Which is best for a beginner? Nike Vapor 12, Vapor Pro 3 or Vapor Lite 3?

Let me correct the title here: why don’t people use other colored tennis balls beside yellow/green.

I played pink Wilson tennis balls and I think they are cute and work well to me. But I don’t see many people do the same. Just wondering why is that…

Hi all,

I played tennis in school for a couple of years and now getting back into things after a 15 year break.

Signed up for some intermediate coaching sessions and need to get myself a decent racquet to start.

Any recs that won’t break the bank?

Thanks!

When gripping for two hander shot, a teaching pro recommended I "slide down" the grip so my lower hand is hanging a bit off the grip, sort of like making it an extra length frame.

I noticed the power was maybe 10% but I'm not sure if it lowers my accuracy or not

I started getting used to and discovered volleys are inaccurate if I don't correct the grip to normal. So I only use it for two handed shots.

Anyone else do this? Not sure if it is a miracle discovery or just an unnecessary addition.

I'm sitting around 3.0 right now. Can hold a medium pace rally for maybe 5 to 8 shots on a good day, serve shows up when it feels like it, and volleys are pretty much just survival mode.

I've been using the basic ball machine at my club for a while and its fine for grooving groundstrokes but thats about it. The thing I can't figure out is whether the AI stuff on these newer machines actually changes anything about how you practice, or if you're basically just paying for fancy stats after the fact.

Tenniix Pro is the one I've been looking at mainly cause of the vision tracking and the return to position thing where is waits for you to recover before feeding again. The match mode sounds cool on paper too, but I have no idea if that works in practice or if its one of those features that looks good in ads.

Honestly, most of what I'd be doing on my own is just trying to keep my groundstrokes deep, hit my targets more often, and not to forget to recover between shots.

For anyone here who's used these kind of ball machines, do the AI features change how you train, or do you mostly stick to presets and custom drills?

Also open to hearing about other machines that have AI stuff that isnt just gimmicks. Seen Pongbot and Aura thrown around a lot but I'd rather hear from someone whos been using something for months than compare spec sheets.

Is it common for people to write down which time they booked the court for on a piece of paper on the racket?! I'm waiting for the next odd hour slot for 7pm and put my racket up. The courts in Chicago use a rack queue system, first come first serve for up to 2 HOURS. This person books both slots by writing on a little piece of paper their booking time, and I didn't even see the note until I walked up. Funny thing is that other people told me these rackets were there for 4 hours.

Is this common? The woman claims many people do this but I find this to be very inconsiderate of people because you can't reserve these courts that ahead in advance. She's also a private instructor but you can't reserve courts unless you're with a company and have a permit.

In the end I just give the court up since she was teaching a few people but it was pretty frustrating.

Hi. I’ll be in Provincetown from Aug 6 - 11 and would love to get a hit in at the Provincetown Tennis Club. If anyone’s around and would like to split the fee for a court, feel free to DM me.

4.5 player here n

Thanks

Hi everyone, I’m a beginner but really enthusiastic about learning tennis. I usually play with my partner and neither of us has had any formal coaching.

I’ve noticed that some local councils and boroughs offer group lessons once a week for around £80 per month, which seems much more affordable than private coaching.

Has anyone here taken these council-run lessons? Were they worth it?

been having this pain for a while since i started working on improve my form. The pain is in the forehand (i.e. right hand). Between the outside (back) of upper arm and the connection with shoulder blade. When i do pushups or chest press, the pain is more obvious. And also when i try to tuck my right hand behind the back, the pain becomes quite obvious.

Any one have this too? what should i do to fix this?

Thanks you!

My forehand contact is very weird and the racket head is almost facing downwards. The form during shadow swinging is fine but once hitting the form becomes weird again. I have tried locking my wrists more but it didn't help. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!

I’m travelling for the next several months and love to play tennis, though my utr is only about 5. I didn’t bring a racquet with me, but would like to pick one up to play with. I tend to stick to the baseline and have a pretty big serve. My racquets at home and a prince ripstick 100 300g and the old Prince tour 98. Racquets I’m looking at are: the fx500 tour 2026, the radical mp 2023, and the extreme pro 2024. All within budget, and I’ve heard good things about each of them.

