Tennis is a complex and very rewarding game to play. It takes a long time to understand and master parts of the game, but it is also a sport that allows you to play your entire life. Many people have tennis careers that last 60 years. If you are looking for a game that you can invest a lot of effort into, but not have to stop playing as you age, tennis is a great option. If you are new to tennis, getting on the court for the first time can be intimidating. Other sports are in fact easier to jump into. For example, with basketball it is easy to learn to tribble the ball and shoot free throws. But it can take some time to get to the point in tennis where you can rally balls back and forth with a partner. For people new to tennis, even just getting the center of the racquet lined up with the ball is a major challenge. But if you are in it for the long term and really want to become a decent tennis player, trust me it is worth it.

Boca Raton Tennis Coach – New to tennis, learning the basics

When you are completely new to tennis, the first thing that many people do is look online for information of how to play. This is a good start, it is important to learn the rules and to get a basic idea of how to play. I do though caution people not to get into the major techniques too soon. I find that when you focus too much on technique, you forget to focus on the really important basic parts of tennis that will come to shape your game. For my clients that are new to tennis, I only instruct them on how to hold the tennis racquet. I feel that it is important to not get too tied up with the details when you are new to tennis. After you have a good feel for the grip, and know the basic shots like the forehand, backhand, volleys, and overhead motions, then it is time to get a little more into the technique.

Boca Raton Tennis Coach – New to tennis, learning how to stroke the ball

Learning the right way to stroke through the ball is a very important part of the game to understand well and to understand early. Too many players out there have a bad idea of how to create power and control in their game. The biggest no no that I make sure my clients steer clear of is being too tight when hitting the ball. When you lock your muscles into a tight contracted position, your stroke will not have the flexibility nor the speed on your racquet to hit the ball that you want. So what I tell people who are new to tennis is to try to relax as much as they can while they prepare to hit the ball. By not tensing up in the preparation, your arm is free to bend and flex in the way that it needs to generate good racquet speed. A simple way to think of this is to work hard with your legs but not with your upper body when you are preparing to hit your shot. This ensures that your feet are set up for the ball, and your upper body has the freedom to swing, and not guide the ball.

Boca Raton Tennis Coach – New to tennis, learning to follow through

Once you have gotten used to hitting the ball, you know the grips, and have learned to work with your legs but not your upper body on the preparation, it is then time to learn how to follow through on your shots. For people who are new to tennis, they may not see the importance to following through on their strokes. This is understandable, after all the follow through happens after the ball has hit the racquet and is on its way to the other side of the tennis court, so why is the follow through important? The follow through matters a lot because the way you end the stroke affects how fast your racquet travels through the contact point. This is important to understand, for example if your racquet finishes to short, the racquet will begin to slow down while it is traveling through the ball. For people who are new to tennis, this means their ball will be much slower and will have less control. What I suggest trying first is to try to relax the finish as much as possible. When you swing the racquet, it will gain momentum during the swing. And if you just let that momentum just carry itself all the way to the finish; the chances are that you will have an ideal ending point with the level that you are currently playing at. The end point of the tennis stroke is meant to be as natural as possible, so relaxing the finish will ensure that your finish is natural, and is showing you the momentum that you are creating in the first sections of the stroke. So if you are new to tennis, give these tips a try and I hope they help you get your game going!

The most common part of the tennis game that I find myself helping my players with is teaching them how to relax when they are hitting through the ball. This seemingly small detail can be the difference between hitting a clean fast ball, and hitting a ball that shakes the racquet and has very little speed. This is why I make relaxing your tennis your tennis stroke a top priority for the players that I teach. The reason this makes such a difference is because when your muscles are tight, your racquet speed decreases and your ability to feel the ball is not nearly as good as it is when your muscles are relaxed. Also when you are tight, it is very hard to feel comfortable with how you are set up for your shot. Players often feel like they have to back up and get more time to hit the ball when they really don’t need to. It can affect not only how clean you hit the ball but how you perceive the tennis court.

Boca Raton Tennis Instructor – Clean tennis stroke, grip on the racquet

The first thing you can do to relax more when you are playing is try to loosen your grip on the tennis racquet. Most people are well aware that the style you use to grip the racquet can change your game completely, but you don’t often hear about how the pressure on your grip can be the game changer when it comes to hitting a clean tennis stroke. When you are playing your next match or taking your next lesson, pay attention to how hard you are gripping the racquet. Use a scale of one to ten, one being super loose, and ten being super tight. If you find that you are above a 4, try to slowly and gradually reduce the amount of pressure you are using. This can not only give you more feel and power on your ball, but it also help to loosen up your wrist which is a key area when trying to hit a clean tennis stroke. This will give your wrist the flexibility and speed that is necessary to hit a clean tennis stroke.

Boca Raton Tennis Instructor – Clean Tennis Stroke, relaxing your preparation

Another Key in hitting a clean tennis stroke is learning to relax your preparation. If your preparation is too tight, your body will get stuck in its position and not transfer all of your power into the ball. In fact, most of the work that I do with my clients on their preparation is teaching them to do less work, and put less effort into setting up their racquet. If you watch Roger Federer’s tennis strokes, you will see how his preparation is nearly effortless. Most of the professional players on the tour look this way. Their legs work very hard to set themselves up for the ball but their upper bodies are doing very little.

Boca Raton Tennis Coach Mike Eldridge offer tennis lessons in and around Boca Raton year round.  Having trained and taught in International Tennis Academy he has had experience working with some of the best young talent in the world. After 3 years there he decided to start his own private tennis practice and has since built his own tennis business. Boca Raton Tennis Coach Mike has worked with complete beginners, and also semi-pro players looking to improve their tennis game or fitness level. Mike has a very unique way of explaining the tennis game, and for many is a welcome contrast to what others in the tennis world think to be the best way to view tennis.

Boca Raton Tennis Coach: What Kind Of Lessons Does Mike Offer?

Boca Raton Tennis Coach Mike specializes in teaching technique and strategy to his clients. By working with a basket of balls, Mike is able to find the root problem in someone’s tennis stroke, and then guide that individual to a more productive way of hitting the ball. Mike has had great success with beginners who are new to the game because he is able to explain tennis in a way that make the game more simple, and easy to grasp.

Boca Raton Tennis Coach: Where is Mike Located?

Boca Raton Tennis Coach Mike offers a mobile service for his clients. That means that if you have tennis courts at your home, in your community, or near your best location, Mike can travel to your courts and give you a lesson in the location and time that works best for you. But Mike also uses two lighted tennis courts in Deerfield Beach FL to teach many of his clients. These courts are located on the corner of SW10th Pl and can be found on the location page on his website: http://mikeeldridge.com/where-do-i-teach/