If you are bored with home workout moves, you can try a new sport, such as tennis. Playing tennis is not difficult as long as you understand the basic techniques.
Tennis is a small ball sport played by using a racket, consisting of two players (single game) or four players (doubles). Discover the preparation before participating in a tennis game below.
Preparation Before Tennis
Before playing tennis, there are a few preparations you must do. The first is warming up, which helps lubricate the joints, allowing you to move more freely and easily.
Moreover, there are a few other preparations before playing tennis, including:
1. Court
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) has regulated the standard tennis court dimensions for official competitions. A tennis court for a single game is 23.77 × 8.23 meters, and 23.77 × 10.97 meters for doubles.
The court types are also differentiated based on the surface material, which are:
Hardcourt
This type of court is made of cement or asphalt laid over a sand base. The characteristics of this type of court allow the tennis ball to travel at medium to high speed.
Clay
A clay court is made of crushed clay or brick particles. The characteristics of this court cause the ball to move more slowly, enabling long rallies during a game.
Grass
This type of court has a grass-covered surface grown on hard ground to provide a consistent bounce. This results in minimal friction, allowing for a fast ball bounce.
2. Net
The next equipment used in tennis is a net. It serves to divide a tennis court into two. The rules regarding this are:
- A tennis net is made of dark green or black thread.
- The net posts are 106.7 cm high, and the net is 91.4 cm high at the center.
- The net posts are installed 91.4 cm outside the sidelines of the court.
3. Ball
Tennis requires balls that meet official competition and training standards.
- The ball is made of rubber covered with yellow-green felt.
- The ball’s surface should be smooth and free of visible seams.
- The diameter of the ball is between 63.5 and 66.77 mm.
- The ball’s weight is around 56.7 to 58.48 grams.
- The ball must bounce between 1.346 mm and 1.473 mm if it falls from a height of 2.450 mm.
4. Racket
Aside from badminton, another sport that requires a racket is tennis. The criteria for tennis rackets are divided based on the age of the players:
- Children' s tennis racket, which is around 250 grams
- Female adolescent tennis racket, which is around 290 grams
- Male adolescent tennis racket, which is around 295 grams
- Female adult tennis racket, which is around 300 grams
- Male adult tennis racket, which is around 310 grams
5. Other Supporting Equipment
Aside from the equipment above, you also need other supporting equipment for tennis. This includes sportswear and sports shoes.
It is advised to opt for clothing made from sweat-absorbing fabrics, and cotton or parachute materials for sports shorts that sit above the knees with side pockets to store tennis balls.
For sports shoes, you can adjust your footwear according to the court type to minimize the risk of injuries. For example, for a hard-surface tennis court, it is recommended to wear shoes with smoother soles, while grass courts are better suited to shoes with wavy or patterned soles.
If needed, you can also wear protective gear, such as elbow sleeves or arm sleeves.
Basic Tennis Techniques
In playing tennis, there are a few basic tennis techniques you must be skilled at, especially when you are a newbie. Here is the explanation:
1. Grip
The first basic technique is the grip. You need to be skilled at this, since the grip highly determines the quality of your strokes.
Continental Grip
Continental grip is the most basic technique that must be taught to tennis newcomers.
This type of grip is suitable for various types of strokes; however, it provides less topspin on groundstrokes, making it less common among professional players.
Eastern Grip
This type works well on court surfaces with a fast ball speed and can provide sufficient topspin.
The downside is that the Eastern grip can make it difficult to handle high-bouncing balls.
Western Grip
This type is quite challenging and difficult to master. However, many tennis professionals use this type of grip since the Western grip can generate maximum topspin, especially when playing on slower surfaces, such as clay courts.
2. Ready Position
The next basic tennis technique is the ready position, which is the preparation position when the opponent is serving or returning a shot. By using the correct ready position, you have an opportunity to return the ball effectively.
The correct ready position is to bend your body slightly forward with your knees bent and position the racket in front of your body. Keep your eyes on the ball and your opponent’s racket, and practice this position every time your opponent is about to hit the ball.
It must be noted that you don’t have to be tense during this position. The most important thing is to maintain your body balance to allow you to move freely to the right, left, forward, or backward to receive the ball from your opponent.
3. Stroke
You also need to master different types of strokes, which consist of the serve, return of serve, groundstroke, volley, and approach shot.
Serve
Serve is the starting stroke used to begin a tennis game. A good serve technique can become the key to making it difficult for your opponent to return the ball.
Return of Serve
Return of serve can open an opportunity to perform a long rally and win a point. Hence, you must master the grip and ready position correctly.
Groundstroke
This is the most common shot in tennis, where the ball bounces once on the court before being hit.
Groundstroke can be done by using the forehand technique (an open-handed stroke) or backhand (a stroke performed across the body).
Volley
Volley is done before the ball bounces on the court to limit the opponent's reaction time.
This technique requires strong hand-eye coordination to produce a stroke that is hard to counter.
Approach Shot
The last type of stroke in tennis is the approach shot.
This stroke is intended to attack by hitting the ball before it reaches the baseline; however, this leaves more open space behind the player. Generally, after performing an approach shot, a tennis player finishes with a volley.
How to Play Tennis
After understanding the basic techniques of tennis, you must understand how to play tennis correctly, especially the scoring system. The scoring system in this sport follows the rules of the International Tennis Federation (ITF).
Tennis is generally played as the best of three sets, and the first player to win two sets is declared the winner.
Here are some common terms used in tennis:
1. Game
To win a game, you need to win four points from your opponent.
The first score = 15, the second score = 30, the third score = 40, and the fourth point wins the game.
To win a set, a player typically needs to win six games, unless the score reaches a tie-break situation.
2. Deuce
Deuce happens when both players reach 40–40, in which case one of the players must win two consecutive points to win the game.
3. Advantage
This occurs when one of the players wins the first point after deuce (40–40).
4. Advantage Set
The advantage set happens when one of the players wins the seventh game after the score reaches 5–5.
5. Tie-Break
A tie-break is a situation when both players reach a score of 6–6 in games. Normally, a player must score 7 points to win the tie-break.
If they both score 6 points, then a two-point lead is required to win (8–6, 9–7, 10–8, and so on).
This concludes the explanation about basic tennis techniques and how to play tennis. Before playing, don’t forget to warm up, which is important to avoid the risk of injuries. Start with light tennis practice for 5–10 minutes using gentle strokes, serves, and volleys.
After playing tennis and sweating, you lose a significant amount of body fluid, which can lead to weakness and tiredness. Therefore, you must always have drinking water ready during exercise to replace lost fluid.
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