Call around and see if there are any beginner clinics in your area. Having a coach around to help with the basics will be worth it. Private coach is going to be a lot more expensive. Tennis is a social sport so clinics are great because you meet new people at your level and gives you people to play with. Does your school have a tennis team? Welcome to the game! It’s a great sport you can play the rest of your life

Have a hit with your friends a few times first. If you have fun and want to get good, then get a coach.

Group classes for adult newcomers is always fun. You can see where you are, learn with others learning and make a group of friends you can play with socially outside lessons.

When I started reading your post and how you feel late to the party, I though you might be in your 50s, not 16 ahahaha

Start by going to play with friends. That will give you a good intro to the game and given that you are young and athletic, I would expect you to be able to at a minimum have fun and pick up the basics pretty fast. Try to find one of your friends who you can hit with consistently and will be understanding of you being a beginner.

Might be worth it to see if there is a local recreation department or club that has a beginner group class. Usually these are pretty inexpensive and will teach you the basics. You might not need this as you may be able to pick this up on your own, but sometimes we naturally develop poor form or bad habits and learning the right way early on can allow you to avoid having to relearn something later on. For example, I never learned how to serve properly as a teenager and that has carried through to being an adult. I can hit my serve in consistently but it's way underpowered due to my form and I'm having a hard time correcting it.

Once you've gotten the basics down and can rally a bit, then you may want to consider a private coach if you want to continue development and get better (i.e. move beyond casual play with your friends).

I would have also suggested joining your high school team (if they have one), but since you are a track athlete, I'm assuming you would continue track over switching to tennis in the spring.

It might sound like lazy advise, but it really is important to keep your eye on the ball. When beginning, it is easy to get nervous and clench as the ball comes close to you.

When you get more experience, you learn that you or your opponent can use the racket to apply spin to the ball, and cause it to move in ways that one might not normally expect. But at the beginning, you are mostly just striking the ball and making it travel in a normal ballistic pattern.

Just start, learn the basics by making the mistakes. The best way imo

Maybe try some Squash first, if you know what that is, kind of like tennis but your facing off against a wall? It’ll be good practice for your footwork going into tennis.

Make sure to work on your cardio if you plan on going into full set games. Get some loose fitting shorts the last thing you want is thigh chaffing and a light coloured polo for breathe ability.

Don’t count on getting the long red one when you need it. Just use what you get and get on with it.

How the grunt works

Racket. Good pair of tennis shoes. Nice comfortable outfit for the activity. A place to play and hopefully somebody to practice with.

The nice thing about tennis is that you don't need an insane amount of gear to play.

A racket and comfortable shoes you can make rapid movements in.... And stretch your glutes/hamstrings/ankles

Good balls - that can make/break your experience. Do not get the bulk ones from costco lol they are not a good time unless you're planning on using them for training

A good sex grunt for when you hit the ball

Really all you need is a racket, balls, decent pair of tennis shoes, and an outfit you can run comfortably in. After that it’s just go to a tennis court and practice, but it is easier if you have another person

You can buy from the Tennis Market Philippines for cheaper rackets. Before I started my tennis lessons, I bought my own racket at Wilson. The sales assistant was really helpful—they helped me choose based on my grip and recommended rackets that are good for beginners.

Aside from Tennis Market PH and Wilson, you can also check Decathlon—they carry beginner-friendly gear that’s affordable.

Coaching on average is Php 500/hr but you can get cheaper at Php 250/hr to Php 350/hr depending on your area. Court costs typically between Php 150/hr to Php 300/hr not including ballboy which is maybe Php 70-Php 100/hr or more. So at the minimum if you are playing with a trainer, expect spending about between Php 500-800/hr unless you have a friend or training partner then you can just pay the court fees. Beneficial to have a coach that hits with you but better be able to play than not play at all or find a kind soul to teach you for free.

It's also hard to find tennis courts that are available so that's another thing. You can be smart about it and do resistance training prioritizing strength, cardio, then explosive work once you get stronger on off days since tennis is a physically demanding sport. You'll be efficient, improve quicker, have stronger joints for injury prevention, and perform better

You can watch a lot of videos online and buy a phone mount so you can record yourself play and do self-improvement with your friends if you want to play tennis and save money. Most likely almost everyone is just playing as a hobby and not going pro so it doesn't matter too much.

You can join tennis fb groups! May mga coaches doon na may rackets that you can use during training.

