Tennis for Beginners - Basic Tips and Advice

This article goes into the basics of tennis for beginners. What are the first things you have to do when starting to play tennis? At what age should you begin? And what's the best tennis racquet to begin with?

To start, one of the best ways of learning to play tennis is to use your body's natural abilities. If you do this the right way, you will build up thousands of natural muscle connections. It will ensure that you can keep on developing and never run into a dead end along the way.

First Steps to Take

Three things are crucial to me when it comes to tennis for beginners:

Step 1 - In case you have never had previous tennis coaching, then find yourself a tennis coach who can teach you the fundamentals. Only when you have learned the basics of tennis, you can move on to more advanced stuff.

Step 2 - This is about really delving into tennis through reading, watching tennis games, and practicing tennis as much as you possibly can. My favorite motto is "sleep, drink, eat tennis".

Step 3 - Now it's time to learn specific baseline tactics and other tennis drills for beginners. The goal should be to develop as quickly as you possibly can. Your focus should be to win - playing tennis is not the same as hitting balls!

When to Start?

What is the best age to start playing tennis? The answer to this question really depends on your goals. If you really want to become part of the top 100 tennis players in the world, then you should start as young as possible. Remember that a famous tennis player like Andre Agassi picked up a tennis racquet before he could even walk. Boris Becker won Wimbledon at the age of 17, and Rafael Nadal was winning professional tournaments at age 16. One exception is Vince Spadea, but even he started playing tennis at the grand old age of 14.

The reason for this, is that young children can effortlessly develop their coordination just like young children can learn any language without effort.

However, don't let these sobering facts stop you from starting to play tennis. Even if you don't become a top 100 tennis player, tennis is still an excellent way to develop mental strength and fitness. And don't forget that for talented amateurs, Europe has leagues that pay you to represent their club. Also, many tennis players who don't make it to the top, still get good paying jobs as tennis coaches.

Your First Tennis Racquet

When you buy your first tennis racquet, it doesn't have to be a professional racquet. But unless you are particularly light or young, it should be an adult racquet. If you weigh under 80 pounds, you should go for a junior racquet, meaning any racquet under 27 inches.

Particularly, you should try to avoid the following:

Racquets with a head size under 100 square inches. Racquets with a larger head size make it easier to hit the ball and such racquets also give the player more power as they have a larger sweet spot.

"Head light racquets" that have their weight based in the handle, as they are particularly meant for advanced players and not for beginners.

Racquets that start to weigh in at under 280 pounds. Very light racquets are meant for players who are very light themselves. However, once you start off with a very light racquet, it is typically hard to change to a proper one later. So it's better never to start with a light racquet in the first place.

Aluminium racquets for beginners are the cheapest and can already be bought for $30 to $70. As you advance, you can switch to a graphite racquet which are available in the $80 to $330 price range.

Max Gregor is the editor of How-2-Tennis.com, a complete information resource for beginning and advanced tennis players. Find more about tennis terminology at his site.

Tennis - Ideal For Beginners

If you have not been the sporty or athletic type but are keen to take up a sport as part of your goal to adopt a healthier lifestyle, tennis is a wonderful game to pick up.

Tennis can be played according to the players' preference - slow and steady for beginners, or fast and furious for advanced players and professionals.

Tennis is also one of the few sports that uses most of the muscles on your body, which means you get a very good overall workout, and it's great for your cardio.

For these reasons, tennis is ideal as a beginners' sport, even for those who have never been active in sports.

Tennis is also a very sociable game. It takes at least two to play tennis, just like it takes two to tango. You can chit chat with your partner in between sets. Unless you're in a competitive match, you can even trade jokes during the game!

For even more fun, when you're more confident in your game, you can invite an additional two players to make it a "doubles".

What do you need?

A tennis racquet

A pair of tennis shoes (or track shoes)

Some tennis balls

A tennis court

And a partner!

What you need to know?

Here are some of the things you need to know before getting on the court.

1. How to hold the tennis racquet

Assuming you're right handed, hold the tennis racquet on your left hand. Then open up the palm of your right hand, put it against the racquet handle, and slide it down to the grip and grip it.

2. Swings

There are several basic tennis swings that beginners need to learn, but the 2 most basic are the following:

a. forehand (position of your racquet is similar to an open palm on your right hand facing the net)

b. backhand (your right hand will be across your body with the back of your hand facing the net)

You can play a game just using these two swings as a start.

3. The Tennis Court

If you're playing Singles (2 players), the "in" area of the court is demarcated by the two inner vertical lines running from one baseline to the other.

If you're playing Doubles (4 players), then you will be using all the areas within the two outer vertical lines.

The ball is always served from behind the Baseline, the horizontal lines at the back of the court.

First Time on the Court

Now that you have the necessary equipment, some basic knowledge and a partner, you're now ready to get on the court.

When you get to the court, start with some stretching exercises, either alone or together with your partner. As tennis uses the muscles in your legs and arms, be sure to include some stretching exercises that target these muscles.

Once you've completed the stretching exercises, you can warm up effectively by playing "mini-tennis" for approximately 10 to 15 minutes. This means you and your partner will be standing just behind the service boxes, and start hitting the ball to one another slowly and steadily.

After the warm up, you can now move back to the baseline to start playing a game.

As this is your first tennis game, do not get hung up on the rules of the games or the proper swinging techniques. Just hit the ball to one another. Try to keep your ball within the court, so it'll be easier for you and your partner to return the ball to each other.

The main objective for your first game is to have fun, before deciding on whether this is the sport for you. And the more times you hit the ball, the more fun you will have!

Nora Yu is a tennis enthusiast who has been playing the game for more than 5 years. For more tennis tips, visit [http://www.TennisVideoLessons.net]