In an idle moment 700 years ago, two French monks began batting a ball around a monastery courtyard with crude wooden paddles. Thus was launched a royal rage. The impromptu game, which came to be known as court tennis, spread from cloister to castle and soon ranked as the foremost sport of kings. Louis X so overextended him self chasing balls that he became ill and died shortly after a match. Henry VIII was reportedly puffing around the court when aides informed him that Anne Boleyn's beheading had been accomplished. In 1641, Louis XIII of France defeated Philip IV...
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