Things You'll Need:
- A Tennis Racquet
- A friend or wall
- Tennis Balls
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Step 1
The first and most basic part of using your racquet is how you grip it. There are three basic styles, Western, Eastern, and Continental. There are several variations to each type, but I'm going to simplify things for you and we are going to use slight variations of the Continental grip.
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Step 2
The easiest way to obtain a proper continental grip is to imagine that your tennis racquet is an axe. Hold the racquet as if you were going to chop something with it. Pretend you're chopping your couch cushion and give it a few whacks, you should be striking the cushion with the edge of the racquet. Congratulations you are holding the racquet with a Continental grip!
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Step 3
Now that you have the basic Continental grip down, you can learn the proper Forehand grip. To obtain a good Forehand grip, first start out with the Continental grip. Now I'm assuming you're holding the racquet in your right hand, rotate the racquet two or three inches (about 30 degrees) counter clock-wise (from your perspective). This is how you should hold the racquet when hitting a Forehand. Click the "Forehand Grip Video" link at the bottom of this page to make sure you're doing it right.
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Step 4
To get into a good backhand grip, you simply do the reverse of the forehand grip. Click the "Backhand Grip Video" link at the bottom of this page to see if you're doing it right.
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Step 5
Now that you have the basic forehand and backhand grips down, you can practice swinging the racquet. To execute a forehand start by aligning your body so that your left shoulder is towards the net. Now bring the racquet down and to your right, then swing forward and upwards. That's a forehand! Click on the "Forehand Swing Video" link at the bottom of this page to see if you're doing it right.
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Step 6
To execute a backhand, start with your right shoulder towards the net. Bring the racquet down and to your left, then swing it forward and upward. That's a backhand! Click on the "Backhand Swing Video" link at the bottom of this page to see if you're doing it right.
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Step 7
In both a forehand and backhand I told you to swing forward and upward. The reason you swing upward is to impart "Topspin" on to the ball. Topspin causes the ball's flight path to "bend" back to the ground so you can hit the ball really hard and if you put enough topspin on it, it will still go in the court!
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Step 8
If you're wondering how to serve, I would recommend that all beginners use a forehand grip to serve at first. Simply stand behind the line, throw the ball up into the air and hit it over the net as best you can. Serving is the hardest thing to learn to do in tennis, and the best way to learn is to keep trying over and over again.
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Step 9
The last thing I'll tell you about playing tennis is probably the single most important and most obvious, always keep your eye on the ball. I mean really focus on it, never take your eyes off of it, your eyes should be locked on to the ball at ALL times. If you can do that, it will help you a lot.
