Jeu de paume Jeu de paume Jeu de paume (; ) is a ball-and-court game that originated in France. It was an indoor precursor of tennis played without racquets, though these were eventually introduced. It is a former Olympic sport, and has the oldest ongoing annual world championship in sport, first established over 250 years ago. Originally spelled jeu de paulme, now it is called "real tennis" , court tennis (US) or courte paume (France). In the earliest versions of the game, the players hit the ball with their hands, as in palla, volleyball, or certain varieties of pelota. "Jeu de paume", or
Valencian pilota it is commonly supposed to have been derived from the medieval Jeu de paume along with several other European handball sports (for example the Basque "laxoa", French Longue paume, Frisian handball and Italian Pallone) similar to the actual Valencian llargues variant. "Jeu de paume" is documented at Paris in 1292 since there were 13 ball workshops and many "tripots" (courtfields); it was first played with the hands, and the scoring system was very similar to the current Valencian one. There were so many resemblances with the "Valencian pilota" sport that, in the 16th century, the humanist Joan Lluís Vives compared