How I learnt to play tennis

I started the sport by playing football at the age of 7 and at the time (in the 1980s) tennis was still a pretty closed sport, with fairly expensive club fees, snowshoes also quite expensive and clubs where sometimes you had to play compulsively dressed in white!

I tried to play tennis but I found this sport very difficult and I did not have enough fun.

At the time, I remember very well that I hated tennis!

It must also be said that when I made my first tests with tennis, it was with an adult size racket and it does not help to take pleasure in playing.

There are now wide ranges of  snowshoes for children , with size ranges that allow children to have snowshoes adapted to their morphology.

When I tried to play, I placed myself directly at the bottom of the field, which is much too complicated for a child who starts, more reason not to hang with tennis!

We do not necessarily realize when we are adult but a tennis court is huge for a child!

Football was a much easier sport for me to tackle, where it was easier to have fun quickly without going through a technical learning phase.

I advise those who have a great need to be physically active trying another sport if they experience too much frustration playing tennis.

As for the financial cost, tennis is now a sport that has become democratized, there are many small clubs with relatively affordable fees.

The price of the equipment has also changed and we can find good snowshoes to start at reasonable prices.

At 11, I started to lose my taste for football, I felt that I needed a more individual sport, in which I was solely responsible for the victories and defeats.

This is an important aspect of tennis: it’s an individual sport. It is sometimes complicated because you can not rely on anyone during difficult times but it is also rewarding because we are alone at the controls, victory and progress come back to us alone. It is also an opportunity to develop his fighting spirit because in case of difficulty, you have to get by on your own.

Even if there are team matches, tennis remains an individual sport and this aspect will be displeasing to those who really enjoy playing in a team.

In parallel with football, I occasionally played tennis with my uncle, who has never competed and had a level early in the third series.

We played mostly against a wall and very rarely on a lot because I was unable to do a lot of exchanges and it was a little discouraging.

The wall is excellent to progress when you start, it allows to have balls easy enough to play and hit a lot of balls which is essential to progress, I recommend it!

My uncle gave me the technical basis he had learned during the few lessons he had taken, very basic advice but that was enough for me to start having fun.

I then played with a few friends, did a week-long internship in the summer and then decided to stop football and register for a club at the next school year, where I joined a development group.

It shows that it is not essential to go through the tennis school to acquire technical bases since I arrived in club already knowing how to play in a completely correct way.

However, I advise all beginners to take classes in a club with a state-certified tennis instructor.

Even if I was able to return the ball correctly, if I continued to play without taking lessons, I would have accumulated technical defects that would have limited my progress.

As for football, this sport has been an excellent preparation for tennis because it allowed me to develop my physical qualities and the qualities of travel that are essential to tennis.

Football is great for the footwork!

Followed a period where I progressed very quickly; I started the tournaments at age 13, in my age category and in the adult category simultaneously.

I started the competition when I felt ready and that’s what I advise everyone, no need to hurry!

Competing without being ready or having big weaknesses may be discouraging.

At the end of my first year of competition, at 14, I was 30/1. The following year, 15/4, then 15/1 then 5/6 to 17 years, which is a fairly rapid progression.

I made a good progression but my level of play at 17 years was nothing extraordinary.

To give an idea, the best players of 17 years have a negative ranking (-2/6, -4/6, -15, -30), even first series, I was still quite far.

However, experience has also shown that we can achieve a very good level when we did not have the required level at a given age.

I knew a player who had been told by a regional technical advisor that he would not go far in tennis and finally he was -30 and ranked at ATP.

It shows that with a good self-confidence and with work, we can very well get there, we must believe in ourselves and not be discouraged by external opinions!

Whatever the field, I advise you not to listen to people who tell you that you will not get there, or that limit you in your ambitions!

For my part, I could have continued this progression at the same pace and it would have given me the time to reach a very good level, unfortunately it did not happen like that!

I attribute the progress that I made during this period to the following, of which you can be quite inspired: