 Australian Open was a Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam level tennis tournament held at Melbourne Park from 12 to 26 January 2025. It was the 113th edition of the Australian Open, the 57th in the Open Era, and the first Grand Slam (tenn ...

she became the second female player to compete in the main draw of an Open championship. She has previously represented

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in junior

squash Squash most often refers to: * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (plant), the fruit of vines of the genus ''Cucurbita'' Squash may also refer to: Sports * Squash (professional wrestling), an extr ...

and also plays

padel tennis Padel () is a racket sport typically played in doubles on an enclosed court slightly smaller than a doubles tennis court. It has the same scoring system as tennis, but different rules, strokes, and technique. The balls are similar but softer. ...

Career

Squash

Van Der Zwalmen started playing

at the age of 8 whilst living in

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

, France. Van Der Zwalmen captained the French team to the

2013 Women's World Junior Squash Championships The 2013 Women's World Junior Squash Championships is the women's edition of the 2013 World Junior Squash Championships, which serves as the individual world Junior championship for squash players. The event took place at the Hasta La Vista Club ...

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

, Poland. She lost in the first round to Canadian Alison Richmond. In the team event, she led the French team the 10th place playoff against

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. She played in the Under 19 French Championships in 2015, which she won after finishing runner-up for eight years. She achieved a highest world ranking of 160 in February 2015. When she moved to study at

Clifton College Clifton College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in the city of Bristol in South West England, founded in 1862 and offering both boarding school, boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18. In its early years, unlike mo ...

she retired from squash to focus on her rackets career.

Rackets

Van Der Zwalmen took up rackets while studying A-levels at

. She won the Schoolgirls Seniors Singles Championships in 2014 and 2015. Women had only been permitted to play rackets from 2008, and in 2011 the first British Open for women was hosted at the

Queen's Club The Queen's Club is a private sporting club in Barons Court, West Kensington, London, England. The club hosts the annual Queen's Club Championships grass court lawn tennis tournament (currently known as the "HSBC Championships" for spo ...

. For the first four years, the event was dominated by

Claire Fahey Claire Fahey (born 19 June 1991) is a British real tennis and rackets player and current real tennis Ladies World Champion. She holds over 40 Open singles titles and has completed a calendar year Grand Slam on six occasions. She is the firs ...

, who did not enter in 2015 due to a scheduling clash with the real tennis US Open. Van Der Zwalmen won the British Open on her first attempt in 2015, and would go on to be undefeated at the tournament between 2015 and 2019. She hasn't entered the tournament from 2020 onwards. In 2015, the first ever rackets Ladies World Championship was hosted at the

. As at the time, Fahey was the unchallenged champion, Van Der Zwalmen competed in an eliminator process to challenge Fahey for the inaugural title. She defeated Amanda Avedissian in the final eliminator, and went on to defeat Fahey 3 games to 1. After the 2015 World Championship, Fahey retired from competitive rackets leaving Van Der Zwalmen as the dominant world number 1. Following the inaugural championship, future championships would be run as an eliminator process with the incumbent champion facing a single challenger for the title. The 2017 World Championship was held at

Wellington College Wellington College may refer to: New Zealand * Wellington College, Wellington, New Zealand * Wellington College of Education, now the Faculty of Education of Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand * Wellington Girls' College, Wellington, N ...

Crowthorne Crowthorne is a village, and civil parish, in the Bracknell Forest district of southeastern Berkshire, England. It had a population of 7,806 at the United Kingdom Census 2021, 2021 census. Crowthorne is the location of Wellington College, Be ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

. Georgie Willis qualified through the eliminator process to challenge Van Der Zwalmen. Van Der Zwalmen defended her title comfortably 3 games to zero. Willis again qualified through to the 2019 challenge, this time at the

. Van Der Zwalmen again defended her title 3 games to zero. The first Ladies Doubles World Championship was held in 2020, which Van Der Zwalmen lost to Tara Lumley and India Deakin while partnering Louisa Gengler-Saint. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and following the completion of her Masters in Economics, Van Der Zwalmen moved to

