Sick of being the friend who always loses?
The complete beginner’s tennis handbook: every rule, grip, stroke and tactic explained properly, so the next time you play the mate who “doesn’t even try”, the score tells a different story.
£12.99 one-off, incl. VAT, yours forever
Get the Handbook →PDF for every device · Read tonight, play better this weekend
Sound familiar?
You’re not bad at tennis. You’re missing the manual.
Nobody actually teaches you this stuff. You get dragged to a court, handed a racket, beaten 6–1, and told “you’ll pick it up”. You won’t, not like that. Every “natural” you know simply learned the basics you were never shown.
Your mate wins every time
And not because they’re talented. It’s because they know where to stand, when to split step, and that you can’t resist going for the lines. Chapter 12 alone fixes half of this.
YouTube made it worse
Forty contradictory videos about grips, each assuming you already play. You need one path, in order, that starts from “which end do I hold?”
Lessons cost £40 an hour
And half of every lesson is the coach explaining things a book explains better: rules, scoring, grips, positioning. Spend the coaching money on the bits that need a coach.
What’s inside
13 chapters. Zero to match-ready.
The exact path our video course follows, in full written detail, from the geometry of the court to walking off after your first won match.
- 1Welcome & how tennis works — the court, the point, and the geometry that explains every tactic
- 2Scoring & the rules — love, deuce, tie-breaks and the moments that decide sets
- 3Your gear — the only three racket numbers that matter, and why shoes are a safety item
- 4Grips — the bevel map demystified, with photos from the course
- 5Stance & footwork — the split step, the shuffle, and the recovery habit that wins ugly
- 6The forehand — built in five pieces, with the physics of why low-to-high works
- 7The backhand — the two-hander with training wheels welded in
- 8The serve — why the toss is 80% of it, and how spin turns second serves from prayer to policy
- 9Returning serve — borrow pace, don’t add it; the shot that wins beginners most points
- 10Net play & volleys — the catch-with-strings, plus the overhead that answers every lob
- 11Keeping a rally going — the margin mindset and the bounce-hit rhythm
- 12Your first match — where to stand, what to say, how to beat the friend who always wins
- 13Beyond the basics — warm-ups, injury-proofing, and plugging into UK tennis
- AAppendix A — your 4-week practice plan, session by session
- BAppendix B — full answer key to every chapter self-test
Every chapter, five layers deep
Not a pamphlet. A proper handbook.
The full lesson
The complete teaching text for all 26 lessons of our video course: everything the narrator says, in print, at your own pace.
Going Deeper essays
Two per chapter, beyond the course: the geometry of the court, why one grip can’t do everything, what nerves actually are and how to use them.
Mistakes & fixes
The three most common faults per topic, in a table with the exact correction, the stuff coaches repeat forty times a season.
Weekly drills
Two or three per chapter, most needing no partner: wall ladders, toss-only sessions, shadow split-steps, depth-zone games.
All 199 key terms
Every flashcard from the course as quick-reference tables: the vocabulary of tennis, chapter by chapter.
135 self-test questions
A quiz at the end of every chapter with a full answer key. Know that you know it before you take it on court.
What changes
Read tonight. Different player this weekend.
You’ll stop giving away free points
Most beginner matches are lost, not won. The margin mindset in Chapters 11–12 (three feet over the net, crosscourt, deep) beats “talent” at every park in Britain.
You’ll sound like you belong
Call the score with confidence, know why it’s 40–15, claim your let. The vocabulary and etiquette that make club players take you seriously.
You’ll know exactly what to practise
No more aimless rallying: every chapter ends with this week’s drills, and the 4-week plan turns them into a schedule that ends with a real, scored match.
Better together
Want the videos too?
The handbook is free inside the course bundle
The Ultimate Tennis Course adds 26 video lessons, slow-motion stroke breakdowns, interactive animations, flashcards and quizzes to everything in this book, and the bundle costs just £7 more than the book alone. Launch price £19.99 (regular £39.99), incl. VAT.
See the Course Bundle →Questions
FAQ
What format is the handbook?
A beautifully typeset 100-page PDF (6×9″ book format) delivered instantly after checkout. It reads perfectly on phones, tablets, laptops and e-readers, and prints cleanly if you like paper. Many readers print just the drills pages.
I’ve literally never played tennis. Is it for me?
It’s written for exactly you. Chapter 1 assumes nothing: not the rules, not the scoring, not even which end of the racket to hold. Each chapter builds on the last.
How is it different from the video course?
Same 13-step path, different strengths. The course shows you technique moving in slow motion; the handbook explains everything in full written detail and goes further: deeper essays, all the key terms, self-tests with an answer key, and the 4-week plan. Course owners get this book free; the book also stands completely on its own.
How long will it take to work through?
Read cover to cover in three or four evenings, or follow it as designed: one to two chapters a week alongside the drills, reaching your first scored match in about six weeks.
Do I need any equipment to start?
A racket, a few balls and any court. Chapter 3 tells you exactly what to buy at every budget (you can start properly for under £50), and Chapter 13 shows you how to find courts near you.
Can I read it on my phone?
Yes. The 6×9″ page size was chosen because it reads comfortably on a phone screen without zooming. It works in any PDF reader, iBooks, and on Kindle via Amazon’s Send-to-Kindle.
£12.99. One evening of reading.
A lifetime of actually knowing what you’re doing.
Next weekend, someone on that court is going to know where to stand, what the score is, and exactly why that crosscourt ball keeps landing in. Make it you.
Get the Handbook — £12.99 →Instant download · Incl. VAT · Free inside the course bundle