Basic Tennis Lessons for Starters

If you are a beginner, an important tennis lesson that you should learn is how to serve. Developing this skill and learning the different ways to hit the ball will give you a competitive advantage over other players.

There is a series of motions involved in making a serve but the main objective is to hit the ball in a well-timed manner to be effective. The stroke of the serve includes how to properly hold the racket, how to throw the ball, how to position the body before the racket hits the ball.

The flat serve, topspin , and the slice are the three basic serves that you need to know and practice so that you can use them in an appropriate time when you play the game. The flat serve or basic serve is when you hit the ball on a flat trajectory making moderate spin. Next, the topspin is done by doing high arcing trajectory and with high strong bounce. The last one is the slice. This type of serve is made by doing a combination of a side spin and a bit of topspin to make the ball swerve in the air following the bounce.

Here are the elements of the serve before the racket hits the ball:

Service Stance – Adjust your stance according to the appropriate service you’ll make. Remember to have your feet shoulder-width apart, knees bent, your front foot not stepping on the baseline and it should be two feet away from the center mark.

Continental grip – This is the ideal grip which allows you to have maximum wrist action for a powerful stroke.

Ball Handling – You should hold the ball between your thumb and all four fingers.

Feet Position - Align your feet with your toes pointing toward the target area.

The Ball Toss – Toss the ball in front, slightly to the right, and a little higher than your racket could reach so it is just in time as it reaches the ball.

Now that you know the basic elements of a serve, you can now follow these steps to develop a good basic serve.

1. Begin with the service stance and hold the racket using the continental grip.

2. Push your weight on the ground while keeping your front knee as you part your racket arm and your tossing arm. Twist the serving shoulder a little so the racket arm and tossing arms align.

3. Do the ball toss by releasing the ball slightly in front of the shoulder while the racket is facing downwards and is terminally retracted. Bend your racket arm elbow to elevate the racket while the left arm remains pointing at the ball.

4. While the ball is at its highest point, prepare for a throwing position by dropping your racket and keeping your elbow high. As the ball falls from its peak, gradually drop your left arm away from the side.

5. Then, straighten your legs by pushing your weight upwards and forwards behind the racket arm. When the ball has fallen 4 to 6 inches, hurl your racket up to hit the ball

6. While your racket arm is fully stretched and your weight is channeled on your front foot, hit the ball.

7. As you create a forward momentum, continue swinging the racket in the direction of your chosen target.

8. Do a follow through by swinging down your racket at the left side of your body while your foot slowly comes down to a finish.

Basic Tennis Lessons can usually be found at very inexpensive rates any any local tennis club. Sign up and start playing tennis immediately.

About The Author

Edward Pena is a tennis fanatic that loves to play tennis as often as he can. He runs an informational website to help tennis players improve their game. His sites offer free articles on tennis and other tennis products. To take advantage of all this cool stuff and more, be sure to check out Ed’s site at Tennis Guide

Equip Yourself with Tennis Tips

So you decided to take tennis seriously. First thing’s first. In order for you to become a really good tennis player, you must have the equipment. It is like a knight marching off to a battle with the best weapons.

The basic tennis equipments are racquets, balls, shoes, socks, caps, hats, sunglasses and towels.

This article will share tennis equipment tips a newbie has to know:

1. Save Your Strings

String savers are those tiny plastic pieces inserted in the section where the strings touch the racquet’s sweet spot. These prevent the strings to rub against one another. It also aims to achieve a long string life.

In a tennis match, having string saver are not illegal because the ball does not really touch these.

String savers are used by players that have gut strings. These are effective in prolonging string life. But there are those players who don’t like String Savers primarily because it gives their racquets a stiff grip.

If you wish to prolong the string life of your racquet, use a thick gauge string. We highly suggest that you replace your strings several times a year, that if you play frequently.

2. What You Should Know About Your Strings

- Lower string tensions equate to more power

- There is more ball control with higher string tensions

- Lower string density caused by fewer strings equate to more power

- the thinner the string, the more power

- the more elastic the string, the more power

- the softer the coating, the softer the string, therefore the less tendency to vibrate

- thinner strings produce more spin

- fewer strings equate to more spin

3. What You Should Know About Your Tennis Racquet

The general rule for tennis racquets is that the stiffer the frame, the more power it generates. This is because:

- the heavier the frame, the more power it generates

- the heavier the frame, the less it vibrates

- the stiffer the frame, the more power it generates

- if the frame is stiff, then it transmits more to the arm

- a stiff frame entails a more uniform ball response against the swing of the racquet

- the larger the frame, the more power it generates

- the larger the frame, the more resistant it is to twisting

4. Safe Racquet Storage

It is necessary that you do not leave your tennis racquets in the car. If your racquet has synthetic strings, then it begins to lose its tension at about 43 degrees C or 110 degrees F. Always leave your racquet at a cool storing place in order for the strings to stay intact.

