Real tennis is the ancestor of modern lawn tennis.
Real tennis -- one of several games sometimes called `` the sport of kings '' -- is the original racquet sport from which the modern game of lawn tennis ( usually simply called tennis ) is derived . The term real was first used by journalists in the early 20th century as a retronym to distinguish the ancient game from modern lawn tennis ( even though the latter sport is often not contested on lawns these days outside the few social-club-managed estates such as Wimbledon ) . Tennis . It had close connections both to various field ( `` lawn '' ) games such as croquet and bowls as well as to the older racket sport of real tennis . During most of the 19th century , in fact , the term `` tennis '' referred to real tennis , not lawn tennis : for example , in Disraeli 's novel Sybil ( 1845 ) , Lord Eugene De Vere announces that he will `` go down to Hampton Court and play tennis . ''