Royal 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 (originally called “lawn tennis”) is derived. It is also known as court tennis in the United States, formerly royal tennis in England and Australia, and courte-paume in France (to distinquish it from longue-paume, and in reference to the older, racquetless game of jeu de paume, the ancestor of modern handball and racquet games). Many French real tennis courts are at jeu de paume clubs.

The term real was first used by journalists in the early 20th century as a retronym to distinguish the ancient game from modern lawn tennis (even though the latter sport is seldom contested on lawns these days outside the few social-club-managed estates such as Wimbledon).

There are more than 50 active real tennis courts in the world, located in the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States and France. Other countries have currently disused courts, such as the two in the Republic of Ireland. The sport is supported and governed by various organizations around the world.

Game description

The rules and scoring are similar to those of lawn tennis, which derives from real tennis, but are more complex. In both sports game scoring is by fifteens (“40” being short for the original forty-five). However, in real tennis, six games wins a set, without the need for a two-game margin as in lawn tennis although some tournaments require more games (as many as 10) to win, usually playing one, single set. A match is typically best of three sets, except matches between men in the major open tournaments, which are best of five sets.

Equipment

Unlike latex-based technology underlying the modern lawn tennis ball, the game uses a cork-cored ball which is very close in design to the original balls used in the game. The 2 1⁄2-inch (64 mm) diameter balls are handmade and consist of a core made of cork with fabric tape tightly wound around it, compacted by outer windings of string, and covered with a hand-sewn layer of heavy, woven, woolen cloth, traditionally Melton cloth (not felt, which is unwoven and not strong enough to last as a ball covering). The balls were traditionally white, but around the end of the 20th century “optic yellow” was introduced for improved visibility, as had been done years earlier in lawn tennis. The balls are much less bouncy than lawn tennis balls, and weigh about 2 1⁄2 ounces (71 grams) (lawn tennis balls typically weigh 2 ounces (57 g)).

The 27-inch (690 mm) short, asymmetrical racquets are made of wood and use very tight nylon strings to cope with the heavy balls. The racquet oval is shaped to make it easier to strike balls close to the floor or in corners, and to facilitate a fast shot with a low trajectory that is difficult for an opponent to return. There are two companies in the world hand-crafting these racquets: Grays of Cambridge (UK) and Gold Leaf Athletics (US).

Courts

There are two basic designs in existence today: jeu quarré, which is an older design, and jeu à dedans. The court at Falkland Palace is a jeu quarré design which unlike jeu à dedans court lacks a tambour and dedans. Mary, Queen of Scots became especially fond of the game, and it is said that she scandalised the people of Scotland by wearing men’s breeches to play. The more common real tennis court (jeu à dedans) is a very substantial building (encompassing an area wider and longer than a lawn tennis court, with high walls and a ceiling lofty enough to contain all but the highest lob shots). It is enclosed by walls on all four sides, three of which have sloping roofs, known as “penthouses”, beneath which are various openings (“galleries”, from which spectators may view the game and which also play a role in scoring points), and a buttress that intrudes into the playing area (tambour) off which shots may be played.

There are no “standard dimensions” for courts. Most are about 110 by 39 feet (34 m × 12 m) above the penthouses, and about 96 by 32 feet (29.3 m × 9.8 m) on the playing floor, varying by a foot or two per court. They are doubly asymmetric: each end of the court differs in shape from the other, and the left and right sides of the court are also different.

Manner of play

The service is always made from the same end of the court (the “service” end); a good service must touch the side penthouse (above and to the left of the server) on or over the white service line on the receiver’s (“hazard”) side before touching the floor in a marked area on that side. There are numerous and widely varying styles of service. These are given descriptive names to distinguish them – examples are “railroad”, “bobble”, “poop”, “piqué”, “boomerang”, and “giraffe”.

The game has many other complexities. For instance, when the ball bounces twice on the floor at the service end, the serving player does not generally lose the point. Instead a “chase” is called where the ball made its second bounce and the server gets the chance, later in the game, to “play off” the chase from the receiving end; but to win the point being played off, their shot’s second bounce must be further from the net (closer to the back wall) than the shot they originally failed to reach. A chase can also be called at the receiving (“hazard”) end, but only on the half of that end nearest the net; this is called a “hazard” chase.

Those areas of the court in which chases can be called are marked with lines running across the floor, parallel to the net, generally about 1 yard (0.91 m) apart – it is these lines by which the chases are measured. Additionally, a player can gain the advantage of serving only through skillful play (viz. “laying” a “chase”, which ensures a change of end). This is in stark contrast to lawn tennis, where players alternately serve and receive entire games. In real tennis the service can only change during a game, and it is not uncommon to see a player serve for several consecutive games till a chase is made. Indeed, in theory, an entire match could be played with no change of service, the same player serving every point.

The heavy, solid balls take a great deal of spin, which often causes them to rebound from the walls at unexpected angles. For the sake of a good chase (close to the back wall), it is desirable to use a cutting stroke, which imparts backspin to the ball, causing it to come sharply down after hitting the back wall.

Another twist to the game comes from the various window-like openings (‘galleries’) below the penthouse roofs that, in some cases, offer the player a chance to win the point instantly when the ball is hit into the opening (in other cases, these windows create a “chase”). Effectively, these are “goals” to be aimed for. The largest such opening, located behind the server, is called the “dedans” and must often be defended on the volley from hard hit shots, called “forces”, coming from the receiving (“hazard”) side of the court. The resulting back-court volleys and the possibility of hitting shots off the side walls and the sloping penthouses give many interesting shot choices not available in lawn tennis. Moreover, because of the weight of the balls, the small racquets, and the need to defend the rear of the court, many lawn tennis strategies, such as playing with topspin, and serve-and-volley tactics, are ineffective.