Tennis Kick Serve Progression - Introduction
Kick Serve Step 1: Swing and Pronate
Kick Serve Step 2 - Shoulder Turn
Kick Serve Step 3 - How to Swing and Pronate
Kick Serve Step 4 - Follow Through
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Friday, September 26, 2008
Tennis - Forehand
Here are some videos that may help you.
FOREHAND - Step 1 - Pivot and Shoulder Turn
FOREHAND Step 2 - Take Your Racket Back
FOREHAND Step 3 - Swing to Contact
FOREHAND Step 4 - Follow Through
FOREHAND Step 5 - Swing Path
FOREHAND: Timing your swing
FOREHAND - Step 1 - Pivot and Shoulder Turn
FOREHAND Step 2 - Take Your Racket Back
FOREHAND Step 3 - Swing to Contact
FOREHAND Step 4 - Follow Through
FOREHAND Step 5 - Swing Path
FOREHAND: Timing your swing
Welcome to Tennis for Beginners
I have just picked up tennis and find it to be a very interesting game. As there are a lot of techniques a beginner should pick up, I have compiled herewith some articles and videos which I hope will help you build good foundation to turn you into a good tennis player.
This article is designed to be a basic introduction to the sport of tennis for anyone who wants to learn how to play tennis but has never picked up a racket before. It covers the basic idea of the game, the equipment, the tennis court, and introduces the scoring system. Once you know these fundamentals, you’re ready to head over to our instructional section and actually start learning how to play tennis by mastering some tennis technique!
How to Play Tennis: The Very Basics of Tennis
Tennis is a competitive sport that is played by either two players or four players. When two players compete against each other, it is called “singles,” and when two teams of two players each compete, it is called “doubles.” Most of the fundamental rules of the game remain the same whether you are playing doubles or singles.
The two (or four) players play on a tennis court, and each player or team has a side of the court that they must defend. Each tennis player holds a tennis racket in their hand, and they must use the racket to hit a fuzzy yellow ball (a tennis ball of course!) over a net and into their opponent’s side of the court. Each point starts out with one player “serving” the tennis ball to the other player, and the player receiving the serve must then return the ball to his opponent’s side. The first person to hit the ball out of bounds or into the net loses the point. This is the basic idea, and we will go into more details about scoring later.
How to Play Tennis: What is a Tennis Racket?
You could easily fill a book talking about tennis rackets, the different technologies that go into them, and how to choose the best racket to learn how to play tennis with. Such a detailed discussion would be beyond the scope of this introductory article, so instead we will discuss the important basics.
All tennis rackets have roughly the same shape: they have a handle (also called a “grip”) and an oval-shaped head with strings. Most tennis rackets for beginners are designed to flex, add tremendous power, and are oversized so that making solid contact is easier. More advanced players choose smaller rackets that do not add nearly as much power (their power comes from technique, not from the racket). There is a wide range in between, and racket companies such as Wilson, Babolat, Prince and Head make a variety of tennis rackets to suit anyone’s ability and style. If you’re just starting to learn how to play tennis the best thing you can do when choosing a tennis racket is to do a lot of research and ask a knowledgeable salesman at your local tennis shop.
How to Play Tennis: Tennis Balls
Aside from the actual dimensions of the tennis court, the tennis ball is the most standardized part of the game. That being said, tennis balls do come in several variations, but you can’t go wrong if you just pick a random type/brand when you’re starting out learning how to play tennis. Generally, tennis balls can come with more or less felt on them, or are made of slightly different materials. Some are designed to be more durable, usually called “extra duty” (so they last longer for you or can be played with longer on hardcourts) while others are better suited for clay. Unless you are a more advanced player though, you are not likely to notice the difference between any two ball types/brands you pull off the shelf. Additionally, all tennis balls must meet compression, size, and bounce standards that are set by the International Tennis Federation. Again, this is another area where if you are unsure, you should ask a knowledgeable sales person. If you're headed to the store and you don't want to bother asking for help, just pick up a can of extra-duty tennis balls.
How to Play Tennis: The Basics of the Tennis Court
The singles tennis court is 78 feet long and 27 feet wide. The doubles court is 36 feet wide. Along the sides of the court there are two parallel lines. The interior lines are the singles sidelines, and the exterior lines are the doubles sidelines. On each half of the court, there are two service boxes (the boxes close to the net). The back line (furthest from the net) is called the baseline, and at the center of the baseline there is a small mark called the tee. The tee is used when lining up to serve the ball to your opponent.
The tennis court also has a net running across the center that divides the two halves of the court. The net is 3.5 feet high at the edges, and 3 feet high at the center where it is held down by a strap. If a ball clips the net during play, it is still considered in play if it lands on the opponent’s side of the court.
Tennis is also played on a variety of different court surfaces, and the difference in play between those surfaces is dramatic. The most popular surfaces are clay, hardcourt, grass, and carpet.
Clay courts are great because they are very forgiving on your knees and body as a whole. It is a “soft” surface. Additionally, the clumps of clay slow the ball down significantly when it bounces, making clay the slowest surface to play on. This is a surface many club players prefer to play tennis on because it is so slow and forgiving. Clay usually comes in grey and red varieties, but we won’t get into the minor differences between the two here. Har-Tru is a popular brand of clay surface.
Hard courts are faster than clay. They are made from a variety of different materials, and some courts feel more rubbery and forgiving than others. Additionally, you can find some significant variation in speed between the various hardcourt surfaces. The US Open is played on DecoTurf, while the Australian open used to be played with the slower hardcourt surface Ace Rebound. Today, the Aussie Open is played on Plexicushion, a synthetic hardcourt with significant cushioning underneath.
Grass is another surface still popular on the scene, but you won’t find it at many American clubs. Most notably, the Wimbledon tournament is played on grass. The grass is cut extremely short, much like a putting green on a golf course. Grass courts are the fastest tennis court surface around. In fact this surface is so fast and the men have so much power nowadays that the tennis regulating bodies are trying to figure out how to slow the game down on grass.
Finally, tennis courts are almost always oriented North-South to prevent people from having to serve or return into the rising or setting sun sun.
How to Play Tennis: Playing and Scoring a Tennis Match
At the beginning of a tennis match, the players determine who will serve first and who will receive. The players toss a coin for heads-or-tails. If you win the toss, you can choose who will serve first. The player who “loses” the toss gets to determine which half of the court he will play on first. The two players then position themselves on the deuce side of the court, which is the side of the court where all games and matches begin. The serving player has two chances (called faults) to successfully serve the ball into the appropriate service box (diagonally across the court) on his opponent’s side. The serving player must position himself with both his feet behind the baseline, and his feet may not touch or cross the line until he makes contact with the tennis ball. If he does, this is called a “foot fault,” and doing so will cost him one of his two service chances. If the serving player does not make a successful serve after two tries, the point is awarded to his opponent. If he does serve successfully, his opponent must return the ball and the two players rally back and forth until one player wins the point by hitting a ball the other cannot return (a “winner”) or one of the players hits the ball into the net or out of bounds.
Two other things can happen on a serve. First, the server may serve the ball so well that his opponent cannot get to it. This is called an “ace,” and the point is awarded to the server. Second, the serve may clip the top of the net. This is called a “let.” After striking the net, the ball may still bounce into the correct service box, or it may not. If the let bounces into the correct box, the server gets another chance to repeat the same serve and is not docked a service attempt. In theory, a player could let six or more times on second serve, but he may keep serving on second serve until he gets the ball in or hits it out. If a let occurs but the ball does not bounce into the correct service box, this is a “fault,” and the player is docked a serve attempt.
Finally, if a server faults on his first serve and then faults again on his second serve, it is called a “double fault,” and the point is awarded to his opponent.
After either player wins the first point of the game, they are awarded that point. The players then line up on the “ad” side of the court, and repeat the same process. Eventually, one player will accumulate enough points to win the game. Let’s talk about this a little bit more here.
Tennis does not have what you might call a “simple” scoring system like a sport such as soccer. The points in a tennis game do not go 0-1-2-3-4, but rather 0-15-30-40-Win. Also, the score of a game is always given with the server’s score first and the returner’s score second. Let’s take a hypothetical game to help make sense of this.
