The Ultimate Guide to Getting Into Tennis and Playing Competitively

Tennis is one of those sports that looks deceptively simple from the outside.

You buy a racket, find a court and hit a ball over a net.

Then you play somebody who has been playing for three years and discover that serving into the correct box, returning a ball with spin and surviving a ten-shot rally are very different propositions.

That should not put anyone off.

Tennis is unusually rewarding because improvement is so noticeable. The first time you hold a rally together feels significant. So does the first decent serve, the first match you win and the first time you realise you are constructing points instead of simply hitting the ball back.

And unlike many sports, there is no requirement to start as a child.

Adults can take up tennis at almost any age, become competent players and move into club matches, local leagues and competitive tournaments.

The trick is approaching it properly.

Start With a Racket, Not a Shopping Spree

You do not need £500 worth of equipment to start playing tennis.

You need a sensible racket, appropriate shoes and some balls.

Beginners should generally avoid extremely heavy or demanding rackets designed for advanced players. A forgiving racket with a reasonably large head gives you a larger effective hitting area and makes learning much more enjoyable.

Do not become obsessed with specifications immediately.

Tennis players can discuss racket weight, balance, string pattern and tension for considerably longer than is healthy. Those things matter eventually. They matter much less when you are still learning to hit a forehand reliably.

Shoes are worth taking more seriously.

Tennis involves repeated sideways movement, stopping and changing direction. Running shoes are primarily designed for forward movement and provide a different type of support. If you intend to play regularly, proper tennis shoes are a worthwhile purchase.

Beyond that, keep things simple. A good tennis jersey can help, if you've not got one yet. They're breathable, allow for flexibility and are made for long physical activity.

Your early money is usually better spent on court time and coaching than equipment upgrades.

Get Some Coaching Early

It is possible to teach yourself tennis.

It is also possible to spend six months becoming extremely good at performing a forehand incorrectly.

A few lessons at the beginning can save an enormous amount of frustration later.

A coach can help establish the fundamentals: grip, preparation, contact point, movement and basic serving technique.

You do not necessarily need weekly private lessons. Group coaching is often excellent for beginners because it is cheaper, provides people to practise with and introduces competitive exercises early.

Private lessons become particularly useful when there is a specific technical problem to fix.

The important thing is getting some competent feedback before bad habits become comfortable.

Learn to Rally Before Trying to Hit Winners

New players often try to hit the ball far too hard.

It is understandable. Professional tennis creates the impression that success comes from hitting enormous forehands into the corners.

At beginner and intermediate level, success is usually much less glamorous.

Keep the ball in the court.

If you can reliably hit five balls over the net while your opponent can reliably hit three, you are going to win a remarkable number of matches.

Build your game around control first.

Learn to rally cross-court. Get comfortable hitting both forehands and backhands. Practise changing direction without trying to produce a spectacular winner.

Power becomes useful once you can control it.

Until then, consistency is a superpower.

Take the Serve Seriously

The serve deserves its own section because it is the only shot in tennis that you completely control.

Nobody is hitting the ball at you. Nobody is forcing you into an awkward position.

Yet beginners frequently treat the serve as something to worry about later.

That is a mistake.

A reliable serve changes matches.

You do not need a 120mph first serve. You need something that starts the point consistently and does not collapse under pressure.

Spend time learning the basic serving motion and, crucially, develop a second serve you trust.

Double faults are particularly expensive because your opponent does not have to do anything to earn the point.

A slower serve that goes in is considerably more useful than an impressive one that works twice every ten attempts.

Learn How Points Are Actually Won

There is a stage in tennis where technique stops being the whole game.

You start noticing patterns.

Your opponent dislikes high balls to the backhand.

They move badly when pulled wide.

They attack every short ball but make mistakes when forced to hit repeatedly.

They stand extremely close when returning second serves.

This is where tennis becomes fascinating.

Instead of asking, "How hard can I hit this?", you start asking, "What shot makes the next shot easier?"

Simple patterns work surprisingly well:

• hit cross-court until you receive a shorter ball;
• make your opponent move before attempting a winner;
• attack obvious weaknesses repeatedly;
• return difficult serves safely rather than attempting spectacular shots;
• when under pressure, give yourself more margin over the net;
• aim well inside the lines unless there is a good reason not to.

At amateur level, the player making better decisions often beats the player with prettier strokes.

Get Match Fit, Not Just Gym Fit

You do not need to look like a professional athlete to play competitive tennis.

You do need to move.

Tennis involves acceleration, braking, lateral movement and repeated short efforts, often for far longer than expected.

General cardiovascular fitness helps, but so do strong legs and good movement.

