Learning how to play tennis

[Gottolearn]

Hello everyone i'm new here all i'll say about myself is i'm in 10th grade and I was thinking about joining the tennis team at school this year. I want to be able to get better but the thing is no one can teach me properly. So I searched the web right now all I can do is practice by myself so I can help my team when spring comes.

I just want to take it easy first and learn the basic forehand, backhand and serve. But I feel I'm not getting anywhere by myself.

Can someone tell me how to do this or show me a video preferably a video would be better. Lastly i'm not talking about a light tap over the net I got that one down i want to learn how to serve and hit faster and with control.

Thank you =)!

[shojun25]

http://www.fuzzyyellowballs.com/

http://www.operationdoubles.com/

Couple of good sites to teach you basic strokes.

[tbini87]

find a good book and read it, then find another one and read it.. and so on. read as much info as you can, and watch videos. try stuff out and you will start finding out what works and what doesn't. don't get too carried away with every little detail. everyone has their own little way of doing things, so find what works best for you and work on it! good luck.

[burosky]

Have you considered going to your school's tennis coach and expressing your interest? Who knows? Your school's tennis coach might have the time to train you.

[Gottolearn]

Have you considered going to your school's tennis coach and expressing your interest? Who knows? Your school's tennis coach might have the time to train you.

Well our school suddenly decided to close the the tennis courts this winter and I'm practicing with other friends except he is rarely available either. So I have to practice by myself.

[10s talk]

where do you live ?

find some group classes.

[Ultra2HolyGrail]

find a good book and read it, then find another one and read it.. and so on. read as much info as you can, and watch videos.

I dont think it will be possible to just read a book, even many books, to get good at tennis, and honestly i am totally against it for learning tennis. Only one way really to learn and learn without bad habits and thats hands on instruction.. If you can join a club and drill drill drill and play as much as possible.. There is just to much that can go wrong and bad habits mainly will form that you wont realize if you are not getting advice while you are playing. Especially true going from begginer to 4.0+ level.. Other sports are not as complicated and tennis is one of the few you really need some sort of a teacher to build a solid foundation.

[0range]

When I first started tennis, I read books and took group lessons... however I did not improve dramatically until I get private lessons.

Your case might be different... but you might really try taking one private lesson and see; you will know if it helps or not immediately after just one lesson.

[KTE89]

I think you can do a lot of good for your game before you actually hit the courts in the spring.

Practicing the basic shots (serve, forehand, backhand, volleys, overhead) in front of a mirror can really improve your form and muscle memory for actually playing tennis. However, if you do not know what you are doing, you might do quite a lot of damage. Therefore, go to the following website and sign up for a free membership: http://procomparetennis.net/

The site has hundreds of clips of the top pros hitting forehands, backhands, volleys, overheads, and serves.

Along with the clips, are frame by frame photo sequences of the strokes. Get in front of the mirror and get into the exact body/racquet positions as the top pros, following the frame by frame photos from the takeback to the finish. After doing that, watch the clips a couple of times to get the feel of the timing and fluidity of the top pros. Then, try going through the stroke in slow motion, stopping at the key positions in the frame by frame. Once you do that 3-5 times, go through the whole motion smoothly.

I would recommend picking out one stroke a day for the above process. By spring, I would be surprised if your strokes weren't pretty good after a couple weeks of getting the timing and feel of the ball.

BTW, I have played high school varsity tennis for three years at #1 singles, so I have lots of tennis experience and have found off court stroke training my "secret weapon."

Here are some other useful free sites:

http://www.videojug.com/tag/tennis

http://sportskool.com/tennis/

As mentioned before, http://fuzzyyellowballs.com is really good.

This is also an excellent site:
http://hitechtennis.com/
It costs $10 for a month, but it has excellent content.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNPaZj4yn00 is a slow motion video of Roger Federer hitting forehands and backhands, so you can really get a feel for those strokes. Who better to learn from than the #1 in the world, right?;)


Good luck with your tennis. You can get really good at it fast if you build great technique from the start.:)

[LanEvo]

I think you can do a lot of good for your game before you actually hit the courts in the spring.

Practicing the basic shots (serve, forehand, backhand, volleys, overhead) in front of a mirror can really improve your form and muscle memory for actually playing tennis. However, if you do not know what you are doing, you might do quite a lot of damage. Therefore, go to the following website and sign up for a free membership: http://procomparetennis.net/

The site has hundreds of clips of the top pros hitting forehands, backhands, volleys, overheads, and serves.

Along with the clips, are frame by frame photo sequences of the strokes. Get in front of the mirror and get into the exact body/racquet positions as the top pros, following the frame by frame photos from the takeback to the finish. After doing that, watch the clips a couple of times to get the feel of the timing and fluidity of the top pros. Then, try going through the stroke in slow motion, stopping at the key positions in the frame by frame. Once you do that 3-5 times, go through the whole motion smoothly.

I would recommend picking out one stroke a day for the above process. By spring, I would be surprised if your strokes weren't pretty good after a couple weeks of getting the timing and feel of the ball.

BTW, I have played high school varsity tennis for three years at #1 singles, so I have lots of tennis experience and have found off court stroke training my "secret weapon."

Here are some other useful free sites:

http://www.videojug.com/tag/tennis

http://sportskool.com/tennis/

As mentioned before, http://fuzzyyellowballs.com is really good.

This is also an excellent site:
http://hitechtennis.com/
It costs $10 for a month, but it has excellent content.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNPaZj4yn00 is a slow motion video of Roger Federer hitting forehands and backhands, so you can really get a feel for those strokes. Who better to learn from than the #1 in the world, right?;)


Good luck with your tennis. You can get really good at it fast if you build great technique from the start.:)


id say video jug is the best, there is step by step how to hit a simple forehand and backand and all kinda shots and the great thing is that its free