HOW TO PLAY TENNIS (Complete Guide 2022)

One of the best decisions one can make in life is getting involved in sports. Particularly when it comes to tennis, it engages every element of the body. That is one of the great benefits of the game. Apart from having fun, you also get to exercise. But first, let’s look at how to play tennis from the simplest to the most cutting-edge level. 

The following 7 tips will make you an expert at playing tennis and you won’t need any more lessons. If all you did was read and not implement, it wouldn’t work. To become a great player, you must play every day. Practice makes perfect, as the old saying goes. 

Contents

Why Play Tennis?

There are two reasons behind playing tennis. Both reasons are hard to refuse. One reason is you are living to play tennis. That means tennis is your love and you want to become the best tennis player in history. This is a strong reason to play tennis.

2nd reason is your health and body activity or say exercises. Now, everyone needs to exercise every day right? Playing tennis is the most famous and amazing way to go. Playing tennis help your body, your mind, and your agility.

Furthermore, playing tennis helps to improve your focus and your mindset. And able to think creatively and keep you in shape and stress-free.

Equipment you Need to Play Tennis

Playing tennis effectively needs you to grab racquets, sports shoes, comfortable clothes, and tennis machines sometimes. These are the most important tennis-playing equipment. You don’t need to go for high kinds of stuff. This is enough.

If you can afford it then you have choices like a complete tennis kit, in which you have literally everything from tennis powder to different grips for different shorts.

Let’s Understand How To Play Tennis In Deep

To learn to play tennis you need to follow these 7 steps which contain very important information about how to play tennis.

1 – Best Place To Play Tennis

As we know, tennis is a game that involves highly efficient movements of the body. And the key point is the surface of the game affects the quality of the game. For the match, usually, tennis players have the choices of hard courts, clay courts, and grass courts. The tennis ball bounces uniquely in these specific places.

This is an important consideration when choosing a tennis court. Many people overlook the right spots and environments. For this reason, they lack the experience that professionals have. Professionals are familiar with the importance of an appropriate tennis court surface.

Comparing the above three surfaces, the tennis players usually play on hard courts and clay courts. As the grass-court is not accessible to all players and it is hard to find.

Further, in order to prevent the players from injuries, the coaches suggest playing tennis on the clay surfaces. Below is a brief description of the hard and clay courts:

HARDCOURT:

The hard courts are composed of concrete material or asphalt and are more preferred in the United States. The quality of the hardcourt influences the player’s ball bounces and playing capability.

Moreover, the hard courts are recommended for the players with wide serves and big forehands.
But the hardcourt tennis players are more prone to serious injuries as compared to the clay courts. 

CLAY COURTS:

Although the clay courts are challenging to maintain regarding weather. But these are way more convenient to play tennis on. Moreover, it is easier to make good points on the clay courts compared with other courts. Further, in Europe and South America, the red clay courts are widely famous for tennis.


2 – Get Tennis Equipment 

The tennis game has its specially designed equipment, with which we play the game. Therefore, players must get a full bag check with all the crucial accessories. When you practice tennis, put some racquets and at least 50 balls in your tennis bag.

To take care of your body, get some sunscreen, water bottles, and a towel. The most significant piece of equipment in tennis is the racquet. Before purchasing any kind of racquet, try it out. Examine the accuracy, spin, speed, and strength of the strings.

Another important thing is your playing shoe because you should be comfortable while moving. So get a suitable pair of shoes for yourself. Besides, the sole of the shoes depends on the type of court. For the hardcourt, the sole is much harder than the one for the clay court.

You must change the shoes after two weeks because your soles will definitely be worn out.


3 – Tennis Clothes 

Tennis Clothes 

What you wear has an evident effect on the tennis game. To move freely, you must choose a smooth and easy outfit, which allows you to beat the good shots. You don’t need to stress yourself much about this. Just wear clothes that don’t cause any trouble while jumping and running for shots.

Women can wear casual shorts, skirts, t-shirts, pants, or sports shirts. But avoid the frocks or any dress that can impair movement. While men wear shorts, pants, t-shirts, and sports shirts. The outfit must be of appropriate size, not too loose, not too tight.

Make sure that your clothes are super breathable and are not causing your body to heat up. Also, wear wrist bands to protect the sweat from dripping down. Because it can make your hands slippery, leading you to lose the grip.

Moreover, when you are about to play in the sunlight, use a cap to avoid the direct connection of light. Here you are ready for the game.


4 – Exercise Before Playing

Newbies always hasten towards the court for playing. To conquer the court, you must adopt this way of warming your body through some important activities. You may ask a professional, they will tell you how pivotal these exercises are. 

