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 States,^[1] royal tennis in England and Australia,^[2] and courte-paume in France (to distinguish 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, at present, the latter sport is seldom contested on lawns outside the few social-club-managed estates such as Wimbledon).

There are just 45 active real tennis courts in the world, located in the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States and France.^[3] There are also currently six disused courts, such as the two in the Republic of Ireland. The sport is supported and governed by various organizations around the world.