Beginner's Dilemma

[mouser]

Okay, I've been playing tennis for about four or five months now, and now I've just started to practice weekly with the tennis team at my high school. I know everyone has their troubles when they start at everything but I'm really beginning to feel disappointed.

I'm expecting a lot more out of myself now that I have learned to do a two handed backhand and a forehand decently. Trouble is, I can't judge the ball for my life. I'm either too close to the ball and I'm over-running it or I just can't get it right. I'm getting really angry at myself for not judging the ball correctly and that I can't ever get anything right.

Other than that, I'm okay. We haven't worked on our forehands much for some reason (all we do at tennis practice so far is hit backhands, but when tennis season officially starts, we'll get to other stuff I'm sure.) but I think I'm fairly decent at that. I'm sure when I get over this I'll be able to accomplish more.

But back to the point - I'm really getting disappointed at myself. Is it because I expecting too much out of myself or is it because of the beginner troubles... or is it because I just plain suck at tennis?

[BubbleSpear]

Try sticking out your hand to help coordinate. And have someone drill you. Very often.

[Marius_Hancu]

read the Sticky at the top and take it easy ...

[dickbarney]

You may be trying to read the ball too late. Reading the ball starts with seeing your opponents racket swing path and ball contact . How your opponent strikes the ball will tell you more about the direction and spin of ball than the path of the ball. If you see a match on TV, watch where the players focus their eyes and how quickly they react to their opponents ball strike. I found good examples on the Agassi/Blake DVD for $10 on ****.