Ball games can be traced back to 1500BC. The ancient Egyptians actually played ball games as part as their religious ceremonies.  These traditions and the whole concept of the ball game spread into Europe in the 8^th century, the influence spread into Southern France.

Christian monks were the first Europeans to play the ball games that was to become tennis. The earliest version of the game was called "La Soule" where players would hit a ball to each other using their hands or a stick.

This very early version of tennis, where the ball was often hit against courtyard walls, players found that they had more control over the ball using just their hands. It was only a matter of time before the wooden handle was introduced, creating the very first tennis racket.  The balls were refined too, moving from solid wood to much softer designs made of leather stuffed with bran.

The game became very popular, particularly in France where it was adopted by Royalty.  Early French players would begin a game by shouting ‘tenez’ i.e. ‘Play!’ and the game soon became known as Royal or Real Tennis.  Real Tennis was actually very different to the game that we know today. It was played indoors, in large galleries with jutting roofs and points were won according to how the ball was played off of the gallery walls.

This is different to today’s Lawn Tennis, where the rectangular court is laid out on a grass surface and the play is within marked boundaries, not off the walls.

Another difference is that Real Tennis used a system of chases.  Today’s game, if a ball bounces twice, the ball is dead.  In Real Tennis, a marker would mark the point of the second bounce.  This was known as the chase.  In addition to playing for points, opponent’s would compete by trying to put their chase as close as possible to their opponent’s back wall. A player who had tagged behind in the points, could come from behind to win the match by being more skilful at the chase.

(This information was gathered from Planet Tennis)