If you are not a regular player but would like a game of tennis, the first thing you need to work out is where you are going to play. You may want somewhere cheap and easy to get to, or you might prefer somewhere classy, as a treat. Whatever you decide, you can guarantee that there are plenty of options. But how do you go about reserving a court at your preferred venue?

Common places to book tennis courts are clubs and parks. For a club, courts are usually booked through the phone. For a park court, players might be able to just turn up and play for free, although many venues now use an app for reservations. There are rules about how long players can play for and when turns start and end (to avoid disputes).

Reach Out To Local Tennis Clubs & Parks

Some clubs may not be keen to let non-members use their facilities, although this kind of attitude is perhaps more common at the most upmarket venues. In many cases, clubs will be delighted to showcase their courts to what they will see as potential new members. Either way, if you really know someone who is already a member, this will make things much easier, as they will be able to book a court and sign you in as their guest.

There will often be a guest fee to pay, but you can rest assured that your court will be available at the time you book it and is likely to be in good condition. If you do not know each club member, contact the club and tell them that you are considering joining. They will almost certainly be very pleased to offer you the chance to try out the facilities for free in the hope that you will soon join.

Park courts are generally easier to access. The rules for booking courts differ across the country, but in some areas, you can simply turn up and play for free if you are prepared to wait your turn. There is often an option to reserve a court online or using a booking app.

Use Tennis Court Booking Apps

In many areas, booking apps are used to find available courts. Some clubs make courts available to the public this way, although the fees can be significant, and many park courts can be reserved for a modest cost. One example of a court booking app is ‘Kourts’. This will search through the courts offered by the organizations that have signed up for it and will show you what is available at the time and location you have selected. All you need to do is choose a time and place, pay your money, and your game will be instantly confirmed. In general, booking apps can save you a lot of research and phone calls.

Visit Public Courts

Public courts are often in parks and are generally the easiest and cheapest places to have a casual game. If it is booked online or with an app, your court will be available during specified times. Often, however, you might want to take advantage of the opportunity to play for free, and in some areas, this will be possible if you just turn up and wait by the court. Some cities, like New York, operate a permit system, where for $100, you can play as often as you like.

Either way, there will be rules about how long you can play if someone is waiting- perhaps 30-45 minutes- so you will need to be prepared to limit your game if you are playing at a busy time. As you might expect, rules like this lead to disputes, as inquiries about how long people have been playing are traditionally met with claims to have arrived just before you got there! You will also probably need to select a court to wait for and stand by it, or else you are likely to lose your place.

How Long Are Court Bookings For?

At a club, you will probably book a court for either one or two hours, giving you ample time to enjoy your game. If you pay to reserve a court in a park, you will similarly get plenty of time. Problems might arise if you rely on a ‘turn up and wait’ system in a park. You will probably be notionally allowed an hour, but the rules often provide that you are only allowed to play for up to something like 30 minutes if someone is waiting. If you play at an off-peak time, you will probably be able to play for as long as you like, but you must be prepared for a shorter game if you choose a busy time.

Final Thoughts

Finding a tennis court to play on is far easier than it used to be, thanks to booking apps. The only downside of it is the need to pay. Park courts are generally cheap or free, but your time might be limited. If you enjoy tennis and definitely want to play more, you will probably find that joining a club is the best option, as it will be easy to book courts as well as to find people to play with.

When watching any big tennis tournament on TV, one of the biggest differences you’ll notice from club matches and local events will be the presence of ball persons. Traditionally, these on-court helpers were called ‘ball boys’ or ‘ball girls’, or, more recently, ‘ball kids’. Today, some tournaments will accept people of any age, so they are now ‘ball persons’. Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, ball persons did everything from collecting and distributing tennis balls to dealing with the players’ towels. Their role is slightly more limited now, but they still make the game a lot quicker and easier for the players. So, how do you really go about becoming a ball person?

There are various ways to become a ball boy or girl, depending upon the event. There are extensive training and trials for big tournaments, but for smaller events, it is easier to get involved. Any salary will be modest, and your key role in the progress of the match is to ensure that the players have what they need to play without delay.

How To Become A Tennis Ball Person

Your chances of being chosen for this important role differ from event to event. Some smaller tournaments will take volunteers from local schools or tennis programs. If you are associated with one of these, your chances of getting selected are good- simply volunteering might be enough to get you some time on the court.

