I have to chime in here, as it’s a subject close to my heart. The old Pyrex measuring cups don’t do this. I went out of my way to buy some on eBay. I can’t imagine why they redesigned like this, but there’s a lot of things I can’t imagine.

This Video (French) says it’s a thousand years old, but that seems not to be the case, more like like 4-500 years.

I think the NYT is mistaken, as here’s an engraving of «jeu de paume» from the 16th C

According to the very long and exhaustive wiki

“The term real was first used by journalists in the early 20th century as a retronym to distinguish the ancient game from modern lawn tennis”, and, is it happens, 'It is also known as court tennis in the United States, royal tennis in England and Australia, and courte-paume in France."

I think the kings were pissed when they started playing tennis outside. “That’s not real tennis”, they probably said.