<p>I’ve been playing for 6 months yet I play horribly everyone thinks I’m a klutz right now. How to improve it and completely blow away people’s minds in a year?</p>
<p>Keep playing and don’t stop.
If the courts aren’t available, hit a ball against a wall.
Just keep practice and you should become better.</p>
<p>Watch slow mo youtube videos of some pro tennis players. I would recommend Agassi as he has very basic, simple strokes. There are a lot of websites as well, like fuzzy yellow tennis balls (google it) or the tennis-warehouse forums.</p>
<p>Anywhere here are some basics:
- Keep your eye on the ball. It doesn’t get much simpler than that. Totally essential to being a good tennis player. Watch the ball all the way till it hits the racquet.
- Stay on your toes and bounce around a bit. It lets you accelerate and get to the ball quicker.
- Keep it simple. Keep your strokes simple, not too complicated.</p>
<p>That is good for starters.</p>
<p>I’ll try to make this as simple as possible</p>
<ol>
<li>Make sure you know all the rules</li>
<li>Make sure you buy the proper equipment/apparel (use a racket you are comfortable with)</li>
<li>Make sure that you have set grips (use continental on serve and volley, decide on continental, eastern, or semi-western for forehand, decide on a one-handed or two-handed backhand)</li>
<li>Make sure that you have proper footwork.</li>
<li>Learn the proper techniques on hitting the ball/moving after hitting the ball</li>
<li>Make sure that your endurance holds up (run a few laps each day)</li>
<li>Watch other people play and see how they hit the ball/move</li>
<li>Practice, practice, and practice.</li>
<li>Play in tournaments against better players.</li>
</ol>
<p>Footwork and grips are some of the most important things in tennis in my opinion because they set up a lot of the strokes.
Also make sure you bend your knees a lot for the low balls, I can’t tell you how much this will help.
One more thing is go for topspin by swinging from low to high, I think of it kind of like a rollercoaster in that you bring you arm up to load, down into the swing and then back up again right as you are hitting the ball. Do the motion slow at first and go for technique instead of power because you may get a little worse from this but as you get your technique down, your skills will increase a lot faster than if you start out with bad technique and have to adjust your habits later.</p>
<p>I’ve been playing tennis four about 4 years now, and the thing about tennis is that the smallest things will improve your game immensely. For example just switching your grip slightly will get your serve in a lot more, changing your grip can put more spin on the ball. Turning your body completely before hitting the ball will get the ball over the net a lot more than if not. The best way to learn these little things and improve the small mistakes in your game, I would recommend to get a trainer if you could. I took one month of lessons, ask your trainer what you need to practice and to help fix your flaws, than practice what he tells you like none other. I know this one kid who went from playing 2nd doubles on a very bad team he hadn’t gotten past the first round, and in 6 months he went from that too winning tournaments regularly and now has a shot at playing varsity for a top ten team in the state. Just work hard at it everyday that will get you results.</p>
<p>follow through on your strokes, i suck at this and it makes all the difference</p>
<p>Get someone to videotape you. Then, when a ball goes exactly where and how you want it to, replay the video and see where you feet are, how you’re holding the racket, where you hit the ball, etc. Similarly, when the ball goes wild, replay and see all that. You’ll quickly see what works and what doesn’t.</p>
<p>The trick, of course, is training yourself to do what works. Ummmm, good luck with that.</p>
<p>The problem is, I’ve tried all those things and none seemed to work</p>
<p>Have you tried getting lessons?</p>
<p>yeahd, been taking lessons in school and outside for the past 6 months</p>
<p>Make a few(maybe 4-5 to be safe?) more CC threads and you should be fine. Good luck.</p>
<p>Getting lessons will be your saving grace. Biggest problem for newer players:</p>
<ol>
<li>They don’t look at the ball through contact.</li>
<li>Poor footwork.</li>
<li>Improper technique.</li>
</ol>
<p>All three will be fixed with 8-10 sessions of lessons.</p>
<p>Yeah, as a lot of people have already said, footwork is a big one. Make sure you’re always splitting and taking small adjustment steps. If you’re shanking a lot of balls or mistime a lot, there’s a high chance that it’s because your feet are being lazy. Also, keeping your strokes simple is a good tip; lots of people try to add to much fancy stuff to their strokes (wiggling wrists and whatnot) and then they end up having such a complicated swing that it’s different every single time. Keep it simple. But at the same time, maintain solid technique. Don’t use your arm so much and use your legs and torso. Bend down for the ball, load up your body, and release.</p>
<p>Also make sure you play a lot of sets. Don’t be afraid of the result. I used to be so scared of losing that I’d never play sets unless it was with really crappy people. But now, I don’t even care about tennis that much and it’s mainly just for exercise, so I play lots of sets and I actually have fun. And ironically, I think I’m better now than I was last year, when I used to practice everyday.</p>
<p>well, you’ve only been playing for six months. tennis is a hard sport to learn. who is giving you lessons? try to get lessons from a usta certified pro.</p>
<p>PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE!! You’ll never get any better if you don’t practice. I know this cuz I’m a tennis player myself. I have been playing tennis for 3 years(well not really, let’s just say 3 seasons in my school’s tennis team). I can proudly say that I have improved so much as a tennis player. When I first joined, I can’t even hit the ball but then I PRACTICE alot and gradually I got better. Just keep practicing and you’ll see how much you’ve grown! 
Good luck with practicing!</p>
<p>don’t just blindly keep playing;you’ll only get worse, lol. u really should take lessons of some sort, even just from friends or relatives who play tennis. i’ve been playing since i was like 8, but my grip was all wrong for most of that time, heh. but it’s been corrected & i’m better at it now 
gl!</p>
<p>Oh and as far as lessons go, I would go with private lessons instead of group lessons because with privates the coach can focus more on technique but with group lessons its more about the competition and learning about how to set up and play points.</p>
<p>The problem is I don’t have money to take private lesson</p>
<p>What are exactly your strengths and weaknesses?</p>
<p>For example, let’s say that your weakness is your serve. Here a few tips.
What is your usual first serve percentage? Percentage >>> Speed. So if you are having trouble, try serving slower and using a straight serve. Also, for the serves, the ball toss is the most important thing. Make sure you practice that without hitting the ball, and make sure to bend your legs.</p>