The bigger tournaments, like the Grand Slams and the World Tour Finals, each have their own system for selecting ball persons, and none of them make it easy to get chosen.

At Wimbledon, you need to attend a local school. If you are in the right age category, around 30% of applicants are successful.

At the US Open, approximately 300 ball persons are selected in total, with half coming from the previous year’s group and the other half being chosen from a series of try-outs. Around 500 people normally apply to the try-outs, so once again, the chance of being selected is about 30%.

At the Australian Open, around 360 ball persons are chosen from roughly 2,500 applicants, who are sifted during an extensive program of trials and training, suggesting that you have just under a 15% chance of getting picked.

If you want to be a ball person at the French Open, you will need to be one of around 4,000 applicants for a year-long training program. These are eventually cut to 220, which gives you just over a 5% chance of success.

The ATP World Tour Finals are similarly selective, with a series of trials offering those who apply via the ATP website around a 10% chance of making it to the final 30.

The Average Tennis Ball Person Salary

Historically, ball persons were just unpaid volunteers who could hope for little more than some free food and a few autographs. In recent times, the trend has really been for greater professionalism in tennis officiating, and to a limited degree, this has extended to the ball persons. While the bulk of ball persons are still likely to be unpaid, the big events usually offer some form of payment.

At Wimbledon, ball persons will be paid the equivalent of a couple of hundred dollars for the fortnight, with meals provided. At the US Open, there is a modest salary, typically $7-11 per hour. In Australia, they get what is almost certainly a better deal. Although the ball persons are not paid, they get free tickets for family and friends as well as a gift such as a racket or a pair of headphones at the end. French Open ball persons are not paid but do the job for the prestige and experience.

How Old Do You Have To Be?

Each event will have its own age requirements. For example, at the Madrid Masters ATP event, for a number of years, they used 19-28 years old female models to perform the ball person role. This might be viewed as adding glamour or disappointingly sexist, depending on your perspective.

Ball persons are still most commonly schoolchildren. At Wimbledon, they need to be around 14-16. The US Open has no age limits. The Australian Open invites applications from 12-15-year-olds, whereas for the French Open, the range is 12-16.

Tennis Ball Person Responsibilities

The primary job of the ball persons is to collect the balls after a rally has finished and ensured that there is an ample supply of balls for the server when they are ready to begin the next point. Traditionally they would also have the unpleasant job of dealing with the player’s sweaty towel, as well as providing drinks and running errands. They might even have to deal with an errant moth! Some of the less appealing responsibilities have been eliminated during the COVID pandemic, with players having to deal with their own towels.

Do Tennis Ball Persons Have Training?

If the ball persons are doing their job well, they will barely be noticed. They need to be fast, quiet, and efficient, with any fumbles minimized. They also need to be well-drilled, with a clear idea of when and where to pass the balls around to get them to where they are needed. Even people with natural athletic talent will need some training to carry out the role efficiently.

The Grand Slams offer extensive training to potential ball persons, with the French Open topping the charts with its year-long training program. For the US Open, the try-outs incorporate extensive training and instruction. In Australia, there are two trial stages followed by a four-month training program. At Wimbledon, the training also takes four months.

Final Thoughts

For any tennis fan, being a ball person at a major tournament would be a fantastic experience, giving them the chance to be on the court with the great champions. If you are fit enough, why not apply?

When you see the top players picking up vast cheques at the major tournaments, the question of entry fees probably doesn’t even occur to you. At that level, it probably doesn’t occur to the players either: if Djokovic expects to pick up $500,000 at the end of the week, whether or not he is asked to pay a minimal fee to enter the event makes no difference to him. Lower down the rankings, however, any entry fees that players are asked to pay will make a significant dent in their meager earnings, meaning that they will be very well aware of what they are being charged. So, which events actually charge entry fees?

At the top level, tennis players do not need to pay entry fees. As entry fees are designed to cover the costs of the event, there is no need for them at the big tournaments as these generate revenue from sponsors and ticket sales. However, at lower levels, prize funds are very small and costs are covered by charging players an entry fee.

How Pro Tennis Entry Fees Work

On the main ATP Tour and the secondary ATP Challenger Tour, there are no entry fees. Even the least lucrative Challenger events, with their modest prize funds of around $55,000, cover their costs without the need to ask players to pay.

