Real tennis Real tennis Real tennis – one of several games sometimes called "the sport of kings" – is the original racquet sport from which the modern game of tennis (originally called "lawn tennis") is derived. It is also known as court tennis in the United States, formerly royal tennis in England and Australia, and courte-paume in France (a reference to the older, racquetless game of "jeu de paume", the ancestor of modern handball and racquet games; many French real tennis courts are at "jeu de paume" clubs). The term "real" was first used by journalists in the early 20th century as
Paris in the 17th century events. All they lacked were color; all the fireworks were white or pale gold, until the introduction from China of colored fireworks in the 18th century. The most popular sport for French nobles in the first part of the 17th century was the "jeu de paume", a form of handball or tennis, which reached its peak of popularity under Henry IV, when there were more than 250 courts throughout the city. Louis XIV, however, preferred billiards, and the number of courts for "jeu de paume" dropped to 114. The owners of the courts found an original and effective strategy to