Stické (also Sticke Tennis) is a racquet sport invented in the late 19th century merging aspects of real tennis, racquets, and lawn tennis. It is played with standard lawn tennis racquets and low pressure balls in an enclosed court. The court is somewhat similar to a real tennis court in shape, but is smaller (about 78 feet by 27 feet) and different in construction.
The origin of the name is unclear. It either derives from Sphairistiké (Greek for "playing ball"), the term originally given to lawn tennis by Walter Clopton Wingfield, or from a Major-General Sticke, a French Canadian who is credited with inventing the game.
In the beginning of the twentieth century, there were perhaps 38 courts, both in the United Kingdom and throughout the British Empire, when stické was a popular recreation at many country houses. At the time, it was one of the few games that was played by both men and women.
However, as of 2005 there are only three playable courts remaining: two in England (Hartham Park, Corsham, Wiltshire and Knightshayes Court, Tiverton, Devon) and one court in India (Viceregal Lodge complex, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh). The Hartham Park court was constructed in 1904, and has an active playing club associated with it.
Play takes place using all the basics of lawn tennis and the same scoring system, with the addition of side and back walls, as in racquets, but with players in pairs opposed over the net. As in real tennis, there is a penthouse, used throughout the game as a playing surface and on which the service has to land to start each point.