Warm up before playing tennis

You must wonder, how do these pros stay long on the tennis court? While giving the best shots over and over again. The solution to your perplexity is exercise. A few exercises are mentioned below:

 SPRINTING

Before commencing the game, run for about 3-5 minutes. It will accelerate your heartbeat and boost the circulation of your body. 

STRETCHING

Another important warm-up exercise for your body is to do stretching. It makes your body more flexible and increases the extensions of the muscles. Some important stretches are elbow stretches, chest, shoulder, and hip stretches. 

SHADOWING

Shadowing will enhance your arm’s extension and strength. Before the real game, assume yourself in the rally and mimic the movements with or without the racquet. By exercising, you will be more active in the court. 

Rehearse forehands, backhands, serves, and volleys. Besides, you might have noticed Rafael Nadal; he always does this exercise before the competition. 

MINI TENNIS

For preparing your body mentally and physically, rehearse the swings on a smaller scale. This helps you to get better at tennis and in shape for the competition. For example, in mini tennis, you can play your groundstrokes at the service line.

Moreover, you can rally with the other partner for 5-10 minutes. After that, come to the baseline and start the game. 


5 – Get a Tennis Ball Machine

Usually, players used to play with their partners or coaches on the court. If you don’t have a partner for feeding the shots, in that case, go for a tennis ball machine.

A variety of tennis ball machines is present. There are tennis twist and sports tutor and the choice is all yours. The best one will allow you to customize the speed, spin, and height of the shots. You must also learn in-depth about tennis ball machine drills which will take your game to the next level.

Playing tennis using the tennis ball machine is considered the best way to upgrade the game. In addition to your foot movements, it will also upgrade your forehand, backhand, and volleys.

Moreover, the ball machine will feed you for hours, so you can learn to play tennis as much as you can.

Get The Best Tennis Ball Machine


Its precise and appropriate feed will boost your consistency. Moreover, receiving the shots constantly with the customized speed will definitely make you a next-level player. Besides, when you are using the tennis ball machine, use good footwork at all times. Focus on the ball direction and prepare yourself earlier than the next shot.


6 – Exercise Major Tennis Grips

Tennis is not about just smashing the shots toward the opponent. You have to be highly optimized in using the right grips. Unfortunately, we have noticed that the newbies don’t learn to use the right grips and lose their potential in the game. 

You must learn how to play tennis with some tennis grips: continental grips, western grips, semi-western grips, and eastern grips. Below is the description of how you can hold these tennis grips.

CONTINENTAL GRIP

overheads, and volleys using this grip. To learn the continental grip, hold the racquet in your hand to line up the index finger base knuckle with the bevel number two.

EASTERN GRIP

Hold the racquet in your hand such that the base knuckle of the index finger and the heel of the hand are on bevel number one. Eastern grip can be either backhand or forehand. 

WESTERN GRIP

You can get the western grip by holding the racquet across your palm, with your index finger knuckle on the bevel number five. Professionals use this grip to increase the efficiency of the topspins.

 

SEMI WESTERN GRIP

The experts like Djokovic and Nadal use this semi-western grip while playing tennis. This grip ensures you have several good topspins. To obtain this grip, line up your knuckles with the bevel number four. While placing your index finger a bit far than the rest of the fingers on the clasp.

To have precise control of the racquet and its spin, play these grips accurately. So that you won’t shift them while playing on the court.


7 – Learn About Tennis Court 

Like the cricketers play in the playground, the tennis players play on the tennis court. To learn playing tennis on the court, you must first acknowledge the dimensions of the court. So that when the coach teaches you the game, you must already know the directions.

Learn About Tennis Court 

BASELINE

The baseline is the line that determines the boundaries of the game. This is the line you must be behind when you are serving.

ALLEY 

Alley is the extra space that you should use when you are playing doubles. The ball will be considered as out if you hit into the alley during a singles match.

CENTRAL LINE

A central line is there to divide your side of the court in halves, so you can recognize where to serve from.

NET

The most dominant component of the court is the net in the middle. It is made of interlaced fabric tape and a cord covering the entire width of the court. Moreover, the catch is held straight up with the help of the posts, three and a half feet from the ground.

SERVICE LINE

Considering the parallel lines around the net are the two service lines. There is a service line on each side of the court, the four service lines. Two service sidelines are perpendicular to the two service lines. By overlapping all service lines and service sidelines, you will get four service boxes.

FORECOURT AND BACKCOURT 

The entire area between the service lines and the net is called the forecourt. On the other hand, the area between the service lines and the baseline is known as the backcourt.
Above mentioned factors are the main areas of the court, according to which you play tennis.