Footwork drills, skipping, lunges, squats and short sprints can all be useful. Strengthening the legs, core and shoulders also helps your body tolerate regular play.

Do not suddenly go from doing nothing to playing tennis five times a week.

Elbows, shoulders, knees and calves have a habit of objecting.

Increase your playing volume gradually, warm up properly and allow recovery time. If something genuinely hurts rather than merely feeling tired, deal with it instead of trying to play through it indefinitely.

Join a Club or Find a Regular Playing Group

If you want to improve, you need people to play.

This is one of the biggest advantages of joining a tennis club.

A good club gives you access to courts, coaching, social sessions, leagues and players at different standards.

More importantly, it removes the constant problem of finding an opponent.

Regular hitting partners are valuable because improvement requires repetition. Playing once every three weeks makes progress painfully slow.

Try to find several opponents rather than one.

Different players create different problems.

One may hit hard. Another retrieves everything. Someone else slices the backhand constantly. Another serves well but barely rallies.

Playing different styles teaches you how to adapt.

Start Competing Before You Feel Completely Ready

There is no magical day when somebody announces that you are now officially good enough to compete.

At some point, enter something.

That might be an internal club ladder, a box league, doubles night, local league match or beginner-level tournament.

Your first competitive matches may feel surprisingly uncomfortable.

Shots you hit easily in practice suddenly become difficult at 30-30. Your arm tightens on the serve. You start calculating the score instead of watching the ball.

This is normal.

Match play is a skill in itself.

The only way to become comfortable competing is to compete.

Depending on where you live, national tennis associations and independent rating systems provide organised competitions for different standards. Clubs are often the easiest place to learn what competitive opportunities exist locally.

Start at an appropriate level. Getting beaten 6-0, 6-0 by an advanced player teaches considerably less than playing somebody slightly better than you.

Understand That Competitive Tennis Is Mostly About Managing Mistakes

Amateur tennis is not usually decided by who hits the most winners.

It is decided by who handles errors better.

You will miss easy balls.

You will double fault.

You will occasionally play a dreadful game immediately after playing your best game of the match.

The dangerous part is what happens next.

Players often turn one mistake into four because they become angry, rush the next point or attempt a low-percentage winner to compensate.

Develop a routine between points.

Turn away from the court. Reset your breathing. Decide what you want to do next.

Then move on.

You cannot correct the previous point. You can very easily ruin the next one by continuing to think about it.

Mental discipline is one of the easiest ways for an ordinary club player to become much harder to beat.

Play Doubles as Well as Singles

Do not dismiss doubles as the easier version of tennis.

Good doubles teaches skills that many recreational singles players badly neglect.

You learn to volley.

You learn positioning.

You become more comfortable at the net.

Returns become more important and you have to think carefully about where the ball is going rather than simply keeping it in play.

It is also extremely social and can be easier on the body than repeatedly playing long singles matches.

If your club has a competitive team structure, doubles can provide another route into regular match play.

Keep Track of What Actually Goes Wrong

After matches, avoid vague conclusions such as "I played badly."

Ask what happened.

Were you missing returns?

Were most of your errors on the backhand?

Did your second serve disappear under pressure?

Were you reaching difficult balls but failing to recover your position?

Did you lose almost every point when you came to the net?

These observations tell you what to practise.

The fastest improvement usually comes from fixing the weakness that costs the most points rather than endlessly practising your favourite shot.

What Does the Journey to Competitive Tennis Actually Look Like?

For most adults, it is far less complicated than it appears.

Start playing.

Take some lessons.

Find regular opponents.

Join a club or organised playing community.

Develop a dependable serve and rallying game.

Play practice sets.

Enter a low-level competition.

Lose some matches.

Work out why.

Improve.

Enter again.

From there, you can take competition as seriously as you like. Some players are perfectly happy playing weekly club leagues. Others become obsessed with ratings and tournaments. Plenty eventually represent their clubs in regional competitions.

There is no requirement to chase the highest possible level.

Competitive tennis is worthwhile because it gives all that practice a purpose.

The Best Time to Start Is Before You Feel Like a Tennis Player

Beginners sometimes feel as though tennis clubs and competitions belong to people who already know what they are doing.

Every good player was once terrible at tennis.

They framed balls. They double faulted. They forgot the score. They stood in the wrong place and hit balls over the fence.

The difference is that they continued playing.

You do not need exceptional athletic ability, an expensive racket or years of childhood coaching to enjoy competitive tennis.

You need enough technique to keep a point alive, enough fitness to move around a court and enough humility to lose matches while you learn.

Get those things in place and tennis becomes one of the best sports you can take up: difficult enough that there is always something to improve, competitive enough to stay interesting and accessible enough that you can keep playing for decades.

The first step is simply getting on court.