Real Tennis was played indoors, but the features of court and the set of rules was slightly different from those of modern tennis. Real tennis courts varied greatly in size, from the smallest being sixty nine feet by seventeen feet to the largest being one-hundred and twenty-one feet by thirty-nine. .
Real tennis courts were usually much longer but slightly skinnier than modern tennis courts. Also, the court is not symmetrical, meaning that the service side of the court was smaller than the return side of the court, and the left side is wider than the right side. The racquet used was made of wood; it was longer than the modern racquets and was curved on the end to help get balls that were low to the ground and in corners. Real tennis balls have been traditionally made from a spherical stitched envelope of leather or cloth stuffed with rags, horsehair or similar material (Danzig). Being made of leather and stuffed with material, the balls were very heavy and required tight strings to handle the weight of the ball. The balls had little bounce to them and take a great deal of spin on them.
Real tennis is much different from modern tennis in style of play. For example, the ball must be served off of a specific slanted wall called the penthouse, and it could be returned off of any wall even the back wall. A player might only serve from one side of the court, called the service side, and might only receive from one side called the "hazard side. One strange aspect of real tennis was the chase. A chase was a point held in abeyance and occurred when a ball bounced twice without being struck or enters some of the galleries. The chase was recorded. For instance, the chase better than four meant that the second bounce of the ball was nearer than four yards from the back wall. However, no stroke was scored. There were lines on the floor to help measure the chase. If one chase was laid, and the score was within one point of game, or if two chases have been laid, the players changed ends, and the other player had to ensure that the second bounce of his or her return was nearer the back wall than the chase marked.
