History of tennis royal families of Europe were besieged and real tennis was largely abandoned. Real tennis played a minor role in the history of the French Revolution, through the Tennis Court Oath, a pledge signed by French deputies on a real tennis court, which formed a decisive early step in starting the revolution. In England, during the 18th and early 19th centuries as real tennis declined, three other racquet sports emerged: racquets, squash racquets, and lawn tennis (the modern game). The modern sport is tied to two separate inventions. Between 1859 and 1865, in Birmingham, England, Major Harry Gem, a solicitor, and
Battle of the Tennis Court from his weapon (probably a Bren light machine gun) killing his assailant. On April 13, the troops defending near the DC's bungalow and the tennis court came under increasingly heavy artillery and mortar fire, and had to repel frequent infantry assaults. This area was the scene of some of the hardest, closest and grimmest fighting, with grenades being hurled across the tennis court at point-blank range. But on April 14 the Japanese did not launch an attack and on the 15th the British and Indian troops on Kohima ridge heard that the British 2nd Infantry Division was attacking along the