Cottesmore plays real tennis at Petworth House - matches are organised against the few other prep schools that play.
Real tennis, often called "Royal Tennis" – one of the several sports sometimes called: The sport of Kings" – is by any name the original indoor racquet sports from which the modern game of lawn tennis, or tennis, is descended.
The term "real" was first used by journalists in the middle of the twentieth century to distinguish the ancient game from modern "lawn" tennis. Real tennis players often just call the game "tennis", while continuing to describe the more widely distributed offshoot as "lawn tennis". ,
Real tennis is still played by enthusiasts on 47 existing courts in the UK, Australia, the United States, and France.