Important Tips Before Playing Your First Competitive Tennis Match

In January of this year I decided I was going to go from a recreational tennis player to a competitive tennis player. I started practicing every day, I bought a new racquet, and I started scouting tournaments that I can enter during the summer.

I was nervous about playing competitively, but at 29 years old, I was even more nervous about looking like I didn't know what I was doing. I sought out my friend who is tennis coach at the local community college to walk me through a match so I knew what to expect. He taught me several helpful things that really reduced my pre-match anxiety level.

Bring a new can of tennis balls

Some tournaments provide tennis balls as part of the entry fee, but many smaller tournaments require you to bring your own balls. Open up one of the news cans for the match, and the winner takes the unopened can to the next round.

Arrive at least 20 minutes prior to the match

It's important to arrive to the match early enough to allow time to warm-up with your opponent. A ten minute warm-up should be sufficient to get you ready for the match.

The Warm up procedure

There is standard warm up procedure for tennis. You start from the baseline hitting ground strokes to each other. After a few minutes one of the players will move up to the net to hit volleys while the other player stays at the baseline. After about ten volleys the player will point up in the air indicating that they want some lobs to hit over-heads. After about ten overheads the players switch positions and go through the process again.

Next each player takes turns hitting serves. One player will serve three times and then the other player will serve three until each player has hit a total of twelve serves (six from each side). Do not try to return the serves. Simply stop them with your racquet and hold them until it is your turn to serve.

Determining serve