On the first point of the game, the server hits a serve and the returner is unable to get the ball back to him. Thus the server is awarded the point, and the score becomes 15-0. They then line up on the ad side of the court, and play out another point which the server again wins. The score is now 30-0. The server wins another point, and the score is 40-0. If the server wins one more point, he wins the game. However, on the next point the returner hits a shot the server can’t get back, and the returner is awarded the point. The score is now 40-15. The returner then wins another two points in a row, and the score is now 40-40! There is a special name for this situation, and it is called “deuce.” You remember the word deuce because we used it to describe half of the court. The deuce side of the court takes its namesake from the fact that the point deuce (40-40) is always played on that side of the court. This isn’t a special exception, it is simply that 40-40 is located there, just as 30-30 or 40-15 are also played starting from that side of the court.
You cannot win the game from deuce. You must essentially “win by two,” so let’s say that the score is deuce and the server wins that point. They then move to the ad side of the court and play another point. However, the server is said to have the “ad,” or “advantage.” When the server has the ad, it is called “ad-in.” If he wins this point, he then “wins by two” and wins the game. As you can guess, the “ad” side of the court gets its namesake from the fact that “advantage” or “ad” points are always played there. If the server loses this point, then the score goes back to deuce. If the returner wins the next point, then it is his ad, also called “ad-out.” Eventually, one of the players will win the game by winning a point when it is his ad.
After one of the players wins the game, the player who was the returner now gets to serve, and the other player now returns. This exchange goes on until one of the players wins six games to win a “set.” Additionally, every other game the players switch ends of the tennis court (just like the halftime switch in soccer).
Tennis matches are usually “best of 3 sets,” but major men’s tournaments are best-of-5. In other words, to win a typical tennis match you must win at least 12 games (2 sets of 6) or 18 (still win 2 sets but lose 1 set). Also, the same “win-by-two” rule applies to winning sets. You cannot win a set 6-5. You can win it 7-5, but if the score is tied at 6-6, then the players play a special best-of-12-point tiebreaker. To confuse things a little further, scorekeeping in the tiebreaker is 0-1-2-3-4-5-etc.
How does serving in a tiebreaker work? Let’s start with who serves first. The player who did not serve the final game before the tiebreaker serves first. That player (Player A) serves one point on the deuce side. Player B then serves two points (starting on the ad side). Player A then serves two points, and they switch ends of the tennis court when a total of 6, 12, etc points have been played. The first person to reach 7 points wins, but again you must win by two. This means you can win 8-6, or 9-7, but you cannot win 7-6.
That’s it! If you followed and understood the basic rules and scoring here, you now understand the fundamentals of how to play tennis! Head over to our instructional area to start learning the mechanics of each shot!
This article is designed to be a basic introduction to the sport of tennis for anyone who wants to learn how to play tennis but has never picked up a racket before. It covers the basic idea of the game, the equipment, the tennis court, and introduces the scoring system. Once you know these fundamentals, you’re ready to head over to our instructional section and actually start learning how to play tennis by mastering some tennis technique!
How to Play Tennis: The Very Basics of Tennis
Tennis is a competitive sport that is played by either two players or four players. When two players compete against each other, it is called “singles,” and when two teams of two players each compete, it is called “doubles.” Most of the fundamental rules of the game remain the same whether you are playing doubles or singles.
The two (or four) players play on a tennis court, and each player or team has a side of the court that they must defend. Each tennis player holds a tennis racket in their hand, and they must use the racket to hit a fuzzy yellow ball (a tennis ball of course!) over a net and into their opponent’s side of the court. Each point starts out with one player “serving” the tennis ball to the other player, and the player receiving the serve must then return the ball to his opponent’s side. The first person to hit the ball out of bounds or into the net loses the point. This is the basic idea, and we will go into more details about scoring later.
How to Play Tennis: What is a Tennis Racket?
You could easily fill a book talking about tennis rackets, the different technologies that go into them, and how to choose the best racket to learn how to play tennis with. Such a detailed discussion would be beyond the scope of this introductory article, so instead we will discuss the important basics.
