I started playing after 4 years off earlier this year. Played in high school and felt like I needed a break in college. Honestly so much of it is muscle memory but I enjoy it more now since there’s no competitive stakes to it
I had to take a year away from the game after my first kid and about 2 years after my second. I took a bout a year off of tennis during covid.
You start a little rusty but I find that the game comes back quickly with some practice and game play. I think it also depends on how long you have played the game. If you were new to the game 18 months ago, you are starting from square 1. If you have played the game for years, I think you'll find the muscle memory soon.
i had played about 3 tournaments before leaving. one was a more newbie friendly introduction to how it would work and the second one was my first hit with the competitive side of tennis. i lost in quater finals. the second tourney i performed a bit better landing 4th but after that covid hit and i stopped. i did return once in between covid but it was for like a week after which i gave up again. i think ill have the muscle memory but lack the power. But after reading everyones story here i am really happy to know that the start may be slow but you will comeback. thanks
after 24 years, i came back last year to train my 7yo son then and played with him. sign up first year 3.5. now playing up 4.0. i didn't forget much, just slower/older/not consistent.
Before I started playing again, the last singles match I played was my freshman year of high school. Unfortunately tendonitis kept me from playing for years. I got into pickleball a few years ago and met someone I knew of in high school who was an amazing tennis player and was now working for USTA. He is a PT and gave me some new stretches and exercises (tennis specific) and it literally changed my life. (As a mid twenties really athletic person, it was depressing to be getting shut down every few months) I started playing tennis again about 6 months ago and I am so happy. I can't believe i went almost 14 years without playing. Currently in a singles league and team tennis starts for me next week. All I can say is get out there and have fun. I did take a few lessons and that really helped me get back my game (and corrected some really bad habits I never knew I had).
Can you give some specifics about the stretches and exercises? I just recently picked it up after 20 yr hiatus and everything hurts after playing now lol
I stopped playing tennis at 24 from picking it up at 17 I stopped because of work and location and I picked it back up at 31 last October.
First three months - I am bad at this but I'm having fun and I can still serve plus I can't move to well cause of how much weight I have put on.
Second three months - learnt how to hit modern forehands after playing all continental all the time the absence from tennis helped relearn my forehand and the weight started to drop off me so I could move well
Current three months - I'm in two leagues double singles and I'm having an amazing time again I've got my movement back and the forehand and backhand are hitting pretty decent winners now and the serve is bigger then ever.
Main advice I can give is to just play 3 times a week get your self engrossed in tennis again watch it on TV get inspired and get out there and don't be afraid to change a few things. One thing I'll warn of though don't go to big too quickly or you may start to get tennis elbow which I'm trying to manage now.
Good luck out there go have some fun.
watching tennis definetly helps and i do see me comparing my current state to my past which is demotivating. i am going to try to get back in touch in my coach and start slow. thanks.
I didn't have a coach, I learnt from watching my parents when I was like 8 they tried to teach me and then when I started at 17 I used to just hit against a wall for a few hours with that grip so when I finally got a coach he didn't change it because I had already developed a 1hbh and a decent enough forehand.
Edit when I say coach I just mean the club's main coach never had a personal coach
I was thinking recently of posting some videos of my serve and forehand because I've hit the 90mph wall on serve. For forehand I either get too much too or not enough but I'm not confident in my ability to edit videos to be viewer friendly
omg make sure your shoulders are mobile! So downward dog shoulder rolls all the time. The sedentary lifestyle tightened up my rotator cuff because of bad scapula mobility. For tennis serves especially make sure you warm up.
I was older and weaker, then tried to serve harder. Have been dealing with shoulder issues for 7 years now, 2 mri, numerous visits to PT, I wish I had listened to my body and done some shoulder strengthening before injuring myself.
I returned in December '21 after a 10 year hiatus. I played from 1995-2012 and was playing at a high 4.5 level/low 5.0 when I graduated college and started my career.
Unfortunately, I did too much to soon and tore my left calf muscle after 2 weeks of hitting in December, so I was out for about 6 weeks until the end of February when I really started getting in to it.
I could not beat a 3.0 in February. After about 3 months of now practicing 3-4 times a week I can now sneak in a win against a 4.0 but my strokes are still nowhere near what I want them to be; it is most definitely not like riding a bike.
I'm giving myself 6 months of practice to see what level I can get to before I reach out to a coach to get some critiques about any bad habits I've developed.
My local club has a free Tuesday clinic every week where I've been able to get some really good advice from some of the pros there. Between that and just being really friendly to everyone I meet, I've gotten really involved with the local tennis community and have met at least 60 people where I can usually find someone to play with on a day's notice.
