An Introduction to Tennis
Is ten
nis good for you?Absolutely - tennis is a gentle way of exercising for beginners, and for more advanced players is a very thorough workout. Physical activity increases energy and also helps you to stay healthy, fending off germs and infections. Playing one set of tennis would give you thirty minutes moderate physical activity, not to mention plenty of fresh air!
How old do I have to be to start?
Obviously you have to be able to hold a tennis racket, but there are plenty of opportunities for youngsters. Mini Tennis is an excellent game for starting off young players under eight. Played with a scaled down racket, foam balls and a small court the game is a fun introduction to the full game.
How much will it cost?
Prices for coaching vary from club to club, but we always recommend keeping your lessons to half an hour or an hour, and to have group coaching.
How can I develop my game?
One way is to go for an intensive week of tennis, or a break where you can play tennis at your leisure, there are tennis holiday companies offering holidays both in the US and abroad. You can see a list of these in Clubs and Camps.
Once you have found a court to play on and you start to play tennis with your friends, family or other players, you will naturally start to get a feel for the game. A way to develop your hand-eye co-ordination is to practice throwing and catching the ball either against a wall or with a partner. Your tennis coach will have many other games and exercises to help develop the correct movement, co-ordination and dexterity for tennis.
If the full court seems too big at first, play a scaled-down version of the game in the four service boxes of the court. As you start to become more confident you will start to use tactics. Hitting a ball that comes near to you is easier than running to hit a ball - therefore you'll soon realise that one aim is to try to make your opponent move in order to hit the ball. You will be better placed to hit each ball if you maintain a good position on the court before and after each shot, and you'll begin to understand the importance of good positioning. Don't get caught out of position to one side of the court or stuck half way between the baseline and the net.
Once you have mastered these basic principles, try to play to the weakness of your opponent. This might be their forehand, backhand, volley, smash, or perhaps running to the ball. Exploiting your opponent's weaknesses will help you to start controlling the game. Also, remember to use your own strengths as much as possible. You may enjoy serving, have a strong cross-court backhand, love to volley and play from the net - try to do more of what you enjoy!
And keep at it! The world's best players spend many hours training and improving their game. Success may not come immediately, so don't get downhearted if you don't always play at your best.
'Tennis is a battle of minds, just as much as it is a battle of playing ability. Trying to expose your opponent's weaknesses is one of the most vital and fascinating facets of tennis'
About the author:
Gavin Dye
Webmaster & Author for http://www.tennis-supply.com/
A little bit of tennis History any tennis beginners should know.Gavin DyeFor any future athlete that intends to start a new activity, knowing a little bit of history about the sport is always a good idea.
Ball games can be traced back for hundreds and thousands of years. Usually played for entertainment or during religious ceremonies, ball games became highly popular in countless civilizations worldwide. European monks probably created the game of tennis. The players quickly found out that instead of hitting the ball off walls they had better control using their hand. A leather glove was soon created, and not long after, an adapted handle completed the first racquet. As the racquets evolved, so did the balls that were used. A bouncier type stuffed with bran material soon replaced the first primitive wooden balls. The game became highly popular amongst monasteries all around Europe during the 14th century. At one time, the church considered forbidding the game.
In 1874, Major Walter C. Wingfield patented in London the equipment and rules for a game fairly similar to modern tennis. In the same year, the first courts appeared in the United States. By the following year, equipment sets had been sold for use in Russia, India, Canada, and China.
Croquet was highly popular at this time, and the smooth croquet courts proved readily adaptable for tennis. Wingfield's original court had the shape of an hourglass, narrowest at the net, and it was shorter than the modern court. His rules were subjected to considerable criticism, and he revised them in 1875, but he soon left the further development of the game to others.
In 1877, the All England Club held the first Wimbledon tournament, and its tournament committee came up with a rectangular court and a set of rules that are essentially the game we know today. The net was still five feet high at the sides, a carryover from the game's indoor ancestor, and the service boxes were 26 feet deep, but by 1882, the specifications had evolved to their current form.
The growth of tennis continued and the 1927 Championship saw the first ever radio broadcast of a tennis event. This increased its popularity further and in the 1930s the game became highly fashionable, led by British stars such as Fred Perry and Don Budge and International Champions such as Henri Lacoste. You'll notice from the photographs that tennis fashions were somewhat different in those days! Long trousers were the order of the day for men, and for women it was long dresses and stockings.
Fashion trends became a development in their own right and Bunny Austin from the USA shocked the crowds in 1933 when he became the first player to step out on to centre court wearing shorts! The 1930's became Wimbledon's boom time and in 1937, the championship was broadcast on the radio for the first time. This was a significant event, truly introducing tennis to the world.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s the game became dominated by the new legion of international players and crowds became captivated by the likes of Bjorn Borg, Jimmy Connors, and John McEnroe. In the ladies game stars such as Sue Barker, Chris Evert Lloyd and Martina Navratilova filled the courts with fans. Britain's foremost ladies player was Virginia Wade, the last Brit to win the Championships in 1977. The prize money went up, as did the hemlines of players clothing! In 1986 the Championships adopted yellow tennis balls for the first time - partly to make the speeding balls more visible for television cameras
About the author:
Gavin Dye
Webmaster & Author at http://www.tennis-supply.com/
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