Tennis is a good hobby or sport to try. It is exercise and a skill to master. It is fun to play with friends, or to be on a team.

The equipment required includes a racket that fits your grip, tennis balls that are not too old, shoes and a tennis court. You should get a new can of tennis balls about every three to five times you play if you want to keep them fresh. Old ones work fine, though, too, at least until they are totally flat.

• Getting Started
• Racket Size
• Playing
• Scoring
• Skills
• Healthy Playing

Getting Started

Tips for forehand hitting (when the ball is on the same side as the hand your racket is in):

• Bend your knees
  
• Extend your arm
  
• Control your racket
  
• Turn sideways

Tips for hitting backhand (the ball is on the other side of the hand your racket is in):

• Bend your knees
  
• Extend your arm
  
• Control your racket
  
• Swing across your body, with your knees bent and arm extended
  
• Use two hands if you need to

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Racket Size

Make sure that your racket is not too small or too big. The handle should not allow you to touch your index finger to your thumb too easily -- they can touch a little, but they shouldn’t overlap much. There is tape you can put around the handle to make it bigger. Check with someone at the store where you buy your racket for help getting the right racket size.
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Playing

While you are playing, keep your eyes on the ball and on the person you’re playing with. Make sure each person knows when the other is hitting the ball so nobody gets hurt.

You can play singles, with one person per side, or doubles, with two people per side. When you play doubles, you play within the outside white lines on the side of the court, while when you play singles, you use the inside lines. Whether singles or doubles, it is also fun to just "rally" – hit the ball back and forth without being competitive.

When you play, the ball can bounce once on your side before you hit it, or not at all. It can’t bounce more than once, and it also can’t bounce again on your own side after you have hit it.
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Scoring

Find a coach or an experienced player to explain the rules of the game, such as the boundaries and what kind of shots score points. When you are keeping score, it goes up in strange amounts: “love” (that's the name for zero), 15, 30 and 40. If the game is tied at 30-30 or 40-40 the score is called “deuce”. You have to win by two points. For example, you could beat someone 40-15. If the game is tied at 40-40, the person who wins the next point has the “advantage” (sometimes called “ad”). If the person with the advantage wins the next point he or she wins the game. If not, the score goes back to deuce.

Tennis competitions are divided into "sets" and "matches." Each set is made up of six games. The number of sets in a match can vary.
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Skills

Skills you learn from and use in tennis are:

• Sportsmanship
• Hand-eye coordination
  
• Ball-sense (moving around on the court to get to a good spot to hit the ball)

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Healthy Playing

• It's a good idea to stretch your muscles before playing, to avoid injury.
  
• Be sure to wear sunscreen when you play. Many people like to wear hats with visors to keep the sun out of their eyes.
  
• You can sweat a lot and lose water when you play tennis, so you should drink water before, during and after playing.

Tennis can be lots of fun. One great way to get better is to find some friends who are at the same level as you. Just by playing together, you'll all learn and improve. Some kids also take lessons or join clubs.
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