Racquets (sport)
Racquets or rackets is an indoor racquet sport played in the
United Kingdom,
United States, and
Canada. The sport is infrequently called "hard rackets," possibly to distinguish it from the related sport of squash .
Encyclopedia
Racquets or
rackets is an indoor racquet sport played in the
United Kingdom,
United States, and
Canada. The sport is infrequently called "hard rackets," possibly to distinguish it from the related sport of squash .
Manner of play
Racquets is played in a 30 by 60 foot enclosed court, with a ceiling at least 30 feet high. Singles and doubles are played on the same court. The equipment used are 30½ inch wooden
racquets and a 1 7/16 inch hard white ball. The play is extremely fast, and potentially dangerous. Games are to 15 points, only the server can score — the receiver may serve after winning a rally. Matches are typically best of 5 games.
Because the game of
squash rackets began in the
19th century as an off-shoot of racquets, the sports were similar in manner of play and rules. However, the rules and scoring in squash have evolved in the last hundred years or so. Racquets has changed little; the main difference today is that players are now allowed brief rest periods between games. In the past, leaving the court could mean forfeiting the match, so players kept spare racquets, shirts, and shoes in the gutter below the telltale on the front wall.
The governing bodies are the Tennis and Rackets Association and the North American Racquets Association.
History
Racquets began as an
18th century pastime in London's King's Bench and
Fleet debtors prisons. The prisoners modified the game of fives by using tennis racquets to speed up the action. They played against the prison wall, sometimes at a corner to add a sidewall to the game. Racquets then became popular outside the prison, played in alleys behind pubs. It spread to schools, first using school walls, and later with proper four-wall courts being specially constructed for the game. Some historians assert that the game was codified through its popularity at the
Harrow School in London, where it was played as early as the second half of the
18th century.
Some private clubs also built courts. Along with
real tennis and
badminton, racquets was used as an inspiration for the game of
lawn tennis, invented in 1873. A vacant racquets court built into the University of Chicago's Stagg Field served as the location of the first artificial
nuclear chain reaction on December 2, 1942. The Stagg Field court is often mistakenly referenced as having been a "squash racquets" court.
Racquets was part of the
1908 Summer Olympics program.
As happens with sports, interests shift. Today it is perhaps the most obscure and least approachable of racquet sports. Court upkeep, handmade balls, and breakable wooden racquets make it an expensive game. It also requires lessons and practice to play safely and enjoyably. On the other hand, many who take up the sport do so enthusiastically. There are about twenty courts in schools and private clubs in the United Kingdom. The United States has seven active courts , and Canada one , in private clubs. There may be unused courts elsewhere in the former
British Empire that are still in good condition. Racquets is predominantly a male sport.
Tournaments
The world championship for singles is decided in a challenge format. If the governing bodies accept the challenger's qualifications, he plays the reigning champion in a best of 14 games format . If each player wins seven games, the total point score is used as a tie breaker. The current singles champion is Harry Foster. The current doubles champions are Guy Barker and Alister Robinson.
References
- Squires, Dick. The Other Racquet Sports New York: McGraw-Hill, 1978. ISBN 0-07-060532-7
External links
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