, and was not able to train or play rackets as there are no rackets courts in France. Nonetheless, Van Der Zwalmen returned to Queen's for the 2022 World Championship against Schoolgirl champion Cesca Sweet, winning 3 games to zero. With Van Der Zwalmen no longer competing in British Opens, Fahey made a return to competitive rackets, winning the 2023 British Open equalling Van Der Zwalmen's record of 5 Open victories. The two would meet on the doubles court at the 2023 World Doubles Championship. Van Der Zwalmen and Sweet defeated Fahey and Lumley 3 games to zero. Despite Fahey's loss to Willis at the 2024 British Open final, Fahey would qualify through the eliminator process to challenge Van Der Zwalmen for the 2024 World Championship. In their first meeting in any singles competition since the inaugural edition back in 2015, Fahey opened with a strong start by winning the first two games and building a lead in the third. Van Der Zwalmen fought back, taking the third game to a set, and following up with a relatively quick fourth game. Going into the final game, Claire reached a set, but Van Der Zwalmen blitzed the set to 5 to win her fifth consecutive World Championship.

Real tennis

Van Der Zwalmen began playing

at the

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

following her second World Championship rackets victory in June 2017, with the stated goal of beating incumbent World Champion

. She debuted in the

2017 French Open The 2017 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 116th edition (87th as a Grand Slam) of the French Open and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros from 28 May to 1 ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, losing her singles in the first round to Dutch champion Saskia Bollerman. The following year, she reached the semi finals of the

British Open The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

Seacourt Seacourt is a deserted medieval village (DMV) in the civil parish of Wytham, in the Vale of White Horse district, in Oxfordshire, England, near the city of Oxford.The site is now mostly beneath the Oxford Western By-pass ( A34), about south o ...

, and the final of the

French Open The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...

, falling to Fahey on both occasions. At the end of 2018, she had cemented her position as the women's world ranked number 2. In 2019, Van Der Zwalmen became the fifth woman to achieve a real tennis handicap below 20 since the introduction of the modern handicap system in 2002, following Fahey,

Charlotte Cornwallis Charlotte most commonly refers to: *Charlotte (given name), a feminine form of the given name Charles ** Princess Charlotte (disambiguation) ** Queen Charlotte (disambiguation) *Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, a city *Charlotte (cake), ...

, Penny Lumley and

Kate Leeming Kate Leeming (born 1967) is an Australian extreme endurance cyclist and explorer, known for several long distance cycling expeditions. She has cycled more than twice around the world at the equator. Background Leeming was raised in Northam, ru ...

. In addition to reaching her first

final, she became the first woman to compete for the Raquette d'Or - the French Amateur championship - reaching the semi final stage. She also entered the Men's division of the British Open, the second woman ever to do so behind Fahey, but lost her qualifying match to Freddie Bristowe. In 2020, Van Der Zwalmen moved to

to the newly opened court in Mérignac. However,

prevented her from travelling and participating in tournaments. She nevertheless made the most of her spare time by training with Nick Howell who at the time was Head Pro of the Bordeaux club and number 5 in the world. At her resumption of play, she reached the final of the Raquette d'Or, losing to

Matthieu Sarlangue Matthieu Sarlangue (born 14 August 1992) is an amateur French real tennis (jeu de paume) player currently based at the Société Sportive du Jeu de Paume et de Racquets in Paris. He has won the Raquette d'Or – the French Amateur Championships ...

. She also reached the final of the Coupe de Thélème in early 2022, a second division French open division tournament. 2022 saw the delayed edition of the

Real Tennis World Championship The Real Tennis World Championship is the main competition in real tennis. Start year # Men's singles: 1740 # Men's doubles: 2001 # Women's singles: 1985 # Women's doubles: 1985 Men's singles Men's singles in real tennis was the first world ch ...

held in Van Der Zwalmen's home country of

at the

Palace of Fontainebleau Palace of Fontainebleau ( , ; ), located southeast of the center of Paris, in the commune of Fontainebleau, is one of the largest French royal châteaux. It served as a hunting lodge and summer residence for many of the List of French monarchs ...

