As the dust settles at Wimbledon, the real tennis action is under way: The world’s best players of the original sport are dueling it out at the game’s spiritual home.
Real tennis, the historic forerunner of the modern sport, is still played on a few dozen courts across the globe, including at Hampton Court Palace in London.
On a court originally built in 1530 for King Henry VIII, the top players are laying chases and hitting boomerangs, giraffes and railroads — some of the sport’s quirky moves.
Photo: AFP
“It’s the best game ever. Simple,” said world champion Rob Fahey, considered the sport’s greatest player.
“It’s the beginning of everything,” the 50-year-old Australian said in the palace grounds. “The most important thing is to realize it isn’t tennis. It looks a lot like tennis, but a lot of games have derived from this, so we’ve got elements of squash and any other racquet sport you can think of. You’ve got to be a master of all trades.”
The Royal Tennis Court at Hampton Court Palace was built by kings, for kings to play on. It is the real tennis equivalent of Wimbledon’s Centre Court: the spiritual home of the game.
The Champions Trophy, disputed on the historic court and featuring the world’s top players, ends today.
It is one of the sport’s 10 tournaments earning ranking points.
Real tennis survives on fewer than 50 courts worldwide: About half are in Britain, with others in the US and a few in Australia and France.
The Royal Tennis Court is the busiest in the world, in constant use 364 days a year.
Clubs need to make their own balls, which are hard and solid, unlike lawn tennis balls.
Weighing 81g to 88g, they are comprised of crumbled wine corks, tightly wrapped in cling film and tied in twine, bound in cotton tape, then stitched into yellow felt.
“A well-made ball has to survive quite a robust game,” Royal Tennis Court head professional Nick Wood said as he finished making a ball.
The marker, a fellow pro who officiates over a match, needs quick reactions, ducking out of the way of shots.
“There is a certain amount of bravery,” Wood said. “The ball comes off the racquet at up to 160kph. It’s like an Exocet missile coming straight at you. It will break bones.”
The sport still uses wooden rackets with a small, angled head.
Lawn tennis-style graphite rackets were tried, but they were judged too powerful and “destroyed the grace and skill of the game,” Wood said.
The sport evolved as a street game played in medieval European courtyards, hence its asymmetrical layout, with what looks like a row of small shops along two sides whose windows and roofs are part of the court.
Its French name, jeu de paume, refers to the time before rackets when it was played with the open palm.
There were once 250 courts in Paris alone — there are now two in France. Rather than play in the dirty streets, the nobility had their own courts built.
Real tennis claims that several common phrases originate from the game: cut to the chase, off the wall, in the nick of time, from pillar to post and impress the gallery.
The sport declined in the 20th century as lawn tennis took over, but since the 1970s, new courts have been built and the game is growing.
Real tennis historian Lesley Ronaldson said lawn tennis was a simplified and therefore less complex sport.
“Real tennis has so much to offer,” the four-time British Open champion said. “Having to be fit, the mental game like chess and having to learn the techniques makes it altogether a fascinating game.”
Fahey won the biennial world championship — played over 13 sets across three days — unbroken from 1994 to 2014. He won the title back from 31-year-old US rival Camden Riviere in April.
“We’re very passionate,” the Tasmanian said of the sport’s 100-odd professionals and 10,000 or so enthusiasts worldwide.
“A game like this could fall off a cliff and potentially disappear, which would be heartbreaking, because it’s the original sport,” he said. “We’ve got to work hard to keep it alive.”
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was