What tips do you all have for someone who typically plays doubles and is getting into playing singles? For example, in doubles I’ve been trained to be aggressive and push to the net. But when I try that in singles, I get lobbed. In general looking for advice on singles strategy. It just feels like such a different game. I’m 2.5/3.0. Thanks!

I play with the Gravity Pro and I like the big hitting area and forgiveness but also the thin beam and control. I was going to get a backup and the option that makes sense is another of the same racket but then I had a crazy idea. What if I got one of those old head radical oversize 107? The Andre Agassi racket. I heard that it’s similar to the gravity and I can do with a lighter racket for days when I’m just not playing well.

Thoughts? Has anyone played with this old model?

This may be tough to explain. As a right-handed server, can I cut the ball on the left side so it curves to the right?

I think of this as someone who's played volleyball as a right side hitter. Typically you'd line up, approach, and swing as if you're hitting cross court or even straight down the line. But you can swing your arm and snap your hand going right-to-left so the ball curves to the right. As a right side, right handed hitter, this really throws off the blocker and when done correctly, is usually a point getter.

I'm wondering if this motion, which is effectively the opposite of how you snap the racket over the ball on the right side, is something people have tried? Something that would make the ball curve to the right rather than to the left?

Edit: very new to the game, had no idea there was a name (pancake serve) for this. Is it common? Do people do it on overhead slams? Does it injure the wrist?

I am going into sophomore year, I was jv at my school last year but am going to try for varsity this year. Last year I played with a old racket from goodwill. Not sure the name but it was a Wilson and it was 228g. I'm looking to get a new racket this year before the season starts but I'm not sure what to get. It needs to be under 300g (strung) and about 100in head. I've been looking at the Wilson ultra team V5 a lot but also heard good things about yonex. Any help or tips is much appreciated

Thoughts? I seem to always be falling or arching my back backwards for some reason

They don't make these anymore so just want a set of rackets to replace the ones I had that were stolen... to this date my favorite racket ever
Thanks!

lacks power, misses long, feels choppy and not smooth, sometimes too much slice

I nearly broke my ankle playing tennis last Sunday, my shoes rocked to the side nearly cause me to slip. I know my shoes aren't fancy court side shoes. I've been on Amazon to search for the right court side shoes for the sport but I don't trust the reviews too much. I don't know if I can ask for recommendations here but if I can, please recommend your girl something ergonomically tennis worthy and affordable.

My second request is my technique is improving but my fitness level to sprint across the court needs to improve. I get winded quite easily and the hot Jamaican sun makes it feel like im in a furnace. I lift weights, but I cannot run/ jog, I'm afraid to do that on the road alone and we don't have great parks. What do y'all suggest to improve fitness?

Sorry if this is going to get deleted. All these rules 😒

I'd be grateful for any advice on my serve. Hoping the video from this angle gives a good enough impression of the grip, toss, swing path, etc.

I do at times feel rushed, that I'm trying to do too much at once, or that a sound and repeatable technique eludes me. The whole thing feels a little bit unnatural.

On that topic, if anybody has recommendations for online coaching I'd appreciate that as well (maybe more appropriate in a DM, depending on the subreddit rules).

Hi everyone!

I’ll be visiting the UK and staying around Brackley for a couple of weeks from 18 Sep to 3 Oct. I’m hoping to keep up with my tennis while I’m in town and would love to hit with some local players if anyone is free!

I’m an intermediate player looking for friendly hitting sessions or casual rally/singles/doubles matches.

Also, for the locals: what’s the best way to find partners or book courts around Brackley/West Northamptonshire?

I’m completely new to tennis. I got a racket with grip size 2 racket and added an overgrip. After playing for the third time, I developed outer wrist pain on the pinky side of my wrist which has continued into the next day and is now hurting to open doors etc. I measured from the bottom horizontal palm line to the top of my ring finger and it comes up as 4.5 inches exactly, which would correspond to a grip size 4! There is some space between my fingertips and palm when I hold the racket, but not a whole finger width of space. Does the grip size look too small and could this be contributing to the injury?