Harvard participated in its first sporting event of the year yesterday when it banded with the Tennis and Racquet Club to play the roving Oxford-Cambridge court tennis champions.

The oldest bat and ball game in the world, court tennis originated in the monasteries of mediaeval France, and in America is confined to seven courts. It has not flourished in such a limited environment and the present match is part of an effort to stimulate the game both here and in England.

The English team, returning an American visit in 1956, is undefeated after matches in Philadelphia, Long Island, Tuxedo Park, and New York.

In the five matches played yesterday at the Tennis and Racquet Club, the domestic team secured a 3-2 edge. Robert Scott '31 won the most exciting contest of the day when he snapped the winning streak of Oxford's Cedric Gunnery. Also in singles, Charles Stockton '32 and George Wightman '31 were outplayed by England's Jeremy Hogben and David Lowe. Donald Starr '22 won the vigorous final match when he trounced Oxford's Ronald Newman.

Today's key singles contest is between Roger Tuckerman '59 and Oxford's ace, William Gunnery. In the first doubles match Jeremy Hogben and Jem Baily will oppose David Kingly and Edward Harding '58, the only veteran of the 1956 English tour. Charles Devens '32 will play Cambridge's Ian Stewart today, while Dwight and John Davis will represent Harvard in the final matches on Saturday.

Although relieved to arrive in Boston after a brief visit to the aboriginal areas of Connecticut and New York, the visitors are planning an immediate return to London. Speaking yesterday for the English team, W. Gunnery deplored the sobriety of the New World players and observed that "the American colonies are really taking it all too seriously."