Robert "Bag" Fahey is a 13-time world champion athlete that you've never heard of.

Between 1994 and 2014, the Australian won consecutive top honors in an international sport you've never heard of:

Real tennis.

I know what you're thinking, "But, Serena Williams and Roger Federer play real tennis, right?"

It's real all right, assuming this isn't a big simulation. (Photo by boris misevic on Unsplash)

They actually play a derivative called lawn tennis. Lawn tennis grew into a mainstream global competition, so we dropped the "lawn" and just call it "tennis." You recognize this game as the one with fuzzy green balls and orange clay courts. Televised tournaments feature a lot of grunting and luxury watch ads.

Real tennis is an ancient contest that was developed by monks and peasants as a diversion from holy seclusion and the drudgery of life. They played the game in town squares right outside the castle walls. All they needed was a rope, a racquet (originally, they just used their hands), and a ball made of cork and twine.

The game has changed very little in five centuries. So little, in fact, that the courts are designed exactly like they were in the 1500s. That is, they resemble a medieval market complete with windows, strangely angled walls, and faux roofs.

The entire building structure is in play. You are required to serve the ball by bouncing it off one of the "roofs".

Courts are asymmetrical and littered with "hazards". There are esoteric markings on the floor and walls.

Players holler obtuse jargon at each other.

If I had $1 for every time I heard 'make chase at better than 1 yard worse than last'...

(Photo: Martin Bureau/AFP)

You now understand that real tennis is a complex sport. It's not a game for the masses.

Fahey, however, is the king of this antique domain. His place atop the real tennis universe tells us that he discovered a world that was just his size.

He mastered its rules and mugged the competition for two decades straight.

Could Fahey beat Federer? I doubt it.

But, that's not his world. Real tennis is.

Our job is to build worlds that can be explored, examined, and conquered.

Worlds that last for centuries no matter how big or small.

Let's get to it.

Dico.

To future worlds,

Matt Ventre

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