''Jeu de paume'' (, ; originally spelled ; ), nowadays known as

real tennis Real 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 also known as court tennis in the United Sta ...

, (US) court tennis or (in France) ''courte paume'', is a ball-and-court game that originated in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. It was an indoor precursor of

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

played without racquets, and so "game of the hand", though these were eventually introduced. It is a former

Olympic sport Olympic sports are sports that are contested in the Summer Olympic Games and Winter Olympic Games. The 2024 Summer Olympics included 32 sports; the 2022 Winter Olympics included seven sports. Each Olympic sport is represented at the Internation ...

, and has the oldest ongoing annual

world championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

in sport, first established over 250 years ago. The term also refers to the court on which the game is played and its building, which in the 17th century was sometimes converted into a

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

History

In the earliest versions of the game, the players hit the ball with their hands, as in palla,

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

, Fives, or certain varieties of pelota. ''Jeu de paume'', or ''jeu de paulme'' as it was formerly spelled, literally means "palm game". In time, gloves replaced bare hands. Even when paddle-like bats, and finally racquets, became standard equipment for the game by the late 17th century, the name did not change. It became known as "tennis" in English ''(see History of tennis)'', and later "

" after the derived game of lawn tennis became the more widely known sport. The term is used in France today to denote the game of tennis on a court in which the ancient or modern game might be played. The indoor version is sometimes called ''jeu de courte paume'' or just ''courte paume'' ("short palm") to distinguish it from the outdoor version, '' longue paume'' ("long palm"), played on a field of variable length.

Olympic

At the 1908 Summer Olympics, jeu de paume was a medal event: American Jay Gould II won the gold medal.

World Championship

Since 1740, jeu de paume has been the subject of an

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

( Real Tennis World Championship), held each year in September. It is the oldest active trophy in

international sport The concept of international sport refers to sport when the participants represent at least two countries. The most well-known international sports event is the Olympic Games. Other examples include the FIFA World Cup and the Cricket World Cup. T ...

. World Jeu de paume Championship

Derived sports

Hand

* Fistball * Fives *

Frisian handball Frisian handball (; ) is a traditional Friesland, Frisian sport, related to American handball and fives, that is most commonly practiced by people from the northern Dutch province of Friesland (''Fryslân''). It is believed to be one of the old ...

* Pallone *

Basque pelota Basque pelota (Basque: '' pilota'', Spanish: '' pelota vasca'', French: '' pelote basque'') is the name for a variety of court sports played with a ball using one's hand, a racket, a wooden bat or a basket, against a wall (''frontis or fronto ...

* Gaelic handball * Hoodae Various other forms of

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

may be related to one degree or another; this is generally difficult to ascertain with certainty, and some, like the Mesoamerican ballgame clearly have an independent origin.

Racquet

Real tennis Real 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 also known as court tennis in the United Sta ...

* Longue paume (outdoor version of ''jeu de paume'' without net) * Lawn tennis (what is usually meant by the term "tennis" today) Various other racquet games ( squash,

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

, etc.) may be related to one degree or another.

Basket

* Jai alai, a variation of Basque pelota using a hand-held basket known as a or .

Cultural references

Étienne Pasquier, a writer and a historian, published an essay regarding jeu de paume in his ''Recherches''; late 16th century. Pasquier was addicted to the sport.Huppert, George; ''The Idea of Perfect History'', footnote 14 on page 160. The Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume, a museum of contemporary art, is housed in a former court on the north side of the Tuileries park in the centre of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. The painter

Jacques-Louis David Jacques-Louis David (; 30 August 1748 – 29 December 1825) was a French painter in the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era. In the 1780s, his cerebral brand of history painting marked a change in ...

's famous sketch, ''le Serment du jeu de paume'' ('the Tennis Court Oath') now hangs in the court of the

Palace of Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

. It depicts a seminal moment of the French Revolution, when, on 20 June 1789, deputies of the Estates-General met at the court and vowed that they would not disband before the proclamation of a formal Constitution for France. ''Le Jeu de Paume'' is a moral ode published in 1791 by André Chénier. In the 1981 film ''

The French Lieutenant's Woman ''The French Lieutenant's Woman'' is a 1969 Postmodern literature, postmodern historical fiction novel by John Fowles. The plot explores the fraught relationship of gentleman and amateur naturalist Charles Smithson and Sarah Woodruff, the for ...

'', socialite Charles Smithson ( Jeremy Irons) is seen playing ''jeu de paume'' in London. In the '' Agatha Christie's Poirot'' TV series episode "Death in the Clouds", Poirot mentions that tennis, considered an English game, originated in 11th-century France as ''jeu de paume.'' The 2014

Whitney Biennial The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. The event began as an annual exhibition in 1932; the first biennial was held in 1973. It is considered ...

exhibition featured the premiere of the stop-motion film ''Jeu de Paume'' by Joshua Mosley.

References

External links

Historical Picture: A Jeu de Paume Before a Country Palace

Oratory Real Tennis Club

Jeu de Paume History
*
Official site of the French Jeu de Paume Comité

Animated stop motion film of Jeu de Paume match
* https://web.archive.org/web/20250328110531/https://paumefrance.com/en/world-masters-2024-championnats-du-monde-amateurs-veterans/ * https://jeudepaume.fr/wwba.php - WWBA New International Federation launched - Wall World Ball Association * https://web.archive.org/web/20241201175435/https://uscourttennis.org/2018/9459/ * https://sagaciousminds.org/our-projects/f/wallball * https://ukwallball.co.uk/category/media/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Jeu De Paume * Ball games Forms of tennis Games of gain-ground Former Summer Olympic sports Sports originating in France