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