The Aiken Tennis Club is a private court tennis

Real tennis

Real tennis – one of several games sometimes called "the sport of kings" – is the original indoor racquet sport from which the modern game of lawn tennis , is descended...

 club located at 146 Newberry Street, SW in Aiken, South Carolina

Aiken, South Carolina

Aiken is a city in and the county seat of Aiken County, South Carolina, United States. With Augusta, Georgia, it is one of the two largest cities of the Central Savannah River Area. It is part of the Augusta-Richmond County Metropolitan Statistical Area. Aiken is home to the University of South...

. It includes the Court Tennis Building. The club was incorporated in 1898 with the sponsorship of financier and founder of the prominent Whitney family

Whitney family

The Whitney family is an American family notable for their social prominence, wealth, business enterprises and philanthropy, founded by John Whitney who came from London, England to Watertown, Massachusetts in 1635.-Rise to prominence:...

, William C. Whitney

William C. Whitney

William Collins Whitney was an American political leader and financier and founder of the prominent Whitney family. He served as Secretary of the Navy in the first Cleveland administration from 1885 through 1889. A conservative reformer, he was considered a Bourbon Democrat.-Early life:William...

. The building was constructed around 1902, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

 on November 27, 1984.

The Aiken Tennis Club is the world's most equator

Equator

An equator is the intersection of a sphere's surface with the plane perpendicular to the sphere's axis of rotation and containing the sphere's center of mass....

ial court tennis (also known as "real tennis") venue, and one of only two American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 courts south of the Mason-Dixon line

Mason-Dixon line

The Mason–Dixon Line was surveyed between 1763 and 1767 by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon in the resolution of a border dispute between British colonies in Colonial America. It forms a demarcation line among four U.S. states, forming part of the borders of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and...

 (the other is the International Tennis Club of Washington

International Tennis Club of Washington

The International Tennis Club of Washington plays real tennis on Prince's Court at the Regency Sport and Health Club in McLean, Virginia, 6 miles from Washington, D.C. Dedicated on October 11, 1997, Prince's is the only new real tennis venue to be constructed in the United States since the...

).

Former world champions that have played on the court include Northrup R. Knox

Northrup R. Knox

Northrup Rand Knox , was a Buffalo banker, sportsman, and community leader who, along with his brother Seymour, brought the National Hockey League franchise the Buffalo Sabres to Buffalo, New York. Knox is the third generation of the Knox family to serve as chairman of Marine Midland Bank and its...

, G.H. "Pete" Bostwick, Jr., Jordan Toole, Jimmy Bostwick, Wayne Davies, and Robert Fahey

Robert Fahey

Robert Fahey is an Australian real tennis player.On 27 April 2006, at the Oratory Tennis Club in Woodcote, South Oxfordshire, he matched the great Pierre Etchebaster's feat of seven consecutive defenses of the real tennis singles World Championship, which he has held since 1994...

. The most notable competition to be played at Aiken was the world championship challenger match between Ruaraidh Gunn and Camden Riviere

Camden Riviere

Camden Riviere is an American left-handed real tennis player. As of February 2010, he is ranked second in the world for the sport. In March 2007, paired with Tim Chisholm, he unsuccessfully challenged the reigning world doubles champions, Robert Fahey and Steve Virgona...

on March 8, 2008.