Falkland town

Tennis took a decidedly Scottish twist in 2012 when Andy Murray topped Novak Djokovic to grab his first Grand Slam trophy. The Dunblane native has certainly earned a well-deserved moment in the long history of tennis in Scotland. Had he been born a mere four centuries earlier, Andy might have been a victor on the court you can still visit at Falkland Palace, 37 miles east of his home town, where the National Trust for Scotland maintains the oldest royal tennis court in Britain.Known officially as real tennis and as court tennis in the States, the game that Murray masters descends from one that rose from medieval roots to great popularity in Renaissance Europe. Royal tennis evolved to require an elaborate enclosed space, and as its name implies, from the beginning it was a sport of kings. Royals and aristocrats were among the few wealthy enough to construct courts to the unusual architectural specifications the game required.  The court at Falkland Palace is of a distinctive design known as jeu quarré, which features slope roofed viewing galleries (penthouses) on two rather than three of the four walls surrounding the playing space. Unlike the game played on the slightly larger jeu à dedans variant, players at Falkland would use their palms rather than racquets to bat the 2 ½ inch diameter, cloth covered, cork ball at opponents. In France, this is the variant from which the game earned its name – jeu de paume – and the French were truly crazed about the sport. In 1600 there were reported to be more than 1,000 courts in Paris alone. Alas, that number has been vastly diminished, although many still visit one court located in the Tuileries, which now houses the contemporary art museum known as the Galerie Nationale du Jeu De Paume.

http://www.ntsusa.org/royal-tennis-at-falkland-palace/

Falkland nestles between the two Lomond Hills in the Howe of Fife. It is most well known for Falkland Palace. This royal dwelling was once the country residence of the Stewart kings and queens as they hunted deer and wild boar in the forests of Fife. Built between 1501 and 1541 by James IV and James V, the palace has some of the most exceptional architecture of its time in Britain. It is also home to one of only two 16th century tennis courts in Britain (the other is at Hampton Court in England).