Note 118 — III THE DAILY LIFE OF LOUIS XIV[106]

He was not, however, so devoted to the game as some of his predecessors, e.g. Francis I, Henry II, and Henry IV. The best player of this time was a certain Jourdan, who was paid a yearly salary of 800 livres for coaching the royal princes. But tennis was on the decline in the reign of Louis XIV. In 1596 there were 250 courts (tripots) in Paris alone, in 1657 114, in 1780 only 10 (J.-J. Jusserand, Les Sports dans l’ancienne France, 1901, pp. 240-265).