Sports History in the Context of Political Events. Real Tennis and the French Revolution

The development of tennis illustrates the close relationship between sporting practices and the political and social structures of their time. This article traces the trajectory from courtly play in the late Middle Ages through the rise of urban jeu de paume halls (often referred to in German sources as Ballhäuser) to the Tennis Court Oath of 1789. It demonstrates that sports history becomes particularly meaningful when its broader contexts are considered. Real tennis serves as a case study for this entanglement. Technique and space, social hierarchy and political transformation form an interconnected historical whole. The analysis shows how a space originally reserved for aristocratic leisure became part of an epochal process, thereby revealing the relationship between culture, power, and play.