Learning to Play Tennis

The server’s score is always announced first. So, for instance if the server has two points and his opponent, the receiver, has none, the score is 30-love. If a game is tied at 40-40, it is called “deuce”. If the server gets the next point, it’s called server advantage; if the receiver gets the next point, it’s called receiver advantage. It’s advantage because the player who has it only needs one more point to win. Should they not make this one point the game goes back to deuce. Scoring is perhaps a bit complicated, but necessary to understand as you learn to play tennis.

The Tennis Court

We’ve now covered scoring, the first step to learn as a tennis beginner — let’s move on to understanding the court. A tennis court is 78 feet long by 27 feet wide, and divided in half length-wise by the net. At each end of the court, there are white baselines — here, the serves are taken. These are also the out-of-bounds lines — a ball must not bounce beyond them or it’s out and the player who hit the ball loses a point.

Each side of the court is lined with two white marks to indicate the width of the court for singles play and the larger width for doubles play. The short white line extending from the net to halfway down the court is the service court. As a tennis beginner, you can’t learn to play tennis without understanding these rules of the court. With ample practice time working on tennis strokes, the right tennis techniques may be in fact a element that can propel a tennis player allowing them to hit shots they never could with their old and inefficient tennis strokes. That means that all of the tennis strokes can be improved, the tennis forehand, backhand and serve are the three biggest tennis strokes in the modern game. All three tennis strokes are also incumbent upon having good tennis technique to make these tennis strokes work.

Tennis Singles

OK. Now that you understand the court, let’s learn to play tennis with some specifics. As already mentioned, a tennis beginner can play a singles or doubles game with either one or two players on each side of the net. The game — and, each point — begins with a serve taken from behind the baseline. The ball must bounce into the diagonally opposite service court. (Your serve may be your most difficult stroke as you learn to play tennis.) The play — or point — continues until one player fails to hit the ball back or hits it out-of-bounds.

I’ve spent years in attempts to understand tennis techniques and secrets that few people ever learn in tennis lessons. Most competitive junior tennis players have the privilege of time and money to develop and learn tennis techniques, but maybe you don’t. Tennis techniques are an important part for every tennis player and even small changes in tennis technique can result in big improvements.

Learn the Tennis Serve

So, as you now know, learning to serve is essential as you learn to play tennis. Here’s how (for right-handed players — left-handed players should reverse the directions): Stand with both feet behind the baseline. Assume a sideways stance with your left foot pointed towards the right hand net post. Hold the ball in your left hand. Raise your left hand throwing the ball upwards about one foot in front of your left foot and about eighteen inches above your reach. While the ball in the air, move your racket back and up. Hit the ball at full stretch, with your racket arm straight, at the highest point possible. You are switching the weight of your body from your back foot to your front foot to give added strength to your shot.

Hit the ball with an “up and over” action as if you were throwing the racket at it — and, after hitting the ball, follow through with your swing. This follow through will propel you forward into the court, prepared to hit the returned shot. Good! You’re progressing well in your efforts to learn to play tennis! If you’re unhappy with your serve — perhaps even miss the ball when you swing — don’t worry; this is common when you first learn to play tennis.

Tennis Doubles Game

But would if it’s a doubles game? How do I learn to play tennis then, you wonder?! Who serves? With doubles, the serving position rotates across teams and partners. For instance, if team partners A and B were playing doubles with team partners C and D, partner A would serve first and then it would rotate to partner C and then back to partner B and finally to partner D.

Also important to know when you learn to play tennis: At the end of the odd-numbered games in a set, including the first game, the players exchange ends of the court. This is true in both singles and doubles games.

What else do you need to know as you learn to play tennis?

Well, as you learn to play tennis, you need to know how to continue the play. If the serve is successful, the play may continue with a variety of shots. Often, play will continue with groundstrokes. Groundstrokes are shots taken after the ball has bounced once. These can be hit with a forehand or a backhand stroke. The forehand stroke is made with the face of the racket, the palm of your hand facing the ball. The backhand stroke is made with the reverse side of the racket, with the palm of your hand facing away from the ball. To successfully learn to play tennis, you’ll need to learn to hit forehand shots; and to successfully learn to play tennis, you’ll need to learn to hit backhand shots.

