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So how to play tennis?

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There are many people who do not know exactly how to play tennis, even though many watch this wonderful sport on TV. Let's start with the basics. As you will on the diagram, there is a net in the middle of the court which is 36 inches (3 feet) high. In singles there is one player on each side of the net, and in doubles there are two players on each side.

So let's start with singles because if you are going to play, and you want to know how to play tennis, then this is what you will most likely see on television. You will see on the dimension diagram that there are lines marked the "singles sidelines." In the game of singles, therefore, the ball has to bounce inside these lines, otherwise it is out and you lose the point. The ball is only allowed to bounce once, so if it bounces twice the point is lost. Also, if you hit the ball in the net, you also lose the precious point.

You'll probably be thinking right now, "Man, there are so many ways to lose the point. How on earth can I actually win one?" Herein lies, for my at least, the biggest misconception of tennis. From watching much tennis on TV, people tend to think that everybody plays at that professional level, and when they get onto the court themselves, they try to hit glorious strokes, known as winners, which will sail past their opponents and allow them to win the point immediately. Most people do not realize that the fundamental point of tennis is TO KEEP THE BALL IN PLAY, and more times than not, you will win the point as a result of your opponent making a mistake (hitting the ball in the net or outside the singles sidelines).

Go here to learn about tennis scoring.

When you get past the beginning stages of this tennis game, it is important to learn about tennis strategy... One of the things that separates tennis from other sports is what you need to participate in this sport. Go here to learn all about tennis equipment. Something that I found to be very effective in my early years of learning the game, was by watching the pro tennis game and trying to imitate the technically perfect strokes of most of the professionals.

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