Tennis: Easy to Watch, Hard to Play

After watching tennis with my husband for a few months, I was under the impression that it was one of the easiest sports to play in the world. How hard can it be to hit a small yellow ball with a huge racquet over a tiny little net? Upon trying to play tennis myself, I can tell you, without question, that this sport is far from easy. It takes a ton of concentration and timing to play tennis properly. Otherwise, you just end up smacking balls in the air like a lunatic. Here is a look at just some of the many steps that go into playing tennis correctly.

Getting the Racquet in Position

Before a ball comes flying at you, you have to have your racquet in position for a backhand or a forehand. In other words, you have to have it behind the left or right side of the body, depending on which side the ball is headed towards. This is one of the hardest things to learn because you want to focus on where the ball is, not prepare for what is to come. You almost have to pretend that you are in FBI training and you have to see what is happening before it does. If you don't get your arm back in time, you may lose all the power in your stroke before you hit a ball.

Aiming the Ball

The way you tilt and move your racquet will determine where the ball goes after you release it. You are basically scooping and releasing the ball in a fraction of a second, without actually making a scooping motion. If you hit in the wrong direction, you could send the ball out of bounds. If you hit with the racquet pointed up, you could lob the ball way in the air. If you have the racquet pointed too far down, you could cause the ball to fall short of the net. There are a million different points to remember about aiming, and you have to think about them all at once when you play. It can get pretty overwhelming in just a short period of time.

Planting Your Feet

When you hit a ball in tennis, you have to make sure your feet are firmly planted on the ground. That way you can properly transfer your weight and make sure all your power goes to the racquet. If you jump in the middle of your hit, the power will basically fly out of your feet. The ball may not even make it past your side of the court. The only problem with planting your feet is that it isn't exactly an instinctual process. You have to run to catch the ball and then immediately stop to hit it. Until you get used to that idea, chances are you will run right past a ball as it comes to you.

Taking Baby Steps

You can't stretch for a ball in tennis because that will cause your aim to be off. It may also cause you to hurt yourself because of poor positioning. Rather than reaching to hit a ball, you have to take little baby steps to get to it before it comes to you. This is incredibly hard to get used to. I'm 5'2" tall, so I have to stretch for just about everything. My baby steps seem to always turn out to be hurdle jumps when I play. That's probably why I suck though, so don't lead by my example. You may not get very far that way.

There are plenty of other things to remember every time you hit a tennis ball, so much so that you are liable to get overwhelmed for the first few weeks of play. Over time though, you will learn to love it because it is such a challenge. Give it a try and you'll soon realize just how deceiving looks can be.