Is Tennis Hard? A little time and these 3 skills will crush your barrier to entry
When Covid hit tennis numbers grew - a little. People liked the safe distanced play of 78ft (23.77m) between baseline to baseline. They could be outside, breathing among other humans safely AND break a sweat. Just like the good-old days😏. But pickleball numbers between 2019 - 2020 soared 21.3% to incredible heights in the US. And Spain’s padel obsession grew even deeper. When I pressed both continents for the shift away from tennis towards these 2 games, it came back … “it’s easier”. As a Tennis Director, this concerns me. How many players can tennis afford to lose without picking up new participants? It became increasingly clear, we need to make tennis a viable sport for everyone. Not just top athletes or young kids. It needed to be taught thoughtfully with deep foundations in mind. So adults learned correctly so they could continue to improve and actually feel confident to actually play the game. Not only enter th game and pay for tennis lessons.
Tennis is a racket sport thought to be a hard sport. To play the game with success at the recreational level it requires practice time including tennis lessons with a certified teaching pro and 3 skills from the player; hand-eye coordination, endurance and patience.
“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”
Even curling or bowling requires these same skills. To get to the fun part in any sport will require some effort!
Pro tip: 💡
Adult tennis camps by playing level & travel destination for Summer 2023 check here.
As I searched the topic about tennis being too hard, it was everywhere.
My own industry was writing about how hard it is. Wallowing in how recreational players can’t improve their level for years to come. How hard it is to find someone to play with. And how only rich or super athletic players will succeed. None of it true.
It almost made ME give up on the game. It was so depressing. Let me be completely transparent for those looking to start to learn how to play tennis. It’s the greatest sport in the world. Not because I say so. But because it’s an independent game that stretches you. It’s international with a rich history. It’s a great workout and offers competition at any age or level. People bucket list Grand slam events for pomp, circumstance & excitement. It is the absolute thrill of a lifetime to experience and feel the passion from players and spectators at a LIVE event. It offers excellent networking solutions, travel tennis holidays and a game to grow into old age, gracefully.
Tennis isn’t too hard to play. But the time it takes to learn to actually play will depend on how much time you have to practice.
How’s your hand-eye coordination?
You’ve likely played catch with someone, or darts. Played a video game or a friendly game of cornhole in your backyard by the time you’ve hit adulthood. A puzzle or driving a car requires hand-eye coordination on some level.
So, how’d you do? Was it easy for you? Did you find it an intriguing challenge you wanted to take a step further or did you meltdown immediately if you missed?
I bring up these simple day to day activities to let you in on what hand-eye coordination is. How much you actually use hand-eye coordination in your day to day life. If you can get through any one of those mundane events, you can learn how to play tennis and love it.
I think a couple things get lost when it comes to barriers of entry with tennis.
If you enjoy watching professional tennis matches and expect it to be as easy as it looks on TV. Then you’ll feel defeated.
If you feel that tennis is for the rich. You’re again mistaken. If you think you have to be highly athletic, it absolutely helps! But I don’t know many overly athletic adults out there playing recreational tennis.
The point is that developing better hand eye coordination is not only possible. But it’ll help you with almost everything else you do in life. Padel and pickelball require hand-eye coordination too. By the way, both sports are as if not more expensive in gear.
If you’re an adult beginner player in the market for some smart racket choices read this post. Or watch it in video form in the how to play tennis course.
If there’s a real deficiency in your hand-eye coordination it may actually be your eye sight. Maybe having your vision checked should be a priority. Otherwise, you likely have plenty of hand-eye coordination to learn to play tennis.
When I work with beginner adults and intermediate players on court I like to get started with a game I learned from Tim Gallwey, author of The Inner Game of Tennis. A terrific book for any player new to the game. One of the greatest drills I learned from him, I use personally and teach to my players.
The drill’s called, Bounce Hit. I like using it on total beginners because it gives confidence every time they touch the ball. At the intermediate level, every time they pass it back over the net to the opposite player more than a couple times, they fall in love with tennis a little bit more. It’s a fun way to settle into learning to rally a ball.