If you want to buy naman for personal use, I would recommend buy rackets and shoes from decathlon muna since way cheaper sya than other brands na may tennis gears. I tried one from my friend and decent naman quality ng rackets nila, may lighter weights din na suited for beginners

To give you an idea, yung dati kong coach nasa 700/session na ang rate nya. All in na yun. If wala ka racket he can lend you sa simula. Training balls, ball boy and court fee included na din sa rate na yun. 2-3x sessions per week para talagang matuto ka agad.

1. Racket if you can borrow from someone so that you don’t need to spend before you check out if you like the sport or not. (I borrowed a racket of a friend for like 2 months before I decided to buy).

2. Would be helpful if you have a friend. If you have a group of friends na interested usually coaching fees go down pag mas marami. But may nga coaches who limit their students para mas matutukan nila

Hope this helps. Don’t be discouraged tennis is a fun sport

Join Local tennis clubs, sign up for group lessons, make small groups with people of similar skill level that you meet in these clubs / lessons. Once you get comfortable with basics, you can opt for private lessons to build on your basics.

Group lessons are a great way to start, learn the fundamentals and can find some hitting partners

I've been playing for around a year (not counting smacking it around when I was a kid) and my first experience was with a coach. Totally normal for beginners to go.

Highly recommend group lessons for beginners. You'll get some coaching, learn drills you can also work on during your solo practice time, and perhaps most important: meet people to play tennis with.

The hardest part about taking up tennis is finding people to play with. But it's really worth it!

Couple of things come to mind first.

1. Find someone at a similar level and practice mini tennis for 20 minutes before moving back to the baseline. That's where you stand a little behind the service line. Even the pros warm up this way. For beginners it helps develop hand-eye coordination. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bii5hE-KD6U
2. Practice lots of shadow swings (a swing without hitting a ball). Practice very, very slowly at first. Over a couple of minutes gradually build up speed. Do this at home for at least five minutes a day. Keep it up for at least two weeks to start to develop muscle memory.

I'm playing against a wall whenever I see a big enough space. I started just a month ago.

Look for beginner clinics in your area. Private lessons are good they just add up after a while.

Definitely get lessons in the beginning and then maybe periodically check in, beginner group classes are sufficient for most (and way way cheaper). The mechanics are very specific and not intuitive so you want to develop good fundamentals

Good luck Just enjoy the process.

I recommend a couple of 1 on 1 sessions with a coach and then group lessons, if you can afford them.

I’d take Take group lessons to start

Terrible racquet. And all I will say is that if a player even if they are new will not improve playing with a terrible racquet. You’re better off buying a good 2nd hand racquet.

There's a youtube coach called Intuitive tennis who has a playlist of videos showing how he teaches the basics of tennis to a completely new player named Anna. I think that playlist would be a decent place for you to start to learn what to do on court. Even if you can't hire a coach you will at least need a friend who can feed the ball to you as you try this stuff out.

I play and can highly recommend the racket arena in Kerpen, inside and outside courts, I normally play inside there in Winter and it's all bookable online (crazy right?) Squash and paddle also there.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/Ac6sVFzyfnhCTMNEA

I have Urban Sports Club and can use it there. Plus the restaurant above it called Chiaia is mega with the best Pizza in the area (including 485 grad etc in zentrum imo)

Contact a local tennis club? Pay their membership and participate in their organized tennis stuff (coaching/tournaments).

I would also love to play tennis. However it doesn't seem so straightforward to find a place to play tennis that isn't private. There's a place in Rodenkirchen near the Forstbotanischergarten but I think you have to be a member?

1. Get in shape and do resistance exercises (weights/bands - strength training). You should be doing at least 150 minutes of cardio and 90 minutes of weights per week. Preferably more.

2. Get a lesson with a tennis coach. This can be done through your local club or directly with individual coaches through a variety of apps/sites.

Simply put, what you did as a 5-7 year old is completely irrelevant. You're a complete rookie who currently doesn't have proper form and doesn't have a body that can withstand an exercise as intense/unique as tennis. So, those are the things you need to focus on. Sorry for being harsh.

Also, if eat like shit, change that and eat healthier - otherwise your hard work on cardio/weights won't be as effective.

Take lessons with a professional Tennis Trainer. Everything else will not get you anywhere. It costs a lot of Money but otherwise you will always have a bad technique.

Its really the best advice you can get. After that listen to your trainer. 2 years/1 time a week for 60min should bring everybody with a little bit talent to a level where you can have decent fun playing tennis.