Positive Energy: Who turned you on to tennis?

[ohplease]

Obviously, SOMEBODY out there is responsible for getting us our first fix. For me? My Dad.

I can still remember being dragged to the Tri-Village bubble/tent for lessons in fourth grade, with my trusty, 13 oz, steel/aluminum 85 square inch Wilson Cobra. With a racket like that, no wonder I disliked the game at first. I remember choking way up on the handle as a kid cause I couldn't get it around. I hit with it just recently while visiting my folks and it might STILL be more racket than I can handle.

Eventually, Dad was nice enough to let me steal his lighter, flexy composite Wilson P200 oversize. Think PS6.0 only grey and without all that nasty kevlar. Still hits like a dream, but it's got a stress fracture inside the throat, so it's being transitioned to sentimental duty.

Anyway, big ups to pop for turning me onto the sport. And you? Who do you have to thank?

[peter]

Hmm... For me I think it was just a matter of separate coincidences.

I grew up near some outdoor tennis courts (two clay, two asphalt) -
but I only started to use those courts later (around when I was
10 or so).

My first tennis experience was with a pair of el-cheapo wood
rackets ("STIGA" blue and green) that our family had gotten
some time.

At the same time we also got one of those "tennis trainers" - a
ball attached to a long rubber string. When I got fed up
(quite quickly) trying to use that "trainer" I found a large (for a kid
atleast) brick wall on one of the houses at a nearby school that
had only one small window. I actually only smashed that window
one time during the many hours I spent there during my summers.

The real "kick" for me though was when I found two friends/classmates
that also was interested in starting to play tennis (one had never
played before, but was a natural when it came to anything with
a ball). That was the time when I really got hooked to tennis.

We spent MANY hours on the local clay courts those summers.
When the weather permitted we could play 3-5 hours at a time
(doing round-robin games between the three of us). This was
possible since we had summer jobs that allowed us to book
the court for free since the company owned one of the courts :-)

Unfortunately, there was no indoor facilities in the town I
grew up, and then we all moved away to different towns -
and so it wasn't until some years ago that I really started
playing again and I've rediscovered how FUN it is.

Now I just have to catch up with the missing 15 years...

[Frank Silbermann]

I started playing tennis in 12th grade when I had a chance to take a class at the local jr. college. It seemed like the thing to do; it seemed like everyone I met was playing. Maybe it was all the hoopla about the Bobby Riggs / Billie Jean King match.

[Brian Purdie]

I always watched Wimbledon on NBC every year when I was growing up. No one else had any interest in it, but I was curious b/c they made it out to be this royal affair. It was applealing, and my earliest memories were being 10 years old watching Becker and Edberg back in '88. From there I bought a very very cheap $5 tennis racket from the Kay-Bee toy store; A racket that mimiced the T-2000, but only in shape. It wasn't powerful enough to hit a tennis ball without seriously bending. From there, I went out to get a real racket, along with some lessons.

[topspin]

I just enjoyed the sport watching it on tv and just went out and bought a racquet. Didn't know who I was going to play with or where but I had to have a racquet.