5. Racquet Stringing Frequency

Tennis players wonder how often they must have their racquets re-strung. Answer it should it must be re-strung at least twice a year, even if the string remains in tact or it breaks. The player must always restring his racquet as many times in one year as he plays in a week. For example, you play four times a week, then have your racquet re-strung four times a year.

Tennis is a sport worth investing on. Whenever you play, it keeps the blood pumping and also exercises your reflexes. Just stick to these tips and soon enough you’ll notice what a better tennis player you’ve become from the time you first held a racquet. 

About The Author

Edward Pena is a tennis fanatic that loves to play tennis as often as he can. He runs an informational website to help tennis players improve their game. His sites offer free articles on tennis and other tennis products. To take advantage of all this cool stuff and more, be sure to check out Ed’s site at Tennis Guide

Play Tennis to Keep Your Health at Its Peak

If you are considering having a sport, choose tennis. There are many healthy benefits you can get from playing this sport. 

You don't only get physically fit, you mind gets well too.

Here is a list of physiological reasons why you will be excited to play tennis.

1. It burns your fat and boosts your energy levels by increasing your metabolism and tapping your energy stores.

2. It gives your cardiovascular system a good work thus improving your circulation which leads to having better blood supply to the body.

3. It enhances your oxygen muscle consumption whenever you engage in intense activities.

4. It increases your ability to accelerate through sprinting, lounging and jumping.

5. It trains you to have a quick reaction time and allows you to anticipate movements.

6. It develops your speed whenever you do your sprints and side steps to hit the ball.

7. It strengthens your legs through the number of jumps and lounges you do in the court while chasing the ball.

8. It generally develops your body coordination when you move from one position to the next or whenever you need to adjust your whole body to hit the ball.

9. It also develops your gross motor control especially when you need to use your large muscles like your legs and arms to strike a ball.

10. It also improves your fine motor control when you do drop shots, lobs and angled-volleys.

11. It enhances your agility whenever you need to change your direction for a number of times in a few seconds whether during tennis match or training.

12. It gives you a dynamic balance beginning with the stance, serve and countless of different other movements when hitting and chasing the ball.

13. It gives you variety and a whole new way to improve physically when you are an athlete who excels in another sport.

14. It strengthens your bone and improves your bone density allowing you to have a healthy skeleton far from bones diseases like osteoporosis.

15. Because you are exercised by playing tennis, you develop an overall wellness including having a strong immune system that gives you optimum resistance to diseases.

16. It also fosters having good nutritional habits because you develop the discipline of eating properly before a game to have enough energy and after a competition to properly supplement the energy that you have lost.

17. It also develops good eye-hand coordination when judging when to hit the ball.

18. It helps you to be flexible because of the never-ending stretching, twisting and turning to strike the ball toward the other court.

Meanwhile, here is a list of psychological reasons to play tennis.

18. It develops your sense of work ethic because you need to foster dedication and the value of hard work to learn the lessons in tennis.

19. You also develop discipline because you need to practice a lot and to control your movements, your timing etc.

20. You learn to manage mistakes not just in tennis but also in other aspects of your life by realizing that you need to manage and minimize your mistakes in the game to be successful.

21. You learn to be competitive and adjust to the highs and lows of winning or losing.

22. You become more responsible as you accept the fact that it is your responsibility to practice your skills, check your equipment, and eat right when preparing for a match.

23. You manage to adapt to various situations by learning to adjust to things beyond your control like the weather.

24. You can adjust to stress easily and effectively because you have already dealt with a lot of stress affecting various dimensions of your self. 

25. You learn to be strategic as you plan your attack and anticipate the moves of your opponent.

26. You develop you skill in problem solving since tennis is a sport that uses geometry and physics.

27. You learn to be a sport as it teaches you to be courteous and fair with your opponents.

28. You learn how to be humble when you win and dignified when you lose.

29. You learn teamwork and camaraderie as you play in doubles.

30. You develop your social skills by interacting and constantly communicating either with your teammate or other players. 

