Court Tennis dates back to the 12th Century when the monasteries and courtyards of France lent their walls to the hand-ball game known as Jeu de Paume. Thus the game became the pastime of bishops, priests, and monks as well as monarchs and their royal attendants. In the latter part of the 14th Century it became Jeu de Court Paume. In the early 17th Century, hundreds of courts were in use in Paris. In part, so many that the public was restricted from playing because they were taking too much time from their labors.

Court tennis was played in several other countries on the European continent in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, particularly in royal circles in Italy, Spain, the Germanic Empire, Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden, and Holland. It is suspected that, given the close ties between France and Scotland, the game migrated first to Scotland and then to England. In the United States, there is reference to people playing tennis in New York in the late 1600's. However, there is no description of the court or the game. Records indicate that the first court was built in Boston in 1876. In the late 1800's, the game of lawn tennis was invented as a game for ladies to play because Court Tennis was deemed too complex for the fair sex, an obviously outdated notion.

The original ball of tightly bundled rags, and later a felt cover stuffed with hair, was hard on the hand; thus, gloves and then short handled bats came into use. The handle was then extended and the head strung with natural gut fibres, giving us the racquet in use today and virtually unchanged for 200 years. Courts vary slightly in size according to when and where they were built. The surface of the court floor ranges from stone laid in small slabs to marble to the patented Bickley composition floor, the latter consisting of a concrete material with a special finishing coat that remains the secret of Bickley and Company, London.

Championship records of World Open champions date back to 1740 (circa) when Clerge the Elder, France, held the title. Since the early 1800's there are yearly records of champions, including those for United States Professional, United States Amateur Singles, United States Open Singles, United States Open Doubles, and the United States Amateur Doubles.

It is said that there were as many as 1,800 courts in France in the 13th Century. Today there are only 41 active courts in the world; 20 in England, 5 in Australia, and 3 each in France and Scotland. In the United States, there are 10 courts, including one private tennis court, Greentree, in Manhasset, Long Island, and the National Tennis Court in Newport, Rhode Island.

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