Real tennis under way after Wimbledon

LONDON: As the dust settles at Wimbledon, the real tennis action is under way: the world’s best players of the original sport are duelling 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.

“It’s the best game, ever. Simple,” said world champion Rob Fahey, considered the sport’s all-time greatest player.

“It’s the beginning of everything,” the 50-year-old Australian told AFP in the palace grounds.

“The most important thing is to realise it isn’t tennis,” he explained.

“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, runs until Sunday.

It is one of the sport’s 10 tournaments earning ranking points.

Real tennis survives on fewer than 50 courts worldwide: around half are in Britain, with others in the United States 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 81 to 88 grammes, 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,” said Nick Wood, the head professional at the Royal Tennis Court, as he finished making a ball.