Playing Tennis Tournaments – A Simple Guide – Part 2.
How to Start Playing Tennis Tournaments
This article is a continuation of our first article on playing tournaments which you can find here.
So, now you understand the importance of playing tennis tournaments and how they can help make you a better tennis player.
So, let’s take a closer look at how you can start playing more tennis matches today.
- Search in Your Local Community
The first step towards playing more tennis tournaments is to simply search them out in your local community.
This may sound straightforward, but tournament organizers are notoriously bad at promoting their own events.
Use your country’s governing tennis Association/Federation website to find tournaments in your area, and even visit your local club to find out if they have any tournaments running soon.
Taking these steps will help you understand what local clubs have to offer, and you can then decide if it is a competition suitable for you.
Any kind of tennis competition such as a box league, ladder or club tournament is a great place to start.
For Singapore, visit here to register yourself or your child as a member: https://www.singtennis.org.sg/ Click on “Sign Up” in the top right-hand corner and fill out the info required.
- Find Players Near You
The next important step to take when you are thinking about entering tournaments is to find local players to compete with. This can be in the form of opponents if you want to practice at singles, or with a doubles partner if that is your preference.
This is also a great way to build up some friendly rivalry, and tennis is always more enjoyable when you are playing against friends!
Again, by reaching out to clubs in your local area, going and meeting members and even simply by entering local competitions, you’ll soon build up a list of contacts to play with.
A good place to start finding players is on the app https://rovo.co/ , here you can browse all different sports and it even ranks players on their playing level.
- Learn the Rules of Tennis
Next, in order to play in tournaments you’ll, of course, have to learn the rules of tennis.
If you have already been playing recreational tennis for a while you probably already know most of the rules, but there are a number of scoring systems used that you may not be familiar with.
It is important, therefore, to read up on the format that your tournament will be using.
There’s nothing more embarrassing than thinking you’ve won a match but you’ve actually got the score wrong!
Also, if you are entering doubles tournaments, you may want to brush up on the rules of doubles tennis too.
If you are looking at entering some of the Singapore tournaments, normally on the entrance page they have all the details and format of matches. Sometimes the format can change depending on weather circumstances.
For example, if they have a set amount of matches laid out and a thunderstorm comes across the format could change to “Fast 4” where you play the best of 3 sets to four games.
- Understand Your Game Style
Once you have a clear understanding of the rules of tennis, the next thing to do is understand your own game style.
It is worth taking some time to take stock and appreciate what your own strengths and weaknesses are as a tennis player – you can then use these to your advantage.
For example, if you are a tall tennis player with a big serve, you may find that playing an aggressive baseline game style would best suit you. Also, you may find it more difficult to move fast around the court and stay low making defence more difficult.
In contrast, if you are shorter in stature your agility and fast movement will be a strength. Using your hands and creativity to win points may come more naturally to you, so a counter-punching game style would suit you best.
The point here is to think about your own game and understand what you do well, and what you don’t do so well. This will help you play to your strengths more and find ways to prevent an opponent from exploiting your weaknesses.