Why? Because it’s a powerful tool that stresses hand-eye coordination and timing for when to hit the ball. Now if you were doing the drill as it is here and you were swinging and totally missing the ball or hitting it on the side of the racket, I’d say you should work on your hand-eye coordination but it hasn’t happened yet.
I wish I had my own video on this particular drill but Alan Margot does it perfectly here.
Bounce Hit was developed by Tim Gallwey from The Inner game of Tennis.
The idea of getting yourself focused & calm on court is a goal. A couple deep breaths will calm the nerves and muscles and let you see the ball more clearly and react. That’s what you want.
You don’t need to hit it as successful as Alan Margot above, because you’re just learning how to play. Not much is expected from you early on except making contact with the tennis ball. That’s why you want your hand-eye coordination as on point as possible.
What’s your expectation of the game?
What is your personal expectation of the game? Do you expect to join a league? Play competitions? Or maybe play tennis confidently enough to have a good time, make new friends, go to new tennis activities and improve your health?
To many people come to the game with wild expectations around what they want from the game. But I’m here to tell you that rallying a ball, increasing some power and consistently getting the ball over the net and inside those lines is half the battle. When you first enter the game that’s what you want - success at getting your shots over the net and in the court.
When I looked at what coaches were expecting from players at the beginner levels it was insane. Coaches introducing beginners to top spin or increased power and one handed backhands? It’s not realistic. Sure, there are people who are “naturals” to the game, but they’re rare.
But if us coaches are out there setting the bar for things like topspin and power before consistency & getting the ball over the net and in the court, then we’re not coaching players well. And we should expect to lose players in tennis. With that expectation it would feel impossible. You want to learn the foundations to hit through a tennis ball, first. Hit a ball deep & inside the lines a few time before worrying about topspin.
Another problem is too many tennis coaches don’t love coaching adults. Less so for beginner adults. Beginner adults are savvy. They feel that. A player can feel burdened by their own performance on court. Feel that they’re letting their coach down. That tennis isn’t for them. That it’s too hard. Not true & not your fault. It’s the industry’s fault. I’ve seen it happen many times.
Figure out what you want or need from the game. Then figure out how much time you have to develop a game you’ll feel satisfied with. I invite you to carve out 3x per week when you get started. You’d need 3x per week to decide if you like it enough to commit to the game.
Usually players head out on their own with a friend or a partner to smack the ball around a bit. They spend most of that time running around picking up tennis balls instead of hitting them. But if you get that one shot where you connect and make really nice contact? You’ll fall in love with the game. An indescribable feeling you’ll want to feel again & again, but with less effort.
It’s at this point you’ll likely search for tennis lessons near you. A public park may offer them or a local club will have group clinics which are great because you’ll understand what’s involved in a deeper way. You’ll share camaraderie with other players your age and at your level. You’re be in the same boat. That feels more reassuring.
Group tennis lessons are less expensive. You’ll hit less balls. You’ll get less attention. You’ll get less verbal cues. But you’ll know if you like it enough to make the time and commitment the game requires. You’ll naturally make new tennis friends you can meet up with and play for free at a public park. In countries outside the States there may not be free public courts but the court fees are nominal.
Group lessons will likely test your endurance.
How’s your endurance?
If you’re looking for a workout in tennis, you’ve found it. If that’s not something you like - breaking a sweat, running in general, tennis may not be for you. Pickelball and padel require endurance too. Just not as much because it’s a smaller court surface to cover.
The thing about playing tennis is it’s different from other sports. It’s constantly, start - stop. All. the. time! If your endurance isn’t the best when you start tennis, it’ll improve playing tennis.
Pro tip:
Live ball is where a ball is fed to you and played out until someone wins a point. Dead ball drills are when a ball’s fed to you and not played back.
