An old engraving of the layout and floor markings of a court on which ‘Real tennis’ is played. It is from Victorian book of the 1890s on sports, games and pastimes. Real tennis is the original racquet sport, normally played indoors, from which modern tennis (or lawn tennis) is derived. It is also known as court tennis, royal tennis and courte-paume. Courts are asymmetric. One of the walls is flat and is called the main wall (right). The other three walls feature sloping wooden roofs, known as penthouses, (between outer and inner walls). The floor has markings/lines, some called chase lines.
An old engraving of the layout and floor markings of a court on which ‘Real tennis’ is played. It is from Victorian book of the 1890s on sports, games and pastimes. Real tennis is the original racquet sport, normally played indoors, from which the modern game of tennis (or lawn tennis) is derived. It is also known as court tennis, royal tennis and courte-paume. There are only just more than 50 active courts in the world, located in the UK, Australia, USA and France. There are two basic designs in existence today: jeu quarré, which is an older design, and jeu à dedans. Both are asymmetric – each end of the court service side/end (here bottom) and hazard/receiving side/end (top) and the left and right sides of the court are different. One of the smooth plaster walls is flat and is called the main wall (here right). The other three walls feature sloping wooden roofs, known as penthouses, built 2 to metres above the floor and extending to a width of to metres (here between the shaded outer and inner walls). There are open spectator ‘galleries’ along one side (here left). The floor is normally dyed concrete or flagstone and the surrounding walls smooth plaster. Various markings or lines each side of the net – some called chase lines – are a feature of the floor.
Size: 2067px × 4724px
Location: UK
Photo credit: © M&N / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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