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 private clubs also built courts. Along with real tennis and badminton, Racquets was used as a 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.

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, those who take up the sport do so enthusiastically and learn to play well. There are about twenty courts in schools and private clubs in the United Kingdom. The United States has six courts, and Canada one, all in private clubs. There may be unused courts elsewhere in the former British Empire that are still in good condition. Racquets is exclusively, or nearly exclusively, a male sport.