FRENCH TENNIS BALLS

Numerous are the Anglo-French matches in our Club: one of the most recent was between our Cornish champion, Matt Frost, & that well-known anglophile, Jean-Philippe Goudeau (photos). As Matt trundled himself onto court, I heard him mutter something about the battle of Agincourt. In fact he used the correct name of the village associated with that massacre; 'Azincourt', which is situated in the Pas de Calais near Boulogne-sur-mer. (The village named 'Agincourt' exists, but is near Nancy in north-east France.) The origins of this well-chronicled battle date from the time when the English King Henry V claimed land in France from their Charles VI; & in fact coveted his crown. The cheeky reply from the French king's eldest son, the Dauphin, was a present to King Henry of some tennis balls!

Shakespeare records the reply with his customary elegance:

K.Henry:

We are glad the Dauphin is so pleasant with us;

His present and your pains we thank you for;

When we have match'd our rackets to these balls,

We will, in France, by God's grace, play a set

Shall strike his father's crown into the hazard.

K.HenryV,ActI,ScII

A little explanation is needed of the term 'hazard': this word, unused in our 'lawn tennis', occurs in the older game of 'royal tennis', now called 'real tennis' ('court tennis' in the States). The 'hazard' is the side of the net from which players receive the balls: the server plays always from the other side. This game is now only played in 40 courts around the world - covered courts, as balls may be hit against the walls & windows. The balls are made of cork, felt & tape - they rebound less than our tennis balls, so the special wooden rackets are curved to facilitate play off the floor & in the corners of the court. This may have helped royalty, who were not used to bending their knees! (see previous post: KNEES.)

Anglophobes will try not to remember, that the result of this infamous battle was an overwhelming victory for England, (in spite of the vastly superiority in numbers of the French forces.) As for our Cornish veteran, I am, for the moment, uninformed of the outcome.......