I was watching The Seven Percent Solution (Nicol Williamson is a swell Sherlock Holmes) wherein Sigmund Freud (Alan Arkin) is challenged to a ‘duel’ of tennis. The match takes place in a black, blue, uneven and totally enclosed space. Like tennis, but with incomprensible rules and instant win spots to hit along the court. I looked it up, and it’s called ‘real tennis’. Still played today, and way cooler than tennis. ‘Real’ tennis. Don’t know what to call it anymore.
Here’s an archive article from the NYT - https://archive.is/IoXWx
Here are the rules - https://www.tennisandrackets.com/real-tennis/play
The NYT link says that “real tennis” was invented 200 years after court tennis, but the real tennis rules link says that court tennis was inspired by real tennis. Which is it?
This Video (French) says it’s a thousand years old, but that seems not to be the case, more like like 4-500 years.
I think the NYT is mistaken, as here’s an engraving of «jeu de paume» from the 16th C
Also Hampton Court Palace had a real tennis court built in the early 1500s.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Tennis_Court,_Hampton_Court