How do I get my child started in tennis?

Find a group program that uses scaled equipment — softer, slower balls on a smaller court — and let the first sessions be play rather than instruction. A correctly sized racquet, court shoes and two sessions a week is a complete starting setup. Judge the program by how many balls the children hit and whether your child asks to go back.

What size tennis racquet does a child need?

Racquet length is sized to the child's height, not their age. Two quick checks: standing with the racquet held at their side, the tip should reach near the floor without stretching; and they should be able to hold it out level to the side for a few seconds without the head dropping. Re-check after each growth spurt — a racquet that is too long forces a short, late, arm-driven swing.

How often should a beginner junior play tennis?

About twice a week is a good starting dose for most beginners, in a group, alongside other sports. Add a day when the child asks for more rather than on a schedule. In a first year the constraint is enthusiasm rather than court time, and enthusiasm is spent faster by too much tennis than by too little.

Do beginner children need private lessons?

Usually not at the start. Beginners benefit more from a group: more balls, other children, and games that teach movement and competition at the same time. Private lessons become genuinely useful later, for targeted work on something specific — a serve, a technical fault — rather than as the default way a child is introduced to the sport.

When should a beginner start playing matches?

As soon as they can rally a few balls and serve to start a point — earlier than most parents expect. Playing points is its own skill and is learned only by playing them. Start informally and low-stakes, with short formats, and treat results as information rather than as a verdict on the child.

Tennis for Beginners: A Junior's Start

The first sessions: they should be playing, not drilling

In a beginner's first sessions there should be a ball coming at them almost constantly and a coach saying very little. Rallying, chasing, catching, hitting targets, games with a scoring twist — that is what learning looks like at this stage. What a child should not be doing is standing still while an adult adjusts their grip for ten minutes. Children learn movement by moving, in enormous repetition, with small corrections layered in as they go. Judge a first lesson by two things: how many balls your child hit, and whether they were laughing.

Equipment scaled to the child is what makes this possible. The slower, lower-bouncing balls and smaller courts of the red, orange and green ball pathway exist precisely so a beginner can rally rather than flail, and rallying is where everything else comes from. If you are still deciding whether to begin at all, or worrying that you have left it late, I have written separately on what age kids should start tennis — the short version is that the on-ramp is much wider than parents fear.

The skills that matter, in order

Movement and balance. Getting to the ball, arriving balanced, and recovering. Most technical faults I see in beginners are footwork faults wearing a costume — the swing looks broken because the feet arrived late.
A consistent contact point. Out in front, at a comfortable height, in the same place every time. Consistency of contact, not the shape of the swing, is what makes a rally possible, and a rally is what makes practice worthwhile.
The serve, earlier than you think. It is the hardest thing in tennis to retrofit, it is built on a throwing pattern that is best learned young, and a child who cannot start a point cannot play tennis. Introduce it in the first months, not the second year.
Scoring and match play, sooner than parents expect. Playing points is a separate skill from hitting balls, and it is learned only by playing points. Start informally — first to seven, no pressure, plenty of it.
Spin, direction and variety. Once the above is reliable. Not before: a beginner chasing topspin before they can find a contact point is decorating a house with no walls.

Equipment: get the length right, then stop worrying

The only equipment decision that genuinely matters in year one is racquet length, and it is sized to the child's height rather than their age. Too long, and the child cannot swing it on time — so they compensate with a short, late, arm-driven swing that becomes a habit and later needs rebuilding. Two rough fitting checks a parent can do without any expertise: with the child standing and the racquet held down at their side, the tip should reach near the floor without them stretching or bending the arm; and the child should be able to hold the racquet out to the side, level, for a few seconds without the head sagging. Re-check after every growth spurt — children outgrow racquets faster than parents replace them.

Beyond that: court shoes rather than running shoes, because tennis is played sideways and running shoes offer nothing laterally, and balls that match the child's stage rather than whatever is in the garage. String type, racquet weight and brand are irrelevant in a first year. There is more on all of this in tennis equipment for juniors, but the summary is that parents routinely overspend on gear and underspend on coaching, and it should be the other way round.

How often to play at the start

Two sessions a week is a good starting dose for most beginners, ideally in a group with other children rather than one-on-one, alongside other sports and whatever unstructured hitting they get on their own — a wall is one of the best coaches in tennis and charges nothing. Add a third day when the child asks for it, not when you decide it is time. The limiting factor in a first year is never court time; it is whether the child still wants to be there in a year, and enthusiasm spends faster than it earns. I have set out the honest ranges by stage in how many hours a junior should train, and the numbers are lower than most parents expect.

Keeping it fun, so they choose to keep going

Other children on court. Kids stay for their friends at least as much as for the tennis. A group beats a private lesson at this age for exactly that reason.
Short sessions that end early. Finish while they still want more. A child who leaves the court mid-enthusiasm comes back hungry; one who leaves exhausted negotiates next time.
Games with stakes that are not winning. Target games, streak games, coach-versus-kids. Competition is fun long before results are.
Keep the other sports. A beginner who also plays soccer or basketball is building the athleticism tennis will draw on for a decade, and carrying less of their identity on any single result.
The drive home. Ask what was fun, not what the score was. Coaching from the passenger seat has ended more junior careers than any forehand ever did.

Signs a beginner is ready for structured training

Somewhere after the first year, some children are ready for something more deliberate. The signals are consistent, and none of them are about winning:

They can rally at their stage with control — ten or more balls, moving and recovering — and serve well enough to start a point.
They ask for more tennis than you are offering, repeatedly and unprompted.
They enjoy competing and recover from losing within the hour.
They can take a correction and apply it in the same session, which is the real marker of readiness for coaching.
The scaled stage they are in no longer challenges them.

What structured training then adds is a plan: a coach who knows what they are building this season, small groups so every ball is seen — we cap ours at four players per coach — video, and physical work appropriate to the age. A well-run kids' tennis camp is often the natural bridge, giving a child a concentrated week of high ball counts before anyone commits to a year. If you are weighing programs more seriously, judge the tennis academies in Florida on how they coach beginners, not on the champions in their photographs — the two are less related than you would think.

Tennis for beginner juniors: the first year