All tennis rackets have roughly the same shape: they have a handle (also called a “grip”) and an oval-shaped head with strings. Most tennis rackets for beginners are designed to flex, add tremendous power, and are oversized so that making solid contact is easier. More advanced players choose smaller rackets that do not add nearly as much power (their power comes from technique, not from the racket). There is a wide range in between, and racket companies such as Wilson, Babolat, Prince and Head make a variety of tennis rackets to suit anyone’s ability and style. If you’re just starting to learn how to play tennis the best thing you can do when choosing a tennis racket is to do a lot of research and ask a knowledgeable salesman at your local tennis shop.
How to Play Tennis: Tennis Balls
Aside from the actual dimensions of the tennis court, the tennis ball is the most standardized part of the game. That being said, tennis balls do come in several variations, but you can’t go wrong if you just pick a random type/brand when you’re starting out learning how to play tennis. Generally, tennis balls can come with more or less felt on them, or are made of slightly different materials. Some are designed to be more durable, usually called “extra duty” (so they last longer for you or can be played with longer on hardcourts) while others are better suited for clay. Unless you are a more advanced player though, you are not likely to notice the difference between any two ball types/brands you pull off the shelf. Additionally, all tennis balls must meet compression, size, and bounce standards that are set by the International Tennis Federation. Again, this is another area where if you are unsure, you should ask a knowledgeable sales person. If you're headed to the store and you don't want to bother asking for help, just pick up a can of extra-duty tennis balls.
How to Play Tennis: The Basics of the Tennis Court
The singles tennis court is 78 feet long and 27 feet wide. The doubles court is 36 feet wide. Along the sides of the court there are two parallel lines. The interior lines are the singles sidelines, and the exterior lines are the doubles sidelines. On each half of the court, there are two service boxes (the boxes close to the net). The back line (furthest from the net) is called the baseline, and at the center of the baseline there is a small mark called the tee. The tee is used when lining up to serve the ball to your opponent.
The tennis court also has a net running across the center that divides the two halves of the court. The net is 3.5 feet high at the edges, and 3 feet high at the center where it is held down by a strap. If a ball clips the net during play, it is still considered in play if it lands on the opponent’s side of the court.
Tennis is also played on a variety of different court surfaces, and the difference in play between those surfaces is dramatic. The most popular surfaces are clay, hardcourt, grass, and carpet.
Clay courts are great because they are very forgiving on your knees and body as a whole. It is a “soft” surface. Additionally, the clumps of clay slow the ball down significantly when it bounces, making clay the slowest surface to play on. This is a surface many club players prefer to play tennis on because it is so slow and forgiving. Clay usually comes in grey and red varieties, but we won’t get into the minor differences between the two here. Har-Tru is a popular brand of clay surface.
Hard courts are faster than clay. They are made from a variety of different materials, and some courts feel more rubbery and forgiving than others. Additionally, you can find some significant variation in speed between the various hardcourt surfaces. The US Open is played on DecoTurf, while the Australian open used to be played with the slower hardcourt surface Ace Rebound. Today, the Aussie Open is played on Plexicushion, a synthetic hardcourt with significant cushioning underneath.
Grass is another surface still popular on the scene, but you won’t find it at many American clubs. Most notably, the Wimbledon tournament is played on grass. The grass is cut extremely short, much like a putting green on a golf course. Grass courts are the fastest tennis court surface around. In fact this surface is so fast and the men have so much power nowadays that the tennis regulating bodies are trying to figure out how to slow the game down on grass.
Finally, tennis courts are almost always oriented North-South to prevent people from having to serve or return into the rising or setting sun sun.
How to Play Tennis: Playing and Scoring a Tennis Match
At the beginning of a tennis match, the players determine who will serve first and who will receive. The players toss a coin for heads-or-tails. If you win the toss, you can choose who will serve first. The player who “loses” the toss gets to determine which half of the court he will play on first. The two players then position themselves on the deuce side of the court, which is the side of the court where all games and matches begin. The serving player has two chances (called faults) to successfully serve the ball into the appropriate service box (diagonally across the court) on his opponent’s side. The serving player must position himself with both his feet behind the baseline, and his feet may not touch or cross the line until he makes contact with the tennis ball. If he does, this is called a “foot fault,” and doing so will cost him one of his two service chances. If the serving player does not make a successful serve after two tries, the point is awarded to his opponent. If he does serve successfully, his opponent must return the ball and the two players rally back and forth until one player wins the point by hitting a ball the other cannot return (a “winner”) or one of the players hits the ball into the net or out of bounds.
