Salve Regina
Court Tennis
The racquet
Court tennis is famous for its asymmetrical racquets. The 27-inch long rackets (same length as lawn tennis) are made of wood and are strung very tightly to cope with the game's heavy balls. The racket heads are bent slightly to make striking balls close to the floor or in corners easier, but the true origin of why they are bent is unknown (some say it resembles the way the hand bends when the arm is extended - as the game was originally played without racquets but with hands).The racquets are wooden and made by either Grays in England or Harrow or Gold Leaf in the U.S.
The ball
The balls are handmade by the pros: they have a core of cork wrapped with tape and covered with lawn tennis ball felt. They are heavy and take spin differently than a lawn tennis ball, so players usually hit underspin or sidespin rather than topspin.
Unlike latex-based technology underlying the modern lawn-tennis ball, the game still uses a cork-based ball very close in design to the original balls used in the game.
