Is tennis a Royal Hobby?
Is tennis a Royal Hobby or not? Tennis is mentioned in literature as far back as the Middle Ages. In the Second Shepherds' Play (c 1500) shepherds gave three gifts, including a tennis ball, to the newborn Christ. Sir Gawain, a knight of King Arthur's round table, plays tennis against a group of 17 giants in the Turke and Gowin (c 1500). The Medieval form of tennis is termed as real tennis, a game that evolved over three centuries from an earlier ball game played around the 12th. century in France which involved hitting a ball with a bare and later with a glove. By the 16th. century, the glove had become a racket, the game had moved to an enclosed playing area, and the rules had been stabilized. Real tennis spread in popularity throughout royalty in Europe, reaching its peak in the 16th. century. Austria In 1899 Archduke Franz Ferdinand left his watch chain after a tennis party in Pressburg. In his watch chain there was a portrait of his later wife Sophie. Forgetting his