Two other things can happen on a serve. First, the server may serve the ball so well that his opponent cannot get to it. This is called an “ace,” and the point is awarded to the server. Second, the serve may clip the top of the net. This is called a “let.” After striking the net, the ball may still bounce into the correct service box, or it may not. If the let bounces into the correct box, the server gets another chance to repeat the same serve and is not docked a service attempt. In theory, a player could let six or more times on second serve, but he may keep serving on second serve until he gets the ball in or hits it out. If a let occurs but the ball does not bounce into the correct service box, this is a “fault,” and the player is docked a serve attempt.
Finally, if a server faults on his first serve and then faults again on his second serve, it is called a “double fault,” and the point is awarded to his opponent.
After either player wins the first point of the game, they are awarded that point. The players then line up on the “ad” side of the court, and repeat the same process. Eventually, one player will accumulate enough points to win the game. Let’s talk about this a little bit more here.
Tennis does not have what you might call a “simple” scoring system like a sport such as soccer. The points in a tennis game do not go 0-1-2-3-4, but rather 0-15-30-40-Win. Also, the score of a game is always given with the server’s score first and the returner’s score second. Let’s take a hypothetical game to help make sense of this.
On the first point of the game, the server hits a serve and the returner is unable to get the ball back to him. Thus the server is awarded the point, and the score becomes 15-0. They then line up on the ad side of the court, and play out another point which the server again wins. The score is now 30-0. The server wins another point, and the score is 40-0. If the server wins one more point, he wins the game. However, on the next point the returner hits a shot the server can’t get back, and the returner is awarded the point. The score is now 40-15. The returner then wins another two points in a row, and the score is now 40-40! There is a special name for this situation, and it is called “deuce.” You remember the word deuce because we used it to describe half of the court. The deuce side of the court takes its namesake from the fact that the point deuce (40-40) is always played on that side of the court. This isn’t a special exception, it is simply that 40-40 is located there, just as 30-30 or 40-15 are also played starting from that side of the court.
You cannot win the game from deuce. You must essentially “win by two,” so let’s say that the score is deuce and the server wins that point. They then move to the ad side of the court and play another point. However, the server is said to have the “ad,” or “advantage.” When the server has the ad, it is called “ad-in.” If he wins this point, he then “wins by two” and wins the game. As you can guess, the “ad” side of the court gets its namesake from the fact that “advantage” or “ad” points are always played there. If the server loses this point, then the score goes back to deuce. If the returner wins the next point, then it is his ad, also called “ad-out.” Eventually, one of the players will win the game by winning a point when it is his ad.
After one of the players wins the game, the player who was the returner now gets to serve, and the other player now returns. This exchange goes on until one of the players wins six games to win a “set.” Additionally, every other game the players switch ends of the tennis court (just like the halftime switch in soccer).
Tennis matches are usually “best of 3 sets,” but major men’s tournaments are best-of-5. In other words, to win a typical tennis match you must win at least 12 games (2 sets of 6) or 18 (still win 2 sets but lose 1 set). Also, the same “win-by-two” rule applies to winning sets. You cannot win a set 6-5. You can win it 7-5, but if the score is tied at 6-6, then the players play a special best-of-12-point tiebreaker. To confuse things a little further, scorekeeping in the tiebreaker is 0-1-2-3-4-5-etc.
How does serving in a tiebreaker work? Let’s start with who serves first. The player who did not serve the final game before the tiebreaker serves first. That player (Player A) serves one point on the deuce side. Player B then serves two points (starting on the ad side). Player A then serves two points, and they switch ends of the tennis court when a total of 6, 12, etc points have been played. The first person to reach 7 points wins, but again you must win by two. This means you can win 8-6, or 9-7, but you cannot win 7-6.
That’s it! If you followed and understood the basic rules and scoring here, you now understand the fundamentals of how to play tennis! Head over to our instructional area to start learning the mechanics of each shot!
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