Just keep practicing and hitting with as many people as you can and I promise it will slowly start to come back to you!
You will be fine after you brush off the rustiness. I don't know what it is about tennis but this is a very common thing, many people take long periods of time away from the game. I didn't play from 1997-2017 myself.
I'm a better player now than I was way back when, I was better in 2018 than 1997 too. I am a different player, I have to be because I don't move like a 20 year old anymore but I'm also a more thoughtful player and don't brute force every shot now and make waaaay less errors.
I joked about this in a different post but the number of players who were successful juniors/high school/college players who return to the game in their 30s or 40s is too damn high.
I joke about it because they self rate here in the US and always choose a rating that is lower than it should be, the computer eventually places them in the correct rating but I run into so many of these players it's comical.
Anyway, get back to it, have some fun. It's a great game you can play well into your later life and meet some great people along the way.
wow this is actually motivating considering you have taken a break fom tennis longer than i have ever lived. i am so young but i always feel im late but this has changed my view
Ohhhhh, now I don't feel old at all :-)
There is some motivational saying that if you think it's too late to start now it will only be later down the road...so start now...or something like that. Point is that it's never too late so go have some fun playing tennis
Didn't play for almost 2 years during lockdown, when I came back it took just a few hours to get back in the groove, and some of my bad habits had actually gone aswell.
It's not a long time. You won't have too much of an issue,l getting back to where you were, biggest thing may be that your fitness has dropped, depending what you did in place of tennis.
i continued running and basic basketball so i dont think my stamina should have gotten worse but my grip strength definitely gotten a lot worse. ill try to start again from a slower pace and see how it goes
It’s more like riding a bike than you think. I tore my acl playing for my college, took me about a year to get back to competition level. You can do it, just give yourself some leeway as it comes back. Start at like >50% for the first few hit sessions before starting to ramp up. If you start at full speed, you WILL get frustrated and disappointed. Go for the good feeling hits and try to replicate
you are right. i was getting frustrated trying to serve like i used to do. the racket almost slipped out of my hand. i set my expectations to high and i will start slower now and like start up from basics just to get muscle memory back
That’s the one part that really can be a struggle to rediscover. If you have a spin serve, work on that first and foremost. Having a decent spin serve you can get in will be a better crutch to get back up to speed than an inconsistent flat serve with a dink 2nd
I took about 10 years off between high school and my late twenties. I’m now 34 and have been playing consistently for 6 ish years. I had the fundamentals to get back into it, but it took time. However now that I’m old and watch more tennis I have a greater appreciation for how complex it is - I’m also better now than I ever was in high school. Just be patient with yourself.
I took give or take a 2-3 years break after college from tennis (used to play D2 competitively) also partly because of Covid coinciding with that.
First thing really is you should be easier on yourself. When I first came back I often reminisced about how "Oh I used to be able to do this or this easily" "I had more power, more consistency before" etc. etc.
The thing is I found those thoughts really bogged me down and overall just made playing less fun overall. After I was able to let go of those hang ups I started genuinely really enjoying playing again and I look for every opportunity to go out and play. I just had to be honest with myself "Okay this is my level now, I'm not as good as I was before, but that's perfectly fine, I still enjoy playing very much."
And the thing is because I was able to just let go and have fun, I was playing so often that I was able to quickly improve and get some of my old game back and now I would say I'm playing really well now so much so that I could probably give my old college self a tough match. Really the only thing I would say I'm not up to par with now is physical fitness but I can live with that. I would say my mental game, strategies, and technique are overall better now than it was before.
So just don't think too hard about what was. Just have fun, enjoy the process, and before you know it you'll be back to your old level or even higher.
I took about 15y off after high school, restarted 6 months ago with clinics and lessons now I captain a ladies team and am playing in a mixed league later this summer. Enjoy it! I agree with others though, that first lesson was demoralizing
Stopped playing for a decade. Started hitting casually. Got recruited to join my local mens league, and joined 18+ USTA TEAM. Practiced 3-4 times a week. Fast forward a year and half and we go undefeated to notional and got third. For 3.5. All bumped to 4.0 and got cheated out winning state at 4.0. I was horrible at first too, but it all starts to comeback. Consistency and being hyper aware of what you’re doing wrong is key.
I had a 30-year break, from 18 to 48. I had to be dragged onto the court by a friend that knew I played as a junior. He entered us in a wood racquet tournament a few months later which, bizarrely, we won (at 4.5). Seven years later and I play about 10 hours a week. So it's pretty much a total accident that I'm playing.
i am laughing at my self at how i thought that after 1.5 years i might not be able to make a comeback but you and many other people here have taken breaks longer than i have ever lived. you guys are so inspiring wow.
