The Antique Real Tennis Racquet 1789

The antique real tennis racquet from the end of the eighteenth century features the classic lopsided head with a pronounced downward angle. The frame is made of solid hardwood, a material commonly used for racquet production throughout the eighteenth century. The stringing follows the trebling technique, where each cross string is looped completely around the main string. This method produced alternating surfaces on the string bed, one smoother and one rougher, which allowed players to impart rotation to the ball. The handle is covered with a leather wrapping, providing grip during play.

The Antique Real Tennis Racquet, 1789

By the second half of the eighteenth century, jeu de paume was organized within an established network of indoor courts across France. Archival inventories list hundreds of courts, many of them in Paris, Rouen, and Lyon. According to municipal records, around 250 courts were active in Paris between 1550 and 1700, a number that gradually declined toward the end of the eighteenth century. The game was practiced by both nobility and professional players, supervised by the maîtres paumiers, who were officially registered craftsmen responsible for maintaining courts, racquets, and balls. One of the most historically significant courts was the Salle du Jeu de Paume at Versailles. On 20 June 1789, this hall was used by the deputies of the Third Estate for the Serment du Jeu de Paume, an event recorded in official minutes and later depicted in Jacques-Louis David’s unfinished painting of 1791.

Salle du Jeu de Paume, Versailles

The shape of the eighteenth-century racquet remained consistent across workshops in Paris and Normandy. Surviving guild documents refer to the use of ash, beech, and walnut wood, selected for elasticity and strength. The frames were typically hand-shaped, drilled, and grooved for the passage of natural gut strings. Each racquet required precise manual tensioning to avoid frame distortion during play. The trebling pattern is documented in the 1767 treatise Art du paumier-raquetier et de la paume by François-Alexandre Pierre de Garsault, which describes how stringers wound the gut diagonally and looped it around the mains to reinforce pressure points. This 360-degree winding created two distinct hitting textures on the same string bed, one side smooth, the other slightly rough. The rough side provided greater friction against the ball’s surface, enabling spin control long before the principle was formally understood in modern tennis physics.

Close-up of trebling string pattern

The dimensions of standard racquets at the end of the eighteenth century measured approximately 66 to 68 centimeters in length, with a head width of around 22 centimeters. The string plane was asymmetrical, producing a pronounced downward curve characteristic of demi-paume equipment. The racquet’s weight averaged between 320 and 400 grams, depending on the density of the wood and the thickness of the gut. Contemporary inventories from Parisian paumiers confirm that racquets were sold alongside balls, gloves, and nets, forming complete sets for court play.

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About the Author:

Andreas Fixemer

Berlin Tennis Gallery

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