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<\/p>\nThe sport of kings is still alive at Hampton Court Palace in London, where the world\u2019s oldest real tennis court still used for major competition stands on the site of a court built for Henry VIII. These days, its king and queen are British-Australian married couple Claire and Rob Fahey.<\/p>\n
The pair are among the biggest names in the ancient indoor game played off sloping roofs, galleries and walls, with rules that make lawn tennis look simple.<\/p>\n
Rob, 58, is a record 13-time men\u2019s world champion, while Claire, 35, became the youngest women\u2019s world champion at 19 and has dominated the sport for more than a decade.<\/p>\n
This week, Hampton Court is hosting the Champions Trophy, a six-day professional tournament first staged in 2017. Eight players entered qualifying for two places alongside six seeds in the main draw, with Claire the only woman in the field \u2014 she competes against men in unrestricted events \u2014 and Rob entering as the third seed.<\/p>\n
Sitting outside the clubhouse \u2014 as he waits for his quarter-final against top-seeded 39-year-old Nick Howell \u2014 Rob laughs when he hears the Royal comparison from the members of the club.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not at all true \u2014 although maybe it is in this tiny little world,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s been a long time since I was the best player. Now I just enjoy watching my wife smash everybody up and do incredibly well.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\n Rob Fahey is a 13-time men\u2019s world champion (Tim Edwards)<\/p>\n
The tennis court resembles a medieval street brought indoors, which is roughly where the game began. Real tennis dates to at least the 13th century, and one of the earliest written references to a purpose-built court comes from Valencia, Spain, in 1298, centuries before rackets were introduced.<\/p>\n
Henry VIII was far from the game\u2019s only Royal devotee as Henry V, James V of Scotland and Charles II all played, while later enthusiasts included Prince Albert, Edward VII and George V.<\/p>\n
So this lavish estate where English Royalty once resided, which sits beside the River Thames, around 12 miles south-west of central London, is the ideal venue for this week\u2019s tournament.<\/p>\n
Hampton Court\u2019s head professional traditionally lives beside the court, continuing an arrangement that dates back to the Keeper of the King\u2019s Tennis Courts.<\/p>\n
Nick Wood runs the 320-member club from an apartment above it. The court can operate from 6.30am until 10pm, so the sounds of play follow him home.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou get used to living on the job and feeling like you\u2019re on the job 24\/7,\u201d Wood says. \u201cI can hear Julian Webb, one of our members, who has particularly squeaky shoes. We\u2019ve also got one lady who shrieks at the top of her voice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lesley Ronaldson knows the arrangement well. The former women\u2019s world championship finalist moved into the rooms beside the court in 1979 with her then-husband Chris, the men\u2019s world champion and Hampton Court\u2019s head professional.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe stayed for 27 years,\u201d Ronaldson says. \u201cBut since we moved \u2014 just across the river \u2014 I\u2019m still here all the time, doing tours, stringing rackets and sewing balls.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\n A general view of the court, pictured during the 2018 Champions Trophy (Daniel Leal\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Stepping inside from the sweltering summer heat, the temperature drops as the court\u2019s thick walls keep the temperature cool. Around 20 spectators are sitting on narrow wooden benches behind netting. Conversations fall away before each point, and they wait until the players change ends before standing or shuffling past one another.<\/p>\n
From the upper gallery, reached by a wooden staircase, it\u2019s easy to see the high walls which enclose the court, as well as the sloping roof and dark wooden openings. An 1859 prize racket hangs in the next room with its original strings and velvet handle.<\/p>\n
The scoring of 15, 30 and 40 is familiar. Everything surrounding it is not. A serve must strike the penthouse roof on the receiver\u2019s side before dropping into the service area, while the walls remain in play.<\/p>\n
The openings around the court are targets. Hitting the dedans, the large netted gallery behind the server, or the smaller grille in the opposite corner wins the point immediately. So does finding the winning gallery, which rings a bell, while the angled tambour wall can send the ball sharply across court.<\/p>\n
The most unusual rule is the chase. When the ball bounces twice in certain areas, the rally ends but the point is not awarded. The marker records where the second bounce landed, and the players later change ends to complete it. The opponent must make the second bounce land closer to the back wall than the original chase.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt sounds like there are a thousand rules, but there aren\u2019t,\u201d Rob says. \u201cGive it four or five hours, until you understand what is happening, and it is actually quite simple.\u201d<\/p>\n
Each ball is handmade by club professionals, beginning with pieces of old wine cork bound together and wrapped tightly in webbing and wool before a yellow cover is stitched around the outside.<\/p>\n
The finished ball is slightly smaller than a lawn-tennis ball but, at around 70 grams, roughly a quarter heavier and far less bouncy. Players strike it with a small wooden racket with an asymmetrical head, which helps them reach low balls and control rebounds from the walls.<\/p>\n
Ronaldson is less reassuring. \u201cIt\u2019s an easy game to play badly and a difficult game to play well,\u201d she says. \u201cYou only need to know one type of serve, but you need to know how to receive 29.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\n Nick Wood, head professional, makes a Real tennis ball (Daniel Leal\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Good lawn-tennis players often expect their skills to transfer immediately, Rob says, only to find that the heavy ball, crooked racket and rebounds demand a different approach.<\/p>\n
Roger Federer adapted better than most when he visited during Wimbledon in 2005. Chris Ronaldson explained the rules during the car journey and Federer\u2019s experience of squash helped him use the walls, although he later lost to his wife, Mirka.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was very good,\u201d Ronaldson says. When a journalist asked why the couple had not shaken hands afterwards, Federer replied: \u201cWhy should I? She\u2019s my wife, and she beat me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Newcomers tend either to reject the game or become absorbed by it. \u201cPeople catch the bug really badly,\u201d Rob says. \u201cVery few come in and decide they\u2019ll play occasionally. It tends to be: \u2018This is amazing, and I\u2019m all in\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wood describes real tennis as \u201caddictively difficult\u201d and padel as \u201caddictively easy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to find it difficult and still want to come back because you feel you can succeed,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Padel, a doubles game played on a smaller enclosed court where the walls can be used, has expanded rapidly as an accessible alternative to tennis.<\/p>\n
Ronaldson says the growing sport has not taken members away and, instead, members bring padel players to Hampton Court. \u201cIt\u2019s so interesting, and there\u2019s much more to it,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
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