# Who was the first ever World Champion **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 1, 2003, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-ever-world-champion/165618 "2003-04-01T02:49:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ChalkPit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@ChalkPit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChalkPit)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-ever-world-champion/165618/1 "2003-04-01T02:49:04Z")
Who was the first person to be called ‘World Champion’ and in what sport ? ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-ever-world-champion/165618/2 "2003-04-01T04:02:35Z")
I had a hunch that the sport might be “real (royal) tennis”. I have the facts and I’m voting “yes”…the first recorded World Champion was indeed in real tennis: it was [the Frenchman Clerge](http://sportsfacts.net/history/real_tennis/world_championship/real_tennis_world_champions.html), in 1740. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-ever-world-champion/165618/3 "2003-04-01T04:03:55Z")
Darnit! [Fixed link.](http://sportsfacts.net/history/real_tennis/world_championship/real_tennis_world_champions.html) ---
**Author:** ![ChalkPit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@ChalkPit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChalkPit)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-ever-world-champion/165618/4 "2003-04-01T04:10:46Z")
Sounds good to me. I did try an internet search but had no joy with it. Tks ! ---
**Author:** ![stockton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@stockton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stockton)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-ever-world-champion/165618/5 "2003-04-01T05:16:54Z")
Alexander the Great? Sport: conquest. ---
**Author:** ![ChalkPit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@ChalkPit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChalkPit)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-ever-world-champion/165618/6 "2003-04-01T05:39:29Z")
I wonder just how ‘international’ that 1740 event was ? ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-ever-world-champion/165618/7 "2003-04-01T05:50:41Z")
Ghengis Khan? Alexander the Great? Julius Caesar? Arthur Ashe? ---
**Author:** ![Antonius\_Block](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Antonius\_Block](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antonius_Block)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-ever-world-champion/165618/8 "2003-04-01T06:27:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ChalkPit \* > \*\*I wonder just how ‘international’ that 1740 event was ? \*\* By 1740, most countries in NW Europe had courts. France had thousands in Paris alone, but there were also courts in England (Hampton Court, 1530), Scotland (Falkland Palace,1539), Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, and (I think but I’ll have to check) Germany. The St. Petersburg court in Russia may have been built later. Whether players of all of those countries were participating in championship tournaments is a different matter. Unfortunately, the “Real Tennis on the Web” site ([www.real-tennis.com](http://www.real-tennis.com)) has been down for a while, and that’s the best source for finding the relevant info. In any case, the 1740 _Jeu de paume_ championships would have a better claim to the term ‘International’ than the Super Bowl (US only) or the baseball World Series (US and Canada), both of whose winners profess to be “World Champions”! ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-ever-world-champion/165618/9 "2003-04-01T11:14:58Z")
**Og. Smash!**