Tennis techniques has adapted for every new generation of tennis players. Tennis forehand technique has evolved, from old school closed stances, to rotational angular momentum hitting styles.

Learn to play tennis with a forehand stroke

Begin with the grip. The most common grip in tennis is the eastern forehand; the eastern forehand grip is also the best choice as you learn to play tennis. Use it for your forehand drive and the majority of your shots. Place your hand flat on the racket strings, and then slide your hand down to the handle. Wrap your fingers around the racket. Your first finger should be forward slightly as if you were holding the trigger of a gun. Keep all tensions out of your fingers. The eastern forehand grip is often called the “shake hands” grip by those who have just begun to learn to play tennis, because, in essence, you are shaking hands with the racket. For most people, it is the preferred grip for serving — particularly, when you first learn to play tennis.

Learn the Tennis Backhand Stroke

Again, begin with the grip. Whether you choose to use a one handed backhand or a two handed backhand, it’s important to grip the racket closer to the top bevel with your dominant hand. For a two handed backhand, the non-dominant hand should grip the racket underneath the handle, and keeping your palm rested firmly on the racket handle. Fingers should be free of tension, and not too close together. The grip for the two hander should have your other hand adjacent to the first. It’s necessary to practice both the forehand and backhand tennis strokes as you learn to play tennis.

Choosing the Right Equipment

Finally, choosing the right equipment is essential as you learn to play tennis. Proper grip size avoids pain. To measure the correct grip size, hold your racket hand out palm side up, and measure from the crease of the ring finger to the tip of the ring finger. This should be the measurement around your racket handle, generally about four inches in diameter.

Even your choice of shoes, socks, and other clothing are important considerations when you learn to play tennis. As opposed to running shoes, tennis shoes are made to withstand side-to-side movement. They should have a herringbone tread for longer lasting protection and grip. Socks should be thick and able to absorb sweat, thereby preventing infections such as athlete’s foot. Generally, tennis clothing is white, a color chosen to best reflect the sun and keep the player cooler. (Wear the appropriate gear even when just beginning to learn to play tennis!)

Tennis is a Lifelong Sport

If you learn to play tennis, it can be your first step toward a lifetime of fitness and pleasure. And now that we’ve discussed how to learn to play tennis with the basics, you’re ready to get out on the court. There’s no better way to learn to play tennis than with practice; with practice, you’ll not only learn to play tennis, you’ll learn to play tennis well.

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The post Learn to Play Tennis – Tennis Beginners appeared first on Tennis Instruction.

Scoring

Scoring is important to learn in learning to play tennis. Every tennis match consists of 3 or 5 sets depending on the types of tournaments and the divisions (men, women, professional or junior). Generally, tennis matches consists of 3 sets, thus the player or team that wins 2 sets first wins the match.

Some tournaments such as grand slams consists of 5 sets for the men’s division. In these matches, the player or team that wins 3 sets first wins the match. A tennis set is composed of games, while games are composed of points. A tennis game is a set of points played by one player or one team. The player or team that scores 4 points or two more than the opponent wins the game. A tennis score is unique as it is called in different manner. A game scores ranges from zero to three which are technically termed as love (zero), one (15), two (30) and three (forty). If both players have equal scores at three (40-40), this is called deuce which means that the player or team who scored two ahead of the other wins.

The next step in learning to play tennis is understanding how a game is played. A tennis set is a set of tennis games where each player or each team alternately serves. The set is won by the player or team who wins six games first if the trailing player/team only won 4 or less games. In case the leading player or team wins 6 games and the trailing player or team wins 5 games, an additional game is played. If the leading player or team wins, the game is over. However, if the trailing player or team wins the game, a tie-breaker is played. A tie-break is an additional game to determine the winner. Other tournaments such as in Grand slams do not use tie-break but instead, the set is extended until one player or team get two points ahead.

The Tennis Court

After learning to play tennis, the parts of the court is the next important part to know. A tennis court is rectangular in shape with the dimension of 27 feet wide (39 feet for doubles court) and 78 feet long. It is divided by a net with a height of 36 inches at the center strap. Each side of the court has a baseline (the farthest line parallel to the net). A ball that lands outside this line is considered wide (fault).

