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
Jeu de paume like the Mesoamerican ballgame are clearly unrelated. Various other racquet games (squash, badminton, etc.) may be related to one degree or another. The Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume, a museum of contemporary art, is housed in a former court on the north side of the Tuileries park in the centre of Paris. The painter Jacques-Louis David's famous sketch, "le Serment du jeu de paume" ('the Tennis Court Oath') now hangs in the court of the Palace of Versailles. It depicts a seminal moment of the French Revolution, when, on 20 June 1789, deputies of the Estates-General met at the