Real tennis 1599. The game thrived among the 17th-century nobility in France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, and the Habsburg Empire, but suffered under English Puritanism, as it was heavily associated with gambling. By the Age of Napoleon, the royal families of Europe were besieged and real tennis, a court game, was largely abandoned. Real tennis played a role in the history of the French Revolution, through the Tennis Court Oath, a pledge signed by French deputies in a real tennis court, which formed a decisive early step in starting the revolution. During the 18th century and early 19th century, as real tennis
Tennis Court (song) "super simple" clip, which allowed Lorde's "voice and lyrics [to] really shine." Lindsay Zoladz, of Pitchfork Media, compared the video to that for The Replacements' "Bastards of Young." MTV Buzzworthy blogger Luke O'Neil wrote that the "Tennis Court" video is "a bit unsettling at first, but eventually it starts to make sense. [Lorde is] trying to do things a bit differently, and so far it seems like it's working." To promote "Tennis Court", Lorde held a concert at Le Poisson Rouge in New York and performed the song among others on 6 August 2013. This was her first US show.