In truth, it would be completely pointless asking for entry fees, as even first-round losers receive more in prize money than they would realistically be asked to pay to enter: they would be giving the money to the tournament only to receive it back a few days later.

There is actually one rare exception to this rule. If a player plays (perhaps by means of a wild card) in an ATP Tour 250 event or above, and that player is not a member of the ATP Tour (for which a subscription is required), then a service fee of between $100 and $400 must be paid.

This is normally deducted from their prize money and maybe offset the cost of joining the ATP for that year. The situation is similar for female players on the WTA Tour, except that if a non-member plays in one of their tournaments, an administration fee of $250 must be paid.

Do Tennis Players Pay To Enter Grand Slams?

The ITF rulebook states that there should be no entry fees for Grand Slam events. For many players, even getting into qualifying for a Grand Slam is a major achievement and gives them an opportunity of earning important ranking points and prize money. Any entry fee would be swamped by the prize money, so charging one would be pointlessly bureaucratic and time-consuming.

Does The Tennis US Open Have An Entry Fee?

Since the tournament is organized by the ITF, the US Open comes under the same heading as the other Grand Slam events, which means no entry fee can be charged.

Entry Fees At Lower Levels

Professional tennis players whose ranking is not high enough to earn them entry to ATP Tour, ATP Challenger, or WTA Tour events will need to pay entry fees for the tournaments they play. This mainly applies to the ITF World Tennis Tour events, which are the lowest level of international professional tournaments.

These will offer prize funds of $15,000 or $25,000 for men, and $15,000 to $100,000 for women. The discrepancy between men and women is explained by the fact that the WTA does not run an equivalent of the Challenger Tour, so there are more lucrative ITF events to fill the gap.

The ITF rules specify maximum entry fees of $40 for players involved in singles and doubles and $20 for those playing doubles only. It is likely that tournaments will charge the maximum fee to maximize their income, and there will be no reduction in the ‘singles and doubles’ entry fee if a player cannot gain entry to the doubles.

The fees outlined above may seem trivial, but most ‘professional’ players on the ITF World Tennis Tour are essentially paying to play, as their weekly expenses will vastly outweigh their prize money earnings, even if they are doing well. They are hoping to earn enough ranking points to gain entry into more lucrative tournaments. These entry fees are just another cost they must bear, and it does seem slightly ironic that the only players asked to pay entry fees are those who can least afford it.

At the amateur level, it will be expected that players play an entry fee, or league fee, to cover the costs of any competition they play in. Still, these players generally will not mind, as they realize that there is a cost involved in pursuing their hobby.

However, aspiring professionals would certainly benefit from reducing or eliminating such entry fees, as they are usually struggling to make ends meet.

Final Thoughts

Top pros do not have to pay entry fees, despite the fact that they probably spend more on their laundry each week than they would have to spend on fees. At lower levels, players who are financially stretched do have to pay entry fees. Perhaps if the ATP and WTA charged some levy on prize money and/or tournament sanctioning fees, this could be transferred to the ITF to cover entry fees for up and coming players? As things stand, the situation seems unfair.

The backhand is a vital shot in any tennis player’s armory. It is played whenever they are faced with a ball on their non-dominant side and is normally struck with the opposite side of the racket to the forehand. For many players, the backhand will be their weaker stroke, and they will work hard to make it solid and difficult to attack, whereas, for others, it will be a strength with which they can produce a range of spins and angles of considerable power. Either way, there are a variety of different grips which can be used.

The backhand grip chosen will depend upon whether you hold the racket with one hand or two and whether you intend to hit topspin or slice. The racket’s angle in your hand will be adjusted to make the kind of shot you want to hit easier, although a few players even manage to hit the ball with the same grip for both forehands and backhands.

How Do You Really Hold A Backhand Grip In Tennis?

There are two main ways of playing a backhand. Firstly, two hands can be used to hold the racket, with only a modest grip change from the forehand for the dominant hand. Secondly, the racket can be held in one hand, most likely in conjunction with a more significant grip change.

Backhand Grip Types

^{Image created by Tavernsenses, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.}

The above diagram shows the ‘bevels,’ which are the sides of a standard octagonal tennis grip. The ‘index knuckle’ is the joint on the palm of your hand, just below the index finger, and the ‘heel’ of the hand is at the base of the palm, on the opposite side to the thumb. The position of these in relation to the numbered bevels allows us to describe the differences between the various grips.

