Real tennis
（重定向自Royal Tennis）
![Real Tennis Court building at Falkland Palace, housing the world's oldest tennis court and Falkland Palace Royal Tennis Club](/Images/godic/202502/08/Real_Tennis_Court_building,_Falkland_Palace,_Fife4950.JPG")
![The Spectators' Gallery facing the court](/Images/godic/202502/08/Real_Tennis_Court_Spectators'_Gallery4950.JPG")
4950.JPG")
![An example layout of a tennis court. A valid serve must occur from the serving court before the second gallery line, and hit the service penthouse before dropping in the receiving court, marked by the service line and fault line. Corresponding chase lines extend from the centres of the side galleries on both service and hazard ends, including the first, door, second and last. Gallery posts and the net post are marked with circles. Shaded areas are the winning openings, the dedans, grille, and winning gallery. None of these, nor the posts, would be visible with an actual overhead view as depicted.](/Images/godic/202502/08/Tennis_court_layout4950.png")
Real tennis – one of several games sometimes called "the sport of kings" – is the original racquet sport from which the modern game of lawn tennis (usually simply called tennis) is derived. It is also known as court tennis in the United States, formerly royal tennis in England and Australia, and courte-paume in France (a reference to the older, racquetless game of jeu de paume, the ancestor of modern handball and racquet games; many French real tennis courts are at jeu de paume clubs).