for the first time since 2013. Van Der Zwalmen, despite never having participated in a real tennis World Championship before, was keen to defeat incumbent champion

, so only entered the singles competition. Van Der Zwalmen defeated Saskia Bollerman in the quarter finals and world number 3 Tara Lumley in the semi finals, both in straight sets. However, in the final Van Der Zwalmen lost to Fahey 6/0 6/2. Later that year, Van Der Zwalmen entered the French Open doubles with Bollerman. She played the final against Fahey and

Nicola Doble Nicola may refer to: People * Nicola (name), including a list of people with the given name or, less commonly, the surname **Nicola (artist) or Nicoleta Alexandru, singer who represented Romania at the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest * Nicola people, ...

. Van Der Zwalmen and Bollerman won the match 6/4 6/4, Van Der Zwalmen's first Open victory and the first time that Fahey had been defeated in women's singles or doubles since 2009. Another World Championship was held in

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

, this time at Fahey's home court of

The Oratory School The Oratory School () is an HMC co-educational Private schools in the United Kingdom, private Catholic Church, Catholic boarding and day school for pupils aged 11–18 located in Woodcote, north-west of Reading, Berkshire, Reading, England. F ...

Woodcote Woodcote is a village and civil parish in the South Oxfordshire district, in Oxfordshire, England, about southeast of Wallingford and about northwest of Reading. It is in the Chiltern Hills, and the highest part of the village is above sea ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

. On her path to the singles final, Van Der Zwalmen defeated former World Champion Penny Lumley and world number 3 Tara Lumley. However, she was unable to improve her score from the previous year, losing to Fahey 6/1 6/1. In the doubles, she again partnered Bollerman and reached the final for the first time, losing to Fahey and Tara Lumley 6/4 6/5, the closest scoreline in a Ladies World Championship final. Van Der Zwalmen also competed in the

US Open U.S. Open or US Open are open championship sporting tournaments that are hosted in the United States and in which anyone, especially amateur and professional, or American and non-American, may compete. The term may also be applied to non-sporting ev ...

for the second time, reaching the finals of the singles and doubles draws. In 2024, Van Der Zwalmen captained the Rest of the World team in the second edition of the Ladies Bathurst Cup at the Royal Melbourne Tennis Club. She won all 4 of her main draw matches against

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

, and partnered with Bollerman to defeat Tara Lumley and Georgie Willis in the deciding doubles to win the trophy for the Rest of the World. On the same tour, Van Der Zwalmen made her debut at the women's

Australian Open The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...

Hobart Hobart ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent, it is the southernmost capital city in Australia. Despite containing nearly hal ...

and the men's Australian Amateur at the same venue, reaching the final in the former. At that year's

, she reached the finals of both the singles and doubles. She also once again made the final of the Raquette d'Or. In 2025, Van Der Zwalmen became the second female player to compete in the main draw of an Open, losing in the first round of the

to Chris Chapman. In the women's draw, she reached her second Australian Open final in both singles and doubles. At the 2025 US Open she reached the final of the singles draw and won the doubles draw with Annie Clark in the latter's Open debut, defeating Fahey and

Jo See Tan Jo See Tan (born March 1991) is an Australian amateur real tennis player. Her best result was winning the 2022 Australian Open (real tennis), 2022 Australian Open Singles championship and the 2023 Australian Open (real tennis), 2023 Australian Op ...

in the final. It was Van Der Zwalmen's second Open doubles title.

Padel tennis

Since moving to Bordeaux, Van Der Zwalmen has also started playing

padel Padel () is a racket sport typically played in doubles on an enclosed court slightly smaller than a doubles tennis court. It has the same scoring system as tennis, but different rules, strokes, and technique. The balls are similar but softer. ...

tournaments and competes in P250 and P500 women tournaments.

Performance timeline

Women's singles

''Current through the 2025 World Championship''

Open singles

Women's doubles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:van der Zwalmen, Lea 1996 births Living people 21st-century French sportswomen French real tennis players Racquets players