I’m thinking about taking up tennis. Never really played but fancy giving it a go. Maybe a few lessons too.

Looking to buy a racket, anything I should look-out for?

Or suggest any shops I could get some decent advice in the north west?

I used to play fairly regularly as a teenager (2-3 times a week), just started again 3 weeks ago after after a 20 years absence… Lessons will most certainly help, one can tell anyone who just thinks it’s a good idea copying what they see on telly vs someone who might have learned how to play properly. As for rackets, any decent one will be fine, they are all much of a muchness, until you are a lot better when you develop a preference for one make/model over the other (‘head’ in my case). Avoid rackets with small heads in my opinion as a starter, they give you more precision (or so they say), but at the expense of really mis-hitting the ball if you don’t hit it right in the middle of the racket, so save these for later.
As for shops, I am no help, when I played (in Germany), we had Tennis shops in most towns, I have hardly seen any here, have heard there is someone in Huddersfield who strings your racket (?) if it breaks, but that was my first enquiry into that field.
Where are you based? I started playing in STW’s own country, Tod in Calderdale.
Sven

Go for some lessons and borrow their rackets. Slightly different weights, strings and head shape can make all the difference.

Rackets are not really much of a muchness and your elbow won’t like the wrong choice.

For you – Mid or large head. Mid weight – do not be tempted by a pros racket. Equally avoid too much of a power racket. You need to have some feel.

Head, Wilson …and you will probably find a good fit mid range.

Thanks for the info!

Apart from the usual sports shops, I don’t really know of any tennis specific shops at all.

If you’ve not played much then the racket won’t make much difference. Just go to sports direct and get one of the better ones. Go and have some coaching, play a few games then start thinking about racket selection.

As said above, go for coaching as it will make a huge difference, eventually. You will get worse before you get better, as it will initially feel odd learning to grip the racquet correctly and hit the ball properly rather than patting the ball over the net. Stick with it though, look to join a club with a weekly mix-in for similar age/ability players, and it’ll be great fun. Good luck!

If your just starting back up – Dunlop racquets are a good place to start value wise – if you wish to spend more fine get any brand – just make sure you figure out which grip size works best for you – and as already posted don’t opt for too small a racquet head size – although that probably won’t be an issue as these days only a few of the ‘pro level’ ones have small heads (88 – 95 inch sq) – Better off with a 100sq – these are often referred to as ‘Tweener’ racquets .. Personally I wouldnt buy a pre strung racquet either – buy from a sports shop that strings – and take some advice on a good string – which will probably be a multi filament one by Wilson or Babolat .. Proper tennis shoes that support lateral movement are also very important – if you want to work on footwork which you should do unless you don’t care how bad you are ..

where are you in the north west? it’s quite big, y’see 🙂

Anyway round, there’ll be a club near you where you can get advice – from listening to my nephew who plays there’s “The Northern” in didsbury, Brabyn’s in Marple, there’s one in Bramhall in Stockport, there’s an indoor centre at the place next to the Bolton arena.

Sooo much choice…

I played tennis all my life until about 5/6 years ago to what I think you call a good club standard with leagues and matches and all that. I’ve stopped playing for lots of reasons.

I think that its actually really quite hard to get to the standard where the game becomes interesting. Just hitting the ball back, playing a rally of say 10 shots is hard enough- let alone the nice bits- the lovely angles, pickups, and lob volleys.

I think that squash and badminton are way easier to learn and get to a level where you can have a good runabout, hit some shots etc. They are also far more suited to the vagaries of British weather. Tennis outdoors, in the drizzle in January is a bit grim.

Having said that the reason I started playing squash and mountain biking, was a desire to learn something new, to improve and to lean new skills. So maybe it does’nt matter.

Buying a racket? This

http://www.tennisnuts.com/shop/tennis/tennis-rackets/racket-guides/how-to-choose-a-tennis-racket.html

Something light and oversize so you can concentrate on the stroke and don’t need to swing too hard and fast to generate power.

The racquet does matter – you want something with the right grip size and a good swing weight for your strength.

Something too large, and/or with too large a sweet spot, can be detrimental to learning as you can be lazy and still manage to hit the ball back without actually moving yourself into the right position.

In addition something that is too powerful can also be detrimental.

Often rackets with wider frames are more powerful as the frame doesn’t flex as much. Female tennis players often use these frames as they want the extra power (although pro women hit the ball pretty fiercely – TV doesn’t really give a true impression…), but when learning control a less powerful racket would be useful.

Something midrange can easily be sufficient as the quality and tension of the strings can make a massive difference.

As already said make sure you can find a decent, and well priced, stringing resource and buying an empty frame and getting it strung appropriately (ask their advice) could be a good option.

Joining a decent club would be a good move – their sub fees aren’t usually that bad at all and your main expense going forward will be balls and stringing (strings less so if you can use a hybrid string where kevlar is used in one direction).

Not all club coaches are good – look for someone with a good, defined, style themselves. ‘Natural’ players might not be so good with the theory and passing it on.

The coach will probably also string rackets so it could be an idea to get a ‘taster’ lesson and let them guide you for a racket and strings.

Also a coach with a ball machine is good as you will be fed consistent balls regularly and can ‘groove’ shots under tuition, whereas a coach without a ball machine will be returning the ball to you and the consistency of their delivery back to you will be dependant on you being reasonably consistent at getting the ball back to them.

And a club with a practice wall is even better as then you can work on grooving in shots (muscle memory) much better.

I used to go to adult lessons, really enjoyed it, just don’t really have time for all the hobbies I want to do.

Anyway, one night during school holidays, I was the only one that turned up and the coach says ‘you fancy a go of the ball machine?’.

Was one of the most enjoyable sporting hours of my life, if I ever win the lottery, a ball machine and a tennis court are top of the list!.

yes, a one-to-one lesson with a ball machine, or even your own ball machine…, can be way more valuable than a group session.

I have the original version of one of these :

http://tinga.en.alibaba.com/product/1991057660-218415396/Slope_tennis_practice_net.html

and it is excellent, although you have to be somewhat consistent with your stokes. Can’t vouch for that version – and it needs a ‘bounce’ board at the bottom which I can’t see on that listing.

Harrods used to sell them, and I remember having a go and then slightly mishitting one which hit the frame and ricocheted over to the guys at the till, who had to duck 🙂

Get someone to make sure your feet are in the right place. I lived with a tennis instructor who wanted someone to hit against, great fun. He didn’t teach me to serve though which is a shame. Get your feet in the right place and follow through with your shots.

As said above racquet choice is crucial as is grip size.

Tennis courts look a lot bigger on telly 😆

I’ve been down to a local shop and the lady in there didn’t have much advice to pass on by her own admission. She suggest that I need and L4 sized handle. L5 might be a little too big.

Also She did say I could have this for £90

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