The Anonymous Widower

A Gentle Game of Real Tennis

Today, I had my first game of real tennis since I had my stroke two months ago. So it was only a gentle workout with Andrew, the professional at Newmarket and Suffolk Real Tennis Club, but it made me feel a bit better.

Real tennis is a full body and mind workout, if ever there was one!

• Your eyes have to track a moving ball, as it bounces and spins of both the walls and floor of the court. It can be frustrating to someone starting the game and I found it a bit so, as I struggled sometimes to get my racket to the ball.
• You also have to move properly to the ball and I did find this difficult at times, as I wasn’t too sure where it would bounce.  But I did think, I was getting better as we played on.
• As I am right-handed and that had been unaffected by the stroke, I was hitting quite a few balls successfully and in some cases I was actually hitting the ball, so they got the optimum length.
• My backhand wasn’t good, but then it never was.
• The big thing about real tennis is that it is a game for the mind as well. As we progressed, I was remembering the strategy and was able to play better to my strengths and my oponent’s weaknesses.

So all in all, I found it valuable.

It will be interesting to see if I get better in the coming weeks.

On a serious pointoif there is anybody out there who would like to learn and enjoy the game, why don’t they contact me? I could teachthem the basics at either Newmarket OR Cambridge.  The only snag would be that they would have to give me a lift to the court!

July 28, 2010 - Posted by AnonW | Sport | Stroke, Tennis