31. The most important health lesson of all is you learn to have fun and enjoy.

About The Author

Edward Pena is a tennis fanatic that loves to play tennis as often as he can. He runs an informational website to help tennis players improve their game. His sites offer free articles on tennis and other tennis products. To take advantage of all this cool stuff and more, be sure to check out Ed’s site at Tennis Guide

Tennis Elbow…Aching Tendons

Tennis elbow, or lateral epicondylitis, is extremely aching tendonitis that sometimes badly affects an elbow subjected to too much stress, for instance related with tennis. Exactly what causes tennis elbow is unidentified, although it is thought to be for the reason that there are inflammation of the tendon and occurrence of small tears of the tendons that are attach to the muscles of the forearm to the arm bone at the elbow joint.

Symptoms of tennis elbow include tenderness over the inflamed area and acute pain when the elbow is stressed. The pain connected with tennis elbow more often than not has a gradual onset, although it may as well come on suddenly.

There are quite a number of ideas that tennis elbow is not just simply an "inflammation" of the tendons around the joint. Furthermore, it is thought of as related to a person's degenerative process. It can either be the result of becoming old or repetitive use.

It can be an outcome of an incomplete curative response in absence of good blood circulation. Consequently access to nutrients and oxygen that is essential for healing is deprived to the sufferer. This results to the deterioration of the tendon that causes the small tears.

Most sufferers of tennis elbow are between 35-65 years old. Both men and women have the same chance of being afflicted with it. Tennis elbow inflicts 75% of patient’s dominant arm. Any person is capable of being affected, but tennis elbow is in general noticed in two sets of patients, namely:

·               Blue-Collar Workers

 People who use their hands in working, manual laborers, they are in danger of being affected tennis elbow. Occupations that may lead to tennis elbow include plumbing, painting, gardening, and carpentry works. 

·               Athletes

Athletes engaging in racquet sports are most likely to develop tennis elbow. Most certainly about 1/3 of regular tennis players suffer from tennis elbow at any time in their playing career. In addition, tennis elbow is also evident in those engaged in playing golf, and fencing, to name a few. 

Symptoms and Signs

• Difficulty to hold, squeezes, or clasp things

• Point softness at or around area of the lateral or medial elbow muscles

• Forearm muscle stiffness

• Soreness, stiffness, or not enough elbow and hand action

• Not enough forearm useful power 

The disorder is treated by avoiding stress, or in severe cases, by immobilizing the elbow. Healing may be accelerated by anti-inflammatory drugs or by injection of an adrenal steroid preparation such as hydrocortisone. If someone has tried more than two cortisone injections with no relief, it is doubtful that additional injections will help the patient.

There are a number of ways to treat tennis elbow. No operative healing is doing well in majority of patients. Modification of lifestyle is vital for tennis elbow to be cured and to control its recurrence. Anti-inflammatory drugs are frequently used to relieve pain and swelling associated with tennis elbow. 

For a tennis player, racquets must be sized appropriately, as well as the grip size. Playing on hard courts add to the possibility of tennis elbow occurrence. Stroke technicalities ought to be assessed to make sure that the ball hit the ball at the middle of the racquet and also the racquet must not be lead by the players on bended elbow. 

Wearing of elbow orthotics or elbow clasp help the sufferer. The brace of the elbow clasp will pass on the pull of misaligned muscles. This clasp is proven to relieve the pain during activities. Easy exercises can be valuable in managing elbow tennis symptoms. These workouts must cause no ache, on the other hand, the exercise is supposed to be stopped if pain persists. The tendons and muscles must be strengthened as it helps keep away its recurrence.

Tennis elbow is a condition brought about by swelling of the tendons on the outer surface (lateral side) of the elbow at a bony prominence (lateral epicondyle) of the upper arm. It does not normally lead to serious harms. However, if left untreated, failure of movement can result to elbow and forearm malfunctions. The condition is not restricted to tennis players.