Tennis drills will be what you’ll do the most in the beginning. You’ll do dead ball drills while you learn technique. That means a ball is fed to you and you’ll run to return it and it won’t be played back by the tennis coach or another player. Dead ball drills focus on a particular shot, technique, sequence of movements and require bursts of endurance with a sharp stop or brake, we say in tennis.
If you wanted to improve your endurance for tennis at the novice stages (beginner / intermediate) try jogging, swimming or cycling for bursts of 20 minutes on then, pause. Take it another 20 minutes hard and pause. Your heart health will improve. You’ll take deeper breaths naturally and you’ll feel calmer in general. Thanks, endurance!
Here’s a common and great way to get to know the tennis court lines. Running the lines for beginners familiarizes you with the court and improves your cardio endurance for tennis. It’s usually part of your warm-up before a practice session.
Running the lines in tennis is a common tennis warm-up
Ninety-nine times out of 100, your success will mirror your patience.
In a nutshell tennis will test your patience, like a petulant child. You’ve seen pro tennis players lose their patience and crack a racket in the court floor. The game requires real patience to push through a tough lesson or a bad day on court. They’ll happen.
They call tennis a lifetime sport for a reason. It takes a lifetime to master. This doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy yourself at each phase of your learning. The friends you’re making will be in it with you.
You’ll love those blissed out moments on court when you hit through a forehand and it lands deep in the court. You’ll feel terrific when you watch local tennis events and see other players your age playing at a level you want to reach.
Where you’ll need patience in the learning stages is the foundation of the game. You’ll want to learn with a coach you like, you choose and you’ve heard good things about. Here’s a beginner online course I did for, How to Play Tennis … how to learn the 5 core strokes (forehand, backhand, serve, volley and overhead).
You don’t want to skip steps in the beginner phase. Why? The most popular level of adult players around the world is the intermediate level. So many get stuck here because their foundations are faulty. They’ve skipped something like a continental grip in the beginning. They want the shiny things fast like; power, topspin and kick serves. They want to hit a really hard ball which lands no where near the court. If it does go in, they can’t do it more than 1x.
Where’s the fun in that?
Non-negotiables in tennis for beginners include; learning court geography, the correct position of the wrist when you take a racket back, how to build consistency and be able to keep a ball deep in the court. Learning to hit through a tennis ball, the correct contact point, the right position of your toss on your serve, the difference between cross court and down the line, what the lowest part of the net represents, how to keep score, and basic tennis rules.
You master those things and you’ll fly. This is how you’ll have an incredible experience and stay in the game.
When you play well or consistently, people want you on their court. You’re invited to play in tennis socials, enter round robins, hold your own and feel satisfied knowing it’s only up from there. And things start moving fast.
Remember, I see adults totally stuck at the intermediate level. They’re pissed they didn’t learn those missing things in the beginning. And they’re annoyed they have to go backwards and learn it over in order to improve. You don’t have to go through that. Learn your foundations and know that the adult recreational tennis has all levels. And players enjoying all levels.
You’re not expected to compete at the beginner levels. In fact you never have to. You can have great rally’s! Get a great workout.
You can practice against a wall for a long time - that’s how I learned as a little kid. Until I joined a public park league. The rest was history, straight through college tennis into coaching adult players on tennis holidays in a beautiful destination.
Pro tip:
Find a tennis coach who compliments your character. Who has a game you admire and would like to mirror. Who likes coaching and comes with a referral from people you trust. If they aren’t constantly correcting you with verbal cues / tips - you’re likely wasting your money.
It takes a lifetime to master tennis. Not many have done it yet. Your favorite tennis professionals would say the same.
You’re not too old. You’re not unathletic. You’re not too out of shape. You are perfect for the game and there’s a place for you.
To call tennis hard simply isn’t true. It may not be your game, your thing - but you’ll only know after your 1st tennis lesson with the right coach.
Go ahead — be powerful. This is something you can do.
P.S. If you find that tennis is your thing, read that Inner Game of Tennis book. It’s a classic and continues to help players at any level!
With love from Mallorca~