Play Tennis at the Garden 

Playing tennis in the garden is a fun game. Because there you will have a little different experience as compared to playing tennis on the court. Most of the time tennis players get tired of playing tennis on the court and that is why you must change your routine. 

First of all, you must have a large space covered by the net to play tennis in the garden. Other essentials are a tennis machine or a partner definitely. If you got a tennis partner, you have saved the money to get more balls for the machine. But if you got a tennis machine then you don’t always have to ask anyone around to play tennis with you. There are pros and cons to everything.

Last but not least, the garden must be paved surface otherwise it would be a bad experience playing tennis in the garden. Because the ball would bounce from right to lift due to the rough and unbalanced surface. 

Nevertheless, playing tennis in the garden is the most fun thing to do with your family and friends or sometimes professionally as well. 

Play Tennis at Home

Playing tennis at home gives you two choices. One is playing in the garden which we have discussed above and another is playing tennis on the ground floor of your home or on the rooftop. In both scenarios, your area must be covered with a tennis net or say walls, so the tennis ball would not go far by that. 

In my experience playing tennis in the ground area is much better because you can listen to music as well while playing the game and no one would get disturbed. 

Playing tennis on the rooftop means chilling. Because you can enjoy the view and play the game. Both are calming the mind and win-win situation. 

However, if you don’t have a ground floor space or say no good space on the rooftop you can still play tennis in any large room in your home and that also works really well. One thing you have to keep in mind, be careful of breaking any lights or any good house equipment. Because when you play tennis hit the shots fast and that could be harmful to your home. 

How to play tennis while traveling?

Playing tennis while traveling is my most loved game. When you go for a long journey and you take some rest on the way and after that playing tennis makes you feel energetic and refreshed and also makes you feel at home. 

When you go traveling you have two choices, one is having some tennis partners and the other is tennis machines. In my opinion, tennis machines are way better than playing with a partner. Because when you on traveling your all your friends would not be happy to play tennis. Some of your friends will be tired or some of them wouldn’t be in the mood of playing tennis.

If you love playing tennis on travel you should grab a tennis machine in your traveling package. That will make you play tennis on your own terms and make you energetic and fresh. 

How to play Tennis with a Tough opposite?

Well! This is very hard to answer. When you have a tough competitor you have to upgrade yourself. However, it depends on your skills. If you have just started playing tennis then it would take you some months to beat your competitor by staying consistent and learning every day.

On the other side, if you have already good command of tennis and your competitor is just well trained then it would just take a few days to analyze the tricks and strategies of a competitor and you can beat him/her easily by replicating those tricks and outperforming. 

Furthermore, when you play against the most skilled tennis players you get more good skills and become tougher. That is why you must play with high-performing tennis players. 

How to play Tennis without skills? 

All of us start from zero and there is nothing wrong with it. You may have heard that all experts have started from zero. So, all you need is a burning desire and will to make it happen. 

To play tennis without skill is complicated because you don’t know how to play and how to move, jump, play topspin, backspin, and face volleys. After deciding to play tennis regularly you need to play tennis for 3 hours a day for at least 3 months and you will not have to introduce yourself as a tennis player without tennis skills. 

My tennis learning trick: write down the 10 basic rules of tennis and master them one by one by practicing every day and dedicating yourself to that. 


QNA Regarding How to Play Tennis

This is so simple. All you need to do is follow some basic rules like do not shoot the ball to net. Avoid touching the net and Focus on the ball. make sure to hold the racquet with your comfort grip and stay alert to the opponent.

Playing tennis at home is tough if you do not have a place to play. You need a court to play tennis and if you don’t have a place to play tennis you have to manage a small area to play tennis. You can use tennis machines as well.

Having a tennis machine is the fastest way to learn to play tennis. You just need the court and a good machine that is customizable. Moreover, you have to learn how to use a tennis machine.

Playing tennis without a partner is good. You can play against the wall and you can use a tennis ball thrower. Both these ways are best to play tennis without a partner.


Conclusion:


As we have explained all the essential parameters of how to play a tennis game. After absorbing all the article’s points, just grab a racquet and head toward the partner on the court. Because now you know about all the significant factors of the tennis game.

With the suitable place, tennis equipment, appropriate clothing, warm-up exercises, tennis court, and the use of a tennis ball machine, you will no longer remain a novice after learning all these methods. Because this article includes all the important steps that a professional can recommend.

If you want to know more about the game, we are just an email apart. Besides that, if you have any queries, do comment to us down below. We will appreciate your effort.



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