• Most historians credit the first origins of the game to 11th or 12th century French monks, who began playing a crude handball against their monastery walls or over a rope strung across a courtyard. As the game became more popular, courtyard playing areas began to be modified into indoor courts, where the ball was still played off the walls. The oldest Real Tennis court is located at Hampton Court Palace, originally built by King Henry VIII at about 1530. After bare hands were found too uncomfortable, players began using a glove, then a glove with webbing between the fingers or a solid paddle, followed by webbing attached to a handle- a racquet. Rubber balls were still centuries away, so the ball was a wad of hair, wool, or cork wrapped in string and cloth or leather. Then in later years, hand-stitched in felt to look something like a modern baseball. Some accounts

Some topics in this essay:
Lawn Tennis, Henry VIII, Charles Goodyear, , England Club, Court Palace, Real Tennis, Canada China, henry viii, rubber balls, tennis court, ball play, played walls,