National Tennis Club
| Type | Court Tennis, Sport Club |
|---|---|
| Established | 1880 / re-established 1980 |
| President | Ross Cann |
| Vice-president | Tom Rowe |
| Location | Newport, Rhode Island, USA |
| Website | http://nationaltennisclub.org/ |
The National Tennis Club (NTC) is court tennis (also known as "real tennis") club in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. Its home is the reconstructed Court Tennis Building at the Newport Casino. The National Tennis Club hosted the Real Tennis World Championship match in 2004, when Robert Fahey successfully defended his title against Tim Chisholm. The Court Tennis Building was constructed as part of the original Casino complex in 1880 and in 1980 the National Tennis Court was rededicated, largely through the efforts of Clarence "Clarry" Pell, as the symbolic home of the sport in the United States.
Court tennis, also known as "real tennis," is the original indoor racquet sport from which the modern game of lawn tennis (usually simply called tennis) is descended. It is known as court tennis in the United States, royal tennis in Australia and courte-paume in France. The expression "real" was primarily used by journalists in the mid-20th century to distinguish the ancient game from modern "lawn" tennis (even though the sport is rarely played on lawns outside the few social-club managed estates such as Wimbledon).
Real tennis is played today on 47 existing courts in the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States, and France. Despite a documented history of courts existing in the German states during the 17th century, real tennis eventually died out there during or after the World War II reconstruction.
The rules and scoring are similar to those of lawn tennis. In both sports game scoring is by fifteens (with the exception of 40, which is shortened from 45), however in real tennis the player with six games wins a set even if the opponent has five games. A match is typically best of three sets, except for the major open tournaments in which the matches are best of five sets. Another difference is that unlike the latex-based technology underlying the modern lawn-tennis ball, real tennis still utilizes a cork-based ball very close in design to the original ball used in the game, which are much less bouncy than lawn tennis balls and weigh about 2 1⁄2 ounces (compared to the lawn tennis ball weighing at 2 ounces). Real tennis also uses long racquets (27 inches) made of wood and use very tight strings to cope with the heavier balls.
A real tennis court is enclosed by walls on all four sides, three of which have sloping roofs, known as "penthouses." A game of real tennis has characteristic features such as the various window-like openings below the penthouse roofs that offer players a chance to win the point instantly by hitting the ball into the opening.
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