ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights and contextualises the distinctive threads of the Parisian 'tennis cultures'. The chapter is divided in three sections: First, it discusses the urbanistic and sociocultural prerequisites for the formation of this peculiar sport culture in the French capital. Based on these findings, the economics of the Parisian jeux de paume are examined. Finally, the chapter argues that these commercial units raised rather ambivalent perceptions on the part of city magistrates and contemporary observers, particularly in the context of the contested leisure culture of premodern cities in general. Inevitably, Paris as the capital and residence of the kings of France developed into the epicentre of the aristocratic enthusiasm for tennis. Royal residences, princely hotels scattered over the Parisian cityscape, the artisan quarter on the right bank of the Seine, the university quarter on the left - this metropolitan coexistence of different sociocultural milieus entailed a steady clientele of tennis players and spectators.