There are two white lines on each side of the court that make up the length of the court. The inner white line is the singles sidelines which is the line demarcation for singles matches. The outermost line is called the doubles sidelines which are also the line of demarcation for doubles matches. The space between the two sidelines is called the doubles alley which is only playable with doubles. The parallel line between the net and the baseline is called the service line. While the line at the center that is perpendicular to the net is called the center service line.

Tennis Singles and tennis doubles

Now the next thing in learning to play tennis is played. Tennis can be played between two players or between two teams with two players in each team. A tennis match that is played with only two players against each other is called tennis singles match. As described above, this is played in a smaller court dimension. On one hand, tennis doubles is played in the bigger court. The main different aspect between the two types of tennis matches is the size court. Scoring, types of court, shots, net height and so on are the same.

The tennis serve

In learning to play tennis, a tennis serve is the shot to start a point in tennis. The player who does the serve (server) stands either at the ad court (player’s left side court) or at the deuce court (player’s right side court). The player then starts the serve by tossing the ball into the air, hitting the ball diagonally so that it lands inside the service box. If the first serve lands outside the service box it is called fault and the player has to do the second serve. The second serve is the player’s last service chance thus if he or she misses again, a point is given to the opponent.

A let ball is when the ball touches the net but still lands on the service box. In both serves, the receiver (the player who is not serving) should return the ball to the server. If the receiver fails to hit or even touch the ball with his racket on the return, the server gets an ace point.

Shots in Learning to Play Tennis

There are different types of tennis shots use by players learning to play tennis. They are the tennis serve (as discussed above), forehand shot, backhand shot, volley (full and half volley), lob, approach shot and overhead. However, for beginners who are just learning to play tennis, the two most essential shots (the forehand and the backhand shots) should be prioritized.

Tennis Grips

There are different types of tennis grips used learning to play tennis. The main grip that beginners should familiarize when they are learning to play tennis are the most commonly used grips. They are the continental grip which is also called “The Handshake Grip”. Others main tennis grips include the Eastern and Westerns tennis grips

The forehand shot

For a right handed player who is just learning to play tennis, the forehand is a shot that initiates on the players right side of the body. Then the movement continues across his or her body during the point of contact (the rackets face comes in contact with the ball) and with a sideways (left) follow-through.

The tennis backhand shot

The backhand shot is the next shot in learning to play tennis. The tennis backhand comes in two types, the two handed backhand and the one handed backhand. The backhand shot is considered to be more difficult to execute, especially the one handed backhand. Thus, if you just have started learning to play tennis, first learn the two handed backhand. The execution of this tennis shot starts on the left side of the player’s body (for right handed players), the movement continues across the body when the ball comes in contact with the racket face, ending with a sideways (left) follow-though.

Choosing the Right Equipment

The last but not the least feature to consider if you are learning to play tennis, is the use of the appropriate tennis equipment. An example of tennis equipment that beginners should have is the tennis racket. When you buy your racket, make sure that you are comfortable with the grip size. This is very important because the use of an inappropriate grip size can cause injuries to your arm, elbows and wrists, affecting your performance.

Tennis rackets with different grip sizes are available in the market. These grip sizes ranges from 4 inches or less for junior players to 4 7/8 inches for adults. If your grip is bigger or smaller than these values, you can have your racket specially made, but you have to pay extra.

To determine your correct racket grip, all you need to do open your palm (right palm if you’re right handed but left if otherwise). Place it in a flat surface with all fingers all together, then measure the length from the middle crease of your palm up to the line between the middle and ring finger. The end point should be the same as the tip of the ring finger.

Factors to consider in learning to play tennis

Learning to play tennis does not only mean that you have to know all about tennis shots, courts and other techniques. It is also essential that you are properly geared up. Use an appropriate pair of shoes, pair of socks, clothing, and so on. These aspects should not be taken for granted because wearing inappropriate tennis attire can have negative effects on your performance.

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If you want to jumpstart your forehand and play like the PROS, check out my 70+ page Tennis Ebook that will immediately show you how you can take your forehand to the next level.

The Modern Forehand Domination Ebook is guaranteed to improve your tennis technique, and increase power, topspin and accuracy of your tennis forehand!

Modern Tennis Forehand Ebook
Learn How to Hit a Forehand Like Federer, Nadal and Djokovic

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