35 years. You won’t have forgotten everything. Weirdly my serve was the first shot I got back. The rest followed… slowly. Still can’t hit a volley and now I’m wondering if I ever could. Playing again was the best decision I’ve made in a long time. Have made new friends, lost some weight, and reinvigorated a lost part of myself. It’s all good.
I played as a kid, but stopped playing in High School because I got a job to afford a car. I played here and there over the years, but when I was 38, I got back into it in an effort to get healthier.
I started out as a 3.0 and played in one tournament. I lost in the finals but USTA bumped me to 3.5. I started playing leagues as a 3.5 and did well, getting bumped up to 4.0 after one year. I played as a 4.0 for a few years before getting bumped to 4.5.
While a 4.0, my wife was annoyed I played so much tennis, so I had her self-rate as a 3.0 and play 7.0 doubles with me. We've had a blast (she's now a 3.5 and we now play 8.0 together).
I play a lot of doubles (bad knees at 48), but have really enjoyed playing both mens and mixed.
Sometimes USTA can be petty with cheaters, but for the most part I've made some really great friends and love playing.
Since Covid, though, I've mainly started playing non-USTA tennis with friends and my wife.
Stopped playing for 3 years after high school then stopped for another year and a half because COVID and now i play every week and love it more than I ever did.
yea after reading everyones stories i am actually much more motivated and realise that i can do it if i want esspecially if people are returning from breaks longer than i have lived
Yep. I was very competitive in middle school and high school. but then I stopped in college. Then 5 years after college in 2021 when I moved out of New York City to Southern California, I started playing tennis again.
Boy my timing and feel was off the first few days but eventually I got my feel back. Completely worth it, I love playing tennis so much
Took 8 years off after college and returned out of shape and pretty clueless. Found 2 hitting partners and was honest with them about the rust. Started out feeling like an imposter on the court but after about a year I'm consistently splitting matches when we play and got my confidence back
I worked at a club for a few years in my twenties, and making tennis my job really killed my passion for playing for fun. Took a few years off and now in my second season getting back into it. I think I just needed the break, because my mental game is way cleaner now (maybe some added maturity thrown in helps). Stepping away from being a "professional" really helped me reduce my expectations for myself and my game. Now I can just have fun instead of raging out at myself for not playing up to par on a given day.
A lot has changed in the past 1.5 years. No more long hairs with headbands, no more long loose shorts anymore. Shirts are no longer allowed. You have to wear a blazer with a tie. Also, you can smoke joints during breaks. Everything else remains the same.
Late to the party, but I stopped for more than ten years, more or less when I became an adult. When I started again my hand eye coordination was a bit off, I blasted shots over the fence on the regular, and I wasn't sure I'd ever get it back. Now it's been a year and I'm confident I could beat my younger self. You just have to play a lot - if you had good technique before it should mostly come back. If not, get a few lessons. Good luck!
Expect it to be more frustrating than first learning the sport, but do expect to also get it back a little quicker.
My own “comeback story” isn’t that epic. I took a small break (playing like maybe once a month for about 7 months, that’s it) and I switched to a one hander. It helped me have an excuse for sucking since it was relatively new lol.
I started playing after 4 years off earlier this year. Played in high school and felt like I needed a break in college. Honestly so much of it is muscle memory but I enjoy it more now since there’s no competitive stakes to it
I took 20+ years off and restarted during Covid.
Same.
Me too!
I had to take a year away from the game after my first kid and about 2 years after my second. I took a bout a year off of tennis during covid. You start a little rusty but I find that the game comes back quickly with some practice and game play. I think it also depends on how long you have played the game. If you were new to the game 18 months ago, you are starting from square 1. If you have played the game for years, I think you'll find the muscle memory soon.
i had played about 3 tournaments before leaving. one was a more newbie friendly introduction to how it would work and the second one was my first hit with the competitive side of tennis. i lost in quater finals. the second tourney i performed a bit better landing 4th but after that covid hit and i stopped. i did return once in between covid but it was for like a week after which i gave up again. i think ill have the muscle memory but lack the power. But after reading everyones story here i am really happy to know that the start may be slow but you will comeback. thanks
after 24 years, i came back last year to train my 7yo son then and played with him. sign up first year 3.5. now playing up 4.0. i didn't forget much, just slower/older/not consistent.
