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Sport guide

Real tennis

Real tennis is the original indoor racket game from which lawn tennis took its name, played across a net in a walled hall whose sloping roofs, galleries and buttress are all part of play. Each court is unique, and its distinctive chase rule means some rallies are decided later rather than on the spot.

Importance 2 out of 5Importance rating
RacketWiki EditorsVerified 24 October 20261 source

At a glance

Also known as
Royal tennis, Court tennis, Jeu de paume
Court
Not standard: every venue differs
Played with
A racket and a ball
Formats
Singles, Doubles
Governing body
Fédération française de tennis (formerly the Fédération française de lawn tennis), Tennis and Rackets Association
Origin
Grew out of medieval handball (jeu de paume in French), played against the walls of castles and monasteries in France and taken up in England

The court

Every real tennis court is different. They share a layout, with a sloping penthouse roof along three walls, galleries beneath it, the dedans behind the service end, the grille and the angled tambour at the hazard end, and chase lines marked across the floor, but the floor size, the placing of the openings and the tambour vary from court to court, because most courts were built individually over several centuries.

Formats

  • Singles One against one, the most common form of the game.
  • Doubles Two against two on the same court.

About real tennis

Real tennis is played indoors in a long walled hall divided by a net. Three of the walls carry a sloping roof, the penthouse, and the ball may be played off it, off the walls and into openings around the court.

Its best-known quirk is the chase. Some rallies end not with a point but with a mark of where the ball fell, and the players later swap ends and replay to see whether that mark can be beaten. Scoring otherwise looks familiar to a lawn tennis player, with games and sets.

Explore real tennis

  • CourtsCourt size and markings · 1 famous venue
  • Organisations2 organisations, from Fédération française de tennis to national federations, by region
  • TennisAncestor. Lawn tennis grew out of real tennis and kept much of its scoring.
  • RacketsSame governing body in the UK. Both are run by the Tennis and Rackets Association.
  • SquashWalls in play. Both are indoor games where the ball is played off the walls.

Sources

  1. Tennis and Rackets Association website, Tennis and Rackets Associationtennisandrackets.comOfficial rulebook or governing body (tier 1 of 5)