The Origins of Real Tennis - By Roger Morgan
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The origins of tennis ore obscure, but the game is undoubtedly very old. It seems clear that the Greeks were playing a remarkably similar game as early as the sixth century BC. However, no further facts about the game are known until 1322, when the playing of chases is mentioned, and then, in 1415, the scoring in fifteens is described. The scoring of forty, not forty-five, is often confusing, but this is due to the modern use of forty as an abbreviation for forty-five. The score was called as forty-five as late as 1800 in tennis and several games still use the older score.
There are about two dozen games across Western Europe that score in fifteens and play chases, all using similar rules. Many of these games are played with bare or gloved hands, which is why the French term for the game is Jeu de Paume. Others use implements; in tennis, the racket replaced the hand. The English word 'tennis' is the Anglo-Norman equivalent of tenez, being a warning by the server, which may be translated as "take-it".
The greatest change that has influenced tennis is the move from open areas to an enclosed court, a move probably induced by the filthy state of the streets in the Middle Ages and the desire of the nobility for some privacy. This was put in a nutshell by John Stow, the Tudor historian, who wrote that: 'The ball is much used by the nobility and gentry in their tennis courts and by the people of meaner sort in the fields and streets'.
The earliest records of tennis courts are those in Valencia built in 1298 for the gentlemen of the court and that built in 1316 in the Chateau Nesle in Paris. The court in Fenchurch Street in London is first mentioned in 1461 and is of particular interest because the archives of the Ironmongers' Company contain extensive records of the sale of tennis balls, while the court, which stood next to their Hall, belonged to the Clothworkers' Company and their archives contain a measured plan of the site. In 1555 Antonio Scaino, secretary to the Duke of Ferraro, published his great treatise on tennis, from which it can be seen that the game played at that time was very similar to the game played today.
Before the development of Lawn Tennis in the years around 1870, there was only the older form of the game but, with the increasing popularity of the new sport, it became necessary to distinguish the old from the new. For this reason, the older game became known as Real Tennis in England, Royal Tennis in Scotland and Australia and Court Tennis in the United States.
The French still use the term Jeu de Paume for the older game, which was very popular in France in earlier times. However, the game was much favoured by the nobility, the clergy and the military and as a result it suffered severely during the Revolution, so that there are only courts in Paris, Bordeaux and Fontainebleau in use today.
Tennis was played in many courts in London and the provinces during the sixteenth century and in the courts associated with the great houses such as Petworth and Hampton Court. The old London courts have now disappeared, but this loss has been counterbalanced by the building of new courts at several Victorian mansions and the appearance of new clubs and courts such as those at Leamintgton and Manchester during the 19th century.
The game suffered a severe decline as a result of the social loss and upheaval following the First World War, but it is now undergoing a revival, with old courts being brought back into use, such as those at Newmarket, Bridport and Fontainebleau. New courts have been constructed at Oratory School, Harbour Club, Bristol, Prested Hall and The Burroughs in the UK; Washington in the USA; Melbourne, Ballarat, Sydney and Romsey in Australia and Bordeaux in France.