About The Author

Edward Pena is a tennis fanatic that loves to play tennis as often as he can. He runs an informational website to help tennis players improve their game. His sites offer free articles on tennis and other tennis products. To take advantage of all this cool stuff and more, be sure to check out Ed’s site at Tennis Guide

Tennis Footwork and Strokes

Today I want to tell you about tennis footwork and strokes. Getting in the correct stance and position is extremely important for your tennis strokes. You should anticipate where your opponent is about to hit the tennis ball so you have enough time to get there and setup properly for a good return shot. Remember to always shift your weight from your back foot to your front foot as you hit your tennis shot. For more information, please visit my site at: Real Tennis Unlimited


About The Author

Edward Pena is a tennis fanatic that loves to play tennis as often as he can. He runs an informational website to help tennis players improve their game. His sites offer free articles on tennis and other tennis products. To take advantage of all this cool stuff and more, be sure to check out Ed’s site at Tennis Guide

Your Tennis Serve is Very Important

In tennis, the serve is the one stroke where you have absolute control. Why not take advantage of this and put your opponent on the defensive from the beginning. A good serve not only lets you start the rally, it can put you in a good position to put away your opponents return shot. There are many different types of tennis serves that have been developed over the years. I will not cover all them in this blog. For more information on tennis serves and other strokes, please visit my site at: Real Tennis Unlimited.

About The Author

Edward Pena is a tennis fanatic that loves to play tennis as often as he can. He runs an informational website to help tennis players improve their game. His sites offer free articles on tennis and other tennis products. To take advantage of all this cool stuff and more, be sure to check out Ed’s site at Tennis Guide

The Psychology of Singles and Doubles in Tennis

Singles, the greatest strain in tennis, is the game for two players. It is in this phase of the game that the personal equation reaches its crest of importance. This is the game of individual effort, mental and physical.

A hard 5-set singles match is the greatest strain on the body and nervous system of any form of sport. Singles is a game of daring, dash, speed of foot and stroke. It is a game of chance far more than doubles. Since you have no partner dependent upon you, you can afford to risk error for the possibility of speedy victory. Much of what I wrote under match play is more for singles than doubles, yet let me call your attention to certain peculiarities of singles from the standpoint of the spectator.

A gallery enjoys personalities far more than styles. Singles brings two people into close and active relations that show the idiosyncrasies of each player far more acutely than doubles. The spectator is in the position of a man watching an insect under a microscope. He can analyze the inner workings.

The freedom of restraint felt on a singles court is in marked contrast to the need for team work in doubles. Go out for your shot in singles whenever there is a reasonable chance of getting it. Hit harder at all times in singles than in doubles, for you have more chance of scoring and can take more risk.

Singles is a game of the imagination, doubles a science of exact angles.

Doubles is four-handed tennis.

It is just as vital to play to your partner in tennis as in bridge. Every time you make a stroke you must do it with a definite plan to avoid putting your partner in trouble. The keynote of doubles success is team work; not individual brilliancy. There is a certain type of team work dependent wholly upon individual brilliancy. Where both players are in the same class, a team is as strong as its weakest player at any given time, for here it is even team work with an equal division of the court that should be the method of play. In the case of one strong player and one weaker player, the team is as good as the strong player can make it by protecting and defending the weaker. This pair should develop its team work on the individual brilliancy of the stronger player.

To read the rest of this article please go to: The Psychology of Singles and Doubles in Tennis

About The Author

Edward Pena is a tennis fanatic that loves to play tennis as often as he can. He runs an informational website to help tennis players improve their game. His sites offer free articles on tennis and other tennis products. To take advantage of all this cool stuff and more, be sure to check out Ed’s site at Tennis Guide

The Forehand Drive in Tennis

The forehand drive is the opening of every offensive play in tennis and should be most carefully studied. There are certain rules of footwork that apply to all shots. To reach a ball that is a short distance away, advance the foot that is away from the shot and thus swing into position to hit the ball. If a ball is too close to the body, retreat the foot closest to the shot and drop the weight back on it, thus, again, being in position for the stroke. When hurried, and it is not possible to change the foot position, throw the weight on the foot closest to the ball.

The receiver should always await the service facing the net, but once the serve is on the way to the tennis court, the receiver should at once attain the position to receive it with the body at right angles to the net.

The forehand drive in tennis is made up of one continuous swing of the racquet that, for the purpose of analysis, may be divided into three parts:

1. The portion of the swing behind the body, which determines the speed of the stroke.

2. That portion immediately in front of the body which determines the direction and the pace of the shot.

3. The portion beyond the body, comparable to the golfer's "follow through," determines spin, top or slice, imparted to the ball.

All drives should be topped. The slice shot is a totally different stroke.