The majority of players, especially in women’s tennis, hold the racket with two hands when playing a backhand. A right-handed player will place their right hand at the base of the grip, with their left hand further up. The index knuckle of the right hand will typically be on bevel 2, while the heel of the right hand will be on bevel 1. The index knuckle and heel of the left hand will sit on bevel 7. This pattern will, of course, be reversed for a left-handed player. A double-handed backhand has the advantage of aiding power and control and being helpful for returning powerful serves. On the other hand, it restricts reach and limits the amount of spin you can put on the ball.

Traditionally, backhands were played with just the dominant hand on the racket. This gave players greater reach. A substantial minority of top players, such as Federer and Thiem, still use a single-handed backhand. The principal advantages for them are the spins that can be applied and the ease with which angles are created. A range of different grips is possible for the single-hander.

When a player wishes to slice the ball with their backhand, which is often the case if they are defending or wish to approach the net, they need to use a continental grip. For this, both index knuckle and heel of the hand rest on bevel 2, and a V-shape is formed between the thumb and index finger.

If a player aims to produce power and a modest amount of topspin with their backhand, they will probably favor what is known as an eastern grip. Here, both index knuckle and heel are placed on bevel 1. It is important to note that the fingers’ position is slightly different for a single-handed backhand compared to a forehand. The racket’s handle runs parallel to your knuckles, and the index finger wraps around the racket rather than extending forward as it might for a forehand.

Finally, for players who wish to apply more topspin, there is the extreme, or semi-western, backhand grip. Here, both index knuckle and heel sit on bevel 8. This type of grip has been famously used by former world number one Justine Henin, amongst others.

The Best Backhand Grip For Beginners

If a player does not actually have a strong preference, most coaches will teach beginners to use a double-handed backhand (right hand in bevel #1 or #2 and left hand on bevel #7 or #8). They will do this because it is simpler to execute.

Keeping both hands on the racket makes it easier for players who do not have a great deal of physical strength to control the path when hitting the ball. The shot itself is also less complex, as there is little need to apply a significant amount of spin to the ball.

However, there will be some beginners who will have seen Federer on TV and who are adamant that they want to hit the ball one-handed like him. After the coach has attempted to manage their expectations a little, they will probably suggest that the player uses an eastern backhand grip and start with a simple action that does not apply too much spin.

Backhand Grips For Topspin vs. Slice Shots

A player who uses a double-handed backhand will normally create a modest amount of topspin, but not a great deal. On occasion, when faced with a low, spinning ball, they might want to hit a slice. Hitting a slice with two hands on the racket is a rather awkward maneuver and not recommended. Instead, the player will probably remove their non-dominant hand from the racket and switch to a continental grip to hit the shot one-handed. The difference between the position of the right hand for a two-handed backhand and a standard continental grip is small, so this is fairly straightforward to execute with practice.

A player with a single-handed backhand will also use a continental grip to hit a slice. The eastern grip allows a modest amount of topspin to be produced, but if they want to make the ball spin, they will use a semi-western grip.

Can You Have The Same Grip For Forehand And Backhand?

In the days of wooden rackets, this was not uncommon, as shots would tend to be hit flat or with slice, and volleying was an important part of the game. A grip like the continental could be used for everything if a player wished.

Today, players hit a lot more spin, and they generally want to apply topspin to both forehand and backhand, which, even for players with single-handed backhands, requires the angle of the racket in their hand to be significantly different.

Nonetheless, it is not impossible to use the same grip on both sides, as Alberto Berasategui demonstrated during his successful career a few years ago. Berasategui used a particularly extreme western forehand grip, applying huge amounts of topspin, and this enabled him to hit backhands with the same side of the racket without changing his grip. This style was far more effective on high-bouncing clay courts than on faster, lower surfaces, but it demonstrates what can be done.

Final Thoughts

There are many different ways of hitting a backhand. Take a look at Federer, Nadal, Gasquet, Serena Williams, and so on, and you will see many different styles, techniques, and grips. If you are starting in the game, don’t be afraid to experiment with different grips, but if you and your coach find one that works for you and doesn’t injure you, stick with it. Your backhand and the associated grip are entirely your own and don’t have to be like anyone else’s.