Match Point! A Beginner’s Guide to Playing Tennis
It’s always a great time to start tennis, especially in Atlanta where more than 100,000 people throughout the metro area participate in tennis leagues like Atlanta Lawn Tennis Association (ALTA) and USTA Atlanta! The sport is easy to introduce to your kids or to start playing as a family. With summer approaching, find a nearby court and give it a try.
How to Start Playing Tennis
For equipment, you need a racket and a tennis ball. For beginners, an inexpensive racket with a large head size will make it easier for you to hit the ball. Test the grip to find the right size: when you wrap your hand around the handle, there should be a one-centimeter gap between your thumb and first finger. Some venues may offer equipment for rent for you to test out first.
Kids also typically start with a modified court size, smaller racquets and low compression tennis balls. These balls can be found at any tennis store and most big box stores. Start with red dot; these larger, slower balls have the lowest bounce. You use half of the court when playing with red. Orange dot comes next; balls are the same size as standard tennis balls, but their speed is still slower with a reduced bounce, and you use about two-thirds of the tennis court. Green dot uses the entire tennis court, but the balls don’t bounce as high as standard tennis balls. Progressing through these stages and balls will make it easier to work on your hand-eye coordination and getting a consistent swing. It will also make it easier to maintain a rally with your kids. Even experienced tennis players use low compression tennis balls to work on better technique and topspin.
Book a court near you to start practicing. The metro Atlanta area has several different ways you can play:
- In the City of Atlanta, you can reserve a park’s tennis court three days in advance for $3-$5 an hour, or courts are available free of charge on a first-come, first-served basis.
- The City of Brookhaven Parks and Recreation offers several tennis courts for reservation.
- Sandy Springs Racquet Center allows court reservations up to three days in advance for $4.50-$10 per person.
- Gwinnett Parks and Recreation offers tennis courts with rental court fees during office hours or on a first-come, first-served basis.
- Cobb County PARKS has 122 tennis courts, which are open for public play with court fees.
- South Fulton Tennis Center has 20 hard surface courts and four clay surface courts.
- Peachtree City’s Tennis Center’s courts are available to reserve. Choose a hard, clay or covered court.
Moving Into Intermediate Tennis
If your child picks up the sport and is interested in moving beyond beginner play, consider a lesson or class. You can book a private coach or lessons based on an age group. You can improve your own skills by committing to a lesson as well.
- Agape Tennis Academy offers private lessons with one of their coaches.
- Atlanta Youth Tennis occasionally offers free kids tennis clinics, as well as programs for beginners, summer camps and more.
- The Windy Hill Athletic Club has a family membership with complimentary childcare, youth sports programming and camps, along with tennis facilities.
- Tennis Academy of the South helps players work on their skills to join high school teams, advanced junior competitions, collegiate tennis or the pro circuits.
- North Atlanta Tennis Academy offers beginning tennis to collegiate and beyond.
ITP Training Academy
“When you move from recreational playing to serious training, it’s a time and money commitment,” says Nazar Bilukha, owner of ITP Training Academy, a full-service tennis, pickleball and padel facility. “You want to approach it in a way that maximizes the potential for the kid. If you’re only doing lessons, that’s not great. If you’re only doing group drills, that’s not great. You want to do a mix of both, so you’re learning the right techniques in lessons and getting in a lot of reps with groups. The path is not an easy or linear one, but for those who are passionate about it, it’s worth it.”
Tennis can be a great way to connect with new people while building on your skills. Reach out to a nearby center to find beginner matches or round-robin tournaments. Search online for different social and family events, like Douglasville’s Tennis Socials Series, held on the last Friday of every month.
During the summer, consider signing your child up for a tennis camp, such as ITP Atlanta Racket Sports Camp, the Nike Tennis Camp at The Lovett School or Mouratoglou Academy Atlanta. Book ASAP, so you don’t miss the opportunity.
If your child wants to improve her skills and meet more people, she can join a league. Junior ALTA teams offer leagues in spring and fall for girls and boys ages 7-18, and i9 Sports offers fun, organized and educational youth sports leagues.
“USTA Atlanta offers programming year-round for all ages and ability levels. For kids looking to get into the sport, we have our Junior Tennis Apprentice program, which provides a racket, six weeks of lessons, a USTA membership and a free first season of league play,” says Amanda Hunt, the Director of Junior Leagues at USTA Atlanta.
While you can grow with tennis, tennis also grows with you. Your child can play recreationally, join a club, try out for his school’s team or pursue the sport professionally.
“That’s the beauty of tennis — there are a lot of different options,” Bilukha says.
The Benefits of Playing Tennis
Unlike some sports, you can play tennis your whole life, meaning the benefits will follow your child throughout her life. “Players start as young kids and take it all the way into their old age,” says Kenyon Generette-Oliver, a partner at Universal Tennis Academy.
“It’s easy to find time and space to do it,” Bilukha says. “Especially in Atlanta, there’s tennis courts everywhere. You don’t need many people to play, like with soccer or football. It’s easy to play doubles as a family or go out with your mom or your aunt and hit the ball around. Tennis isn’t just one form. There are modified versions to make it easy for the recreational player to have fun without formal training.”
Getting outside and rallying at the court as a family gives you a physical activity to do together. If you’re new to the sport and learning together, you’re showing your child that it’s OK for him to step outside of his comfort zone and try something new.
“Tennis is the perfect sport for families, because it is a lifetime sport, meaning there are tennis opportunities for all ages,” Hunt says. “It can also build stronger relationships and create special family memories.”
An analytical study in the “British Journal of Sports Medicine” found people who play tennis have significant health benefits, including improved aerobic fitness, a lower body fat percentage, a more favorable lipid profile, reduced risk for developing cardiovascular disease and improved bone health.
Tennis offers mental benefits as well.
“It’s the closest sport that relates to life,” Generette-Oliver says. “It helps you deal with adversity and mental health. If you’re mentally tough, the physical stuff gets easier.”
Tennis is a fast-moving, mostly individual sport. A player must learn to solve problems quickly, as she has to react to her opponent’s hit, get the ball over the other side of the net and be prepared to move defensively in a short amount of time. These reaction times strengthen your child’s focus. Learning the components of tennis can boost a child’s self-esteem and strengthen her determination.
This discipline follows athletes off the court. A USTA study found 48% of youth tennis players have an “A” average and spend more time studying.
In tennis, many points are won off of errors, which requires a player to learn how to deal with his own emotions and mistakes. When your child makes a mistake, he must bounce back quickly to stay present in the match, helping him build resilience, rather than succumbing to his frustration. It teaches him to be a good sport, win or lose.
“Tennis is the ultimate life lesson sport,” Bilukha says. “You’re by yourself. You learn to deal with the good, the bad and the ugly by yourself. Kids learn about resilience. You learn to rely on yourself and solve problems.”
Because there is a strong tennis community in the metro area, your child is likely to meet new people, make new friends and build connections that will follow her throughout her life.