To drive straight down the side-line, construct in theory a parallelogram with two sides made up of the side-line and your shoulders, and the two ends, the lines of your feet, which should, if extended, form the right angles with the side-lines. Meet the tennis ball at a point about 4 to 4 1/2 feet from the body immediately in front of the belt buckle, and shift the weight from the back to the front foot at the moment of striking the tennis ball. The swing of the tennis racquet should be flat and straight through. The racquet head should be on a line with the hand or, if anything, slightly in advance. The whole arm and the racquet should turn slightly over the ball as it leaves the racquet face and the stroke continues to the limit of the swing, thus imparting top spin to the ball.

About The Author

Edward Pena is a tennis fanatic that loves to play tennis as often as he can. He runs an informational website to help tennis players improve their game. His sites offer free articles on tennis and other tennis products. To take advantage of all this cool stuff and more, be sure to check out Ed’s site at Tennis Guide

Tennis Volley and Overhead Smash

The net attack is the best offensive strategy of tennis.
It is supposed to crush all defenses. As such it must be regarded as a
point-winning stroke at all times, no matter whether the shot is volley
or smash.

Once at the net hit from the point of the first opportunity given to get the
racquet squarely on the ball. All the laws of footwork explained for
the drive are theoretically the same in volleying. In practice you
seldom have time to change your feet to a set position, so you avoid
trouble by throwing the weight on the foot nearest to the ball and
pushing it in the shot.

Volleys
are of two classes: (1) the low volley, made from below the waist; and
(2) the high volley, from the waist to the head. Other classifications
are the two styles known as (1) the deep volley and (2) the stop
volley. All low volleys are blocked. High volleys may be either blocked
or hit. Volleys should never be stroked. There is no follow through on
a low volley and very little on a high one.

You
will hear much talk of "chop" volleys. A chop stroke is one where the
racquet travels from above the line of flight of the ball, down and
through it, and the angle made behind the racquet is greater than 45
degrees, and approach
90 degrees. Therefore I say that no volleys should be chopped, for the
tendency is to pop the ball up in the air. Slice volleys if you want
to, because these shots are made at a very small angle to the
flight-line of the ball, with the racquet face traveling almost along
its plane.

To read the rest of this article please go to: The Tennis Volley and Overhead Smash

About The Author

Edward Pena
is a tennis fanatic that loves to play tennis as often as he can. He
runs an informational website to help tennis players improve their
game. His sites offer free articles on tennis and other tennis
products. To take advantage of all this cool stuff and more, be sure to
check out Ed’s site at Tennis Guide

Tennis and the Psychology of Match Play

The first and most important point in match play is to know how to lose. Lose cheerfully, generously, and like a sportsman. This is the first great law of tennis, and the second is similar, to win modestly, cheerfully, generously, and like a sportsman.

The object of match play is to win, but no credit goes to a man who does not win fairly and squarely. A victory is a defeat if it is other than fair. Yet again I say to win is the object, and to do so, one should play to the last ounce of his strength, the last gasp of his breath, and the last scrap of his nerve. If you do so and lose, the better player won. If you do not, you have robbed your opponent of his right of beating your best. Be fair to both him and yourself.

Playing tennis is the important thing and in match play a good defeat is far more creditable than a hollow victory. Play tennis for the game's sake. Play it for the players you meet, the friends you make, and the pleasure you may give to the public by the hard working yet sporting game that is owed them by their presence at the match.

Many tennis players feel they owe the public nothing, and are granting a favor by playing. It is my belief that when the public so honors a player that they attend matches, that player is duty bound to give of his best, freely, willingly, and cheerfully, for only by so doing can he repay the honor paid him. The tennis star of today owes his public as much as the actor owes the audience, and only by meeting his obligations can tennis be retained in public favor. The players get their reward in the personal popularity they gain by their conscientious work.

There is another factor that is even stronger than this, that will always produce fine tennis in championship events. It is the competitive spirit that is the breath of life to every true sportsman: the desire to prove to himself that he can beat the best of the other man; the real regret that comes when he wins, and feels the loser was not at his best.

To read the rest of this article please go to: Tennis and the Psychology of Match Play

About The Author

Edward Pena is a tennis fanatic that loves to play tennis as often as he can. He runs an informational website to help tennis players improve their game. His sites offer free articles on tennis and other tennis products. To take advantage of all this cool stuff and more, be sure to check out Ed’s site at Tennis Guide