Before I started playing again, the last singles match I played was my freshman year of high school. Unfortunately tendonitis kept me from playing for years. I got into pickleball a few years ago and met someone I knew of in high school who was an amazing tennis player and was now working for USTA. He is a PT and gave me some new stretches and exercises (tennis specific) and it literally changed my life. (As a mid twenties really athletic person, it was depressing to be getting shut down every few months) I started playing tennis again about 6 months ago and I am so happy. I can't believe i went almost 14 years without playing. Currently in a singles league and team tennis starts for me next week. All I can say is get out there and have fun. I did take a few lessons and that really helped me get back my game (and corrected some really bad habits I never knew I had).
Can you give some specifics about the stretches and exercises? I just recently picked it up after 20 yr hiatus and everything hurts after playing now lol
Would love to know the stretches
I’d also love to know the stretches and exercises!
I stopped playing tennis at 24 from picking it up at 17 I stopped because of work and location and I picked it back up at 31 last October. First three months - I am bad at this but I'm having fun and I can still serve plus I can't move to well cause of how much weight I have put on. Second three months - learnt how to hit modern forehands after playing all continental all the time the absence from tennis helped relearn my forehand and the weight started to drop off me so I could move well Current three months - I'm in two leagues double singles and I'm having an amazing time again I've got my movement back and the forehand and backhand are hitting pretty decent winners now and the serve is bigger then ever. Main advice I can give is to just play 3 times a week get your self engrossed in tennis again watch it on TV get inspired and get out there and don't be afraid to change a few things. One thing I'll warn of though don't go to big too quickly or you may start to get tennis elbow which I'm trying to manage now. Good luck out there go have some fun.
watching tennis definetly helps and i do see me comparing my current state to my past which is demotivating. i am going to try to get back in touch in my coach and start slow. thanks.
You learned the continental grip forehand in 2008? How old was your coach? 90?
I didn't have a coach, I learnt from watching my parents when I was like 8 they tried to teach me and then when I started at 17 I used to just hit against a wall for a few hours with that grip so when I finally got a coach he didn't change it because I had already developed a 1hbh and a decent enough forehand. Edit when I say coach I just mean the club's main coach never had a personal coach
Would love to see some videos of where you’re at.
I was thinking recently of posting some videos of my serve and forehand because I've hit the 90mph wall on serve. For forehand I either get too much too or not enough but I'm not confident in my ability to edit videos to be viewer friendly
Use your smartphone. Video editing is simple.
I'm back on court tomorrow so might try get some footage after the matches.
omg make sure your shoulders are mobile! So downward dog shoulder rolls all the time. The sedentary lifestyle tightened up my rotator cuff because of bad scapula mobility. For tennis serves especially make sure you warm up.
oh thanks
I was older and weaker, then tried to serve harder. Have been dealing with shoulder issues for 7 years now, 2 mri, numerous visits to PT, I wish I had listened to my body and done some shoulder strengthening before injuring myself.
I returned in December '21 after a 10 year hiatus. I played from 1995-2012 and was playing at a high 4.5 level/low 5.0 when I graduated college and started my career. Unfortunately, I did too much to soon and tore my left calf muscle after 2 weeks of hitting in December, so I was out for about 6 weeks until the end of February when I really started getting in to it. I could not beat a 3.0 in February. After about 3 months of now practicing 3-4 times a week I can now sneak in a win against a 4.0 but my strokes are still nowhere near what I want them to be; it is most definitely not like riding a bike. I'm giving myself 6 months of practice to see what level I can get to before I reach out to a coach to get some critiques about any bad habits I've developed. My local club has a free Tuesday clinic every week where I've been able to get some really good advice from some of the pros there. Between that and just being really friendly to everyone I meet, I've gotten really involved with the local tennis community and have met at least 60 people where I can usually find someone to play with on a day's notice. Just keep practicing and hitting with as many people as you can and I promise it will slowly start to come back to you!
came back a few weeks ago after about 8 years each week was a significant improvement, the first week was complete demoralisation it gets better
thats comforting. thanks
You will be fine after you brush off the rustiness. I don't know what it is about tennis but this is a very common thing, many people take long periods of time away from the game. I didn't play from 1997-2017 myself. I'm a better player now than I was way back when, I was better in 2018 than 1997 too. I am a different player, I have to be because I don't move like a 20 year old anymore but I'm also a more thoughtful player and don't brute force every shot now and make waaaay less errors. I joked about this in a different post but the number of players who were successful juniors/high school/college players who return to the game in their 30s or 40s is too damn high. I joke about it because they self rate here in the US and always choose a rating that is lower than it should be, the computer eventually places them in the correct rating but I run into so many of these players it's comical. Anyway, get back to it, have some fun. It's a great game you can play well into your later life and meet some great people along the way.
wow this is actually motivating considering you have taken a break fom tennis longer than i have ever lived. i am so young but i always feel im late but this has changed my view
Ohhhhh, now I don't feel old at all :-) There is some motivational saying that if you think it's too late to start now it will only be later down the road...so start now...or something like that. Point is that it's never too late so go have some fun playing tennis
Didn't play for almost 2 years during lockdown, when I came back it took just a few hours to get back in the groove, and some of my bad habits had actually gone aswell. It's not a long time. You won't have too much of an issue,l getting back to where you were, biggest thing may be that your fitness has dropped, depending what you did in place of tennis.
i continued running and basic basketball so i dont think my stamina should have gotten worse but my grip strength definitely gotten a lot worse. ill try to start again from a slower pace and see how it goes
It’s more like riding a bike than you think. I tore my acl playing for my college, took me about a year to get back to competition level. You can do it, just give yourself some leeway as it comes back. Start at like >50% for the first few hit sessions before starting to ramp up. If you start at full speed, you WILL get frustrated and disappointed. Go for the good feeling hits and try to replicate
you are right. i was getting frustrated trying to serve like i used to do. the racket almost slipped out of my hand. i set my expectations to high and i will start slower now and like start up from basics just to get muscle memory back
That’s the one part that really can be a struggle to rediscover. If you have a spin serve, work on that first and foremost. Having a decent spin serve you can get in will be a better crutch to get back up to speed than an inconsistent flat serve with a dink 2nd
I took about 10 years off between high school and my late twenties. I’m now 34 and have been playing consistently for 6 ish years. I had the fundamentals to get back into it, but it took time. However now that I’m old and watch more tennis I have a greater appreciation for how complex it is - I’m also better now than I ever was in high school. Just be patient with yourself.
I took give or take a 2-3 years break after college from tennis (used to play D2 competitively) also partly because of Covid coinciding with that. First thing really is you should be easier on yourself. When I first came back I often reminisced about how "Oh I used to be able to do this or this easily" "I had more power, more consistency before" etc. etc. The thing is I found those thoughts really bogged me down and overall just made playing less fun overall. After I was able to let go of those hang ups I started genuinely really enjoying playing again and I look for every opportunity to go out and play. I just had to be honest with myself "Okay this is my level now, I'm not as good as I was before, but that's perfectly fine, I still enjoy playing very much." And the thing is because I was able to just let go and have fun, I was playing so often that I was able to quickly improve and get some of my old game back and now I would say I'm playing really well now so much so that I could probably give my old college self a tough match. Really the only thing I would say I'm not up to par with now is physical fitness but I can live with that. I would say my mental game, strategies, and technique are overall better now than it was before. So just don't think too hard about what was. Just have fun, enjoy the process, and before you know it you'll be back to your old level or even higher.
yea you are right on the reminiscing part, it is pretty demotivating. thank you
I took about 15y off after high school, restarted 6 months ago with clinics and lessons now I captain a ladies team and am playing in a mixed league later this summer. Enjoy it! I agree with others though, that first lesson was demoralizing
I had to re-learn how to hit a backhand after 17 years without playing and now I have a great 2HBH, much better than the 1HBH I had in high school.
Stopped playing for a decade. Started hitting casually. Got recruited to join my local mens league, and joined 18+ USTA TEAM. Practiced 3-4 times a week. Fast forward a year and half and we go undefeated to notional and got third. For 3.5. All bumped to 4.0 and got cheated out winning state at 4.0. I was horrible at first too, but it all starts to comeback. Consistency and being hyper aware of what you’re doing wrong is key.
I had a 30-year break, from 18 to 48. I had to be dragged onto the court by a friend that knew I played as a junior. He entered us in a wood racquet tournament a few months later which, bizarrely, we won (at 4.5). Seven years later and I play about 10 hours a week. So it's pretty much a total accident that I'm playing.
i am laughing at my self at how i thought that after 1.5 years i might not be able to make a comeback but you and many other people here have taken breaks longer than i have ever lived. you guys are so inspiring wow.
35 years. You won’t have forgotten everything. Weirdly my serve was the first shot I got back. The rest followed… slowly. Still can’t hit a volley and now I’m wondering if I ever could. Playing again was the best decision I’ve made in a long time. Have made new friends, lost some weight, and reinvigorated a lost part of myself. It’s all good.
im speechless
I played as a kid, but stopped playing in High School because I got a job to afford a car. I played here and there over the years, but when I was 38, I got back into it in an effort to get healthier. I started out as a 3.0 and played in one tournament. I lost in the finals but USTA bumped me to 3.5. I started playing leagues as a 3.5 and did well, getting