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Improving Your Tennis Game – for the Beginner

Tennis is a very athletic game of running, hitting the ball and of understanding where the ball might land when it is hit. If you want to improve your tennis game, I have compiled a listing of a few tennis tips and ideas that will help you understand more about your game and how the game is played. 

A few secrets that are going to help you improve your game are:

It is important to psyche yourself up for the big game. The game of tennis is competitive and something that you physically have to put yourself up for the challenge. If you are not ready for the challenge, you could easily have a bad game if you are not ‘in to it’ that day. Get your adrenaline going. Do a few jumping jacks, run in place a few seconds, fling your arms around a little to get your body moving and your adrenaline going. 

To improve your tennis game, learn to play tennis on various types of courts. There are grass, sand, dirt, hard, concrete and softer types of tennis courts, but learning to play tennis on various types of courts will help you improve your overall game no matter who you are playing. Types of playing surfaces vary, and if you are not familiar with a soft or hard court, your game can suffer. 

Avoid thinking about what could happen if you hit a certain way so that your expectations are clear and concise. If you were to think about every ball that you hit and where it is going to go you are more likely to miss more balls more often. 

You are going to improve your game if you are less likely to worry about what your opponent is thinking about your game. Just play the game, play your game well and have fun, this is going to help your game improve instead of focusing too much on what others are thinking about how you are playing your game. 

When you hit the ball, hit the ball deep and in the middle. This is going to be a strong game that will press your opponent in to playing harder and harder. The more often your opponent has a chance to hit the ball and return the ball to you, the higher the chances that they can error and give you point or even game!

Practice and practice more on your serve. A serve that is strong is going to keep you in the game more often, plus you are going to be more comfortable with the rest of your game when you start off strong. 

It is important to be well rested before a good game of tennis. If you are tired you are not going to hit the ball as often or with consistency. 

Keep warm before you are going to play tennis. If you start to play tennis while you are cold, you are more likely to get hurt or strain yourself which is going to hurt your game overall. 

No matter what time of day you are playing or who you are playing; try to keep your knees a little on the bent side. When your knees are bent a little during the game, you are not putting to much stress on your knees so you will feel better during the longer games. 

Aim for hitting the ball consistently instead of only with power. Players often focus hitting each ball too hard instead of focusing on hitting each ball. Once you are able to hit more balls, you can focus on hitting the ball harder more often. 

Shift your body weight forward when you are hitting the ball. Shifting your body weight forward is going to make your impact on the ball more focused and the ball is going to fly across that net more often. 

Learn to anticipate where the ball is going to come back to you at. If you are going to hit the ball to the left, your opponent is likely to hit it back to you on the right, and so on. Learning to anticipate where the ball is going to be returned is going to save you time and energy as you will already be near where the ball is going to end up at. 

Save your energy when you are getting ready to serve or when points have just been called. Jumping from one set to the next or from play to play can be more strenuous than hitting the ball over and over again. Take an extra ten seconds when you are serving to catch your breath or to examine the court that extra ten seconds is going to restore your energy. 

Use a lighter weight racket that is looser strung for a better power hit when you are involved in a competitive game of tennis. 

Use the right type of equipment for your body. Choose a racket that is long for your body or short for your arms, each racket is a little different than another. Some rackets are shorter for the shorter arm while others are longer for better balancing. Learn more about the racket you are using and what other types that might suit you better. 

When returning a serve to your side of the court, make sure that you try to return the serve low to the ground so it is difficult for your opponent to reach and hit the ball. 

Try to hit flat shots to the corners of the court when you are aiming the ball on a return. When your opponent is on the opposite side of the court and you hit it in the corners that are opposite of where they are, they have to spend more energy to hit that ball back to you successfully. 

To play a good game of tennis, you are going to need to practice over and over again, but remaining calm and having fun is going to be one of the best things that gets your game on.