Court tennis – one of several games sometimes called "the sport of kings" – is the original racquet sport from which the modern game of tennis (also called "lawn tennis") is derived. It is known as court tennis in the United States, royal or real tennis in England and Australia, and courte-paume in  France (to distinguish it from longue-paume, and in reference to the older, racquetless game of jeu de paume, the ancestor of modern handball and racquet games). There are approximately 45 active real tennis courts in the world, located in the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States, and France. 

Court tennis courts, rackets, balls and rules have not changed for centuries. The game is played indoors, the balls are handmade and solid, and the rackets are wooden and asymmetrical with a very small sweet spot.

Stripped of its special rules for serving and chases, the game is simple to understand. Each player strives to get the ball over the net and in doing so may use any wall - as in squash. The scoring is the same as in lawn tennis (15, 30, 40, deuce, advantage), except that the score of the winner of the last point, and not that of the server, is called first.

As in lawn tennis, singles or doubles can be played. The length of a real tennis court is approximately one and a half times the length of a lawn tennis court: its width a fraction more than the width of a doubles lawn tennis court.

For a comprehensive history of the sport, please visit “A Detailed History of Real Tennis” compiled by The Tennis and Rackets Association.