Pau restoration gets green light for 2026
City government to fund works to bring court to jeu à dedans standards
The real tennis world is set to expand, with the City of Pau announcing funding for the final stage of restoration works for the Jeu de Paume de Navarre in October, bringing the court to a full jeu à dedans standard, with construction expected to begin in February 2026.
The court in Pau was first constructed in 1887 when the Pyrenean town was a hub for wealthy English tourists who spent their winters seeking warmer climates and healing mineral waters. Along with the jeu de paume court, the late 19th century in Pau saw continental Europe’s first golf club established along with the Pau fox hunt, the Pau polo club and a myriad of gentlemen’s clubs. The court is located near the city center on the edge of the parc Beaumont, a large Victorian-inspired public garden. The maître-paumier of the era was Émile Broquedis, whose daughter Marguerite Broquedis grew up at the court and went on to be the first French female Olympic Champion, winning the women’s singles lawn tennis event at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm.
After the second World War, tourism to the region waned, and the court was converted to a pelota court. The grille and dedans penthouses were removed, and the main wall filled in to remove the tambour. By the 1990s, the building was becoming dilapidated, before a programme of restoration works began to revitalise the court — now owned by the city council. The external façade of the building was restored, with a restaurant being opened in what was once the clubrooms.
A jeu de paume club was established in the mid-2000s under Simon Berry, who for many years championed a full restoration. The court has since been part of the biennial Trois Tripots tournament, bringing it to the attention of touring players from around the world. In 2023, the court returned to full-time real tennis use, with the pelota players moving to a new modern facility on the edge of town. The court was also repainted to its traditional black-and-red colour scheme, with former World Champion Wayne Davies serving as a temporary professional to kick-start play at the club.
Now, the club and the city will embark on the final stage of works, with the goal of bringing the court to a full international-standard jeu à dedans design. The project will be led by a new committee, consisting of president Stéphane Hochart, treasurer François Alabert and secretary Eric Gormond, with Davies joining the board of directors. Construction is currently scheduled to start in February 2026, which will see the reinstatement of the dedans and grille penthouses, renovation of the side penthouse, removal of the main-wall infill to re-expose the tambour and redevelopment of the club rooms including changing facilities.
“This future court will be included in the national, but also international, tournament calendar. It will allow us to organize every imaginable tournament,” Hochart told La République des Pyrénées, “Everything is in place to achieve something unique. We want the sport to have a positive impact on the local economy. Many players residing in the United States or Australia are eager to discover the Pau court.”
When restored, the club hopes to host a future World Championship in the town, bringing Pau to the center of the real tennis world. At present, the club consists of around 30 members, but numbers are expected to grow once the restoration is complete, with the club partnering with the local Marguerite-de-Navarre middle school and Louis-Barthou high school to encourage young people to take up the game.
The Pau court, when finished, will be the fourth active jeu à dedans court in France, following Paris, Fontainebleau and Bordeaux. It will also help mark the 2020s decade as a renaissance in court construction, following Bordeaux (2020), Washington (2022), Sand Valley (2024) and Sydney (2025). A new court in Charleston is also expected to finish construction in 2026 — not at the original Daniel Island site but as part of a new Charleston Racquet Club — while the Melbourne Cricket Club are in the early stages of a project for a new court at the Glen Iris Valley Tennis Club. In England, hope still remains that projects at Hewell Grange and Repton School will get off the ground in the coming years.