Welcome to my tennis journey! Like my running journey, I started this during this past summer. Aside from the few clinics I used to go to when I was in middle school, my experience with tennis consisted of playing for fun back at home and Wii tennis. I decided that I wanted to learn the actual techniques of tennis, so I took up lessons with a friend. We’ve been doing lessons once a week ever since! Here’s everything I did to prepare, and what I’ve learned so far!
Preparation
To prepare for my first lesson, I had to get a racket. Now, I’m no expert on what brand or what specs are the best, but I tried to go with something that was somewhat affordable and checked all the necessary boxes. I ended up with the Wilson Allure 105 racket from Dick’s Sporting Goods (however you can probably find it at any sporting goods store). It was around $50, and it has been great as a beginner racket. It’s not too small or too large, and it’s light enough to where I don’t feel like I’m straining to hit the ball at all.
The first thing I realized about tennis is (1) there are so many choices for rackets that it’s overwhelming and (2) tennis rackets are expensive!! I don’t think I realized how much rackets are until I saw the choices. That’s the main reason why I went with the Wilson Allure because it was on the cheaper end. It’s also probably a good thing to start off with a cheaper racket just to start learning with. If I decide that I want to take up tennis more seriously in the future, I might invest in a more expensive racket. The racket is the most important piece of equipment; however, I also bought a couple sleeves of tennis balls just to have some to practice with.
Lessons
The second step I took was to find someone to teach both me and my friend. We are currently taking lessons from the head tennis coach at our college, but you can find coaches from all over. If you are still in college and have a tennis team, I would recommend reaching out to them as a starting place. If they don’t give lessons themselves, they can probably point you to other people or places that do offer lessons. You could also reach out to people on collegiate teams as some of them might offer lessons. Usually, your local tennis clubs or country clubs will have people who give lessons, or you can find people from social media who are independent of an organization who are willing to teach.
How It’s Going
Firstly, tennis has become a hobby of mine. Like I mentioned in my first blog, this past summer, I wanted to find hobbies. I wanted to spend time getting to know myself because I realized that I really didn’t have any true hobbies. I am so glad that I not only found a way to explore this hobby but also have someone who is as excited about tennis as I am to do it with. Although you can definitely take up tennis and tennis lessons on your own, I’ve found that it makes it so much more enjoyable when you have a friend to do it with. That also means that you automatically have someone you can practice with! Since I’ve started playing tennis, I’ve also come to enjoy watching the sport. Following different tennis players and watching matches has been super interesting!
Secondly, the actual lessons are going well! Another thing I didn’t realize about tennis was how difficult it is. It sounds silly but I truly didn’t know how technical everything was and how important your form is. I like to think of myself as a relatively athletic person; however, tennis is not as instinctual as I thought it would be. It is a lot more than just hand-eye coordination!
We’ve upgraded to some back and forth drills rather than just doing feeding drills which is an improvement for us. It’s motivating to see how far we’ve come since the first lesson. I think that’s the most rewarding part of starting a new hobby, especially a new sport. You can tangibly see how you’ve improved, and you can prove to yourself that you are more capable than you think! Tennis is not only a great challenge for me personally, but it also reminds me to be kinder to myself.
That’s where we’re at so far! Keep up with my blogs to follow along on my tennis journey. You can even follow my friend and I’s tennis Instagram account to see our progress and silly content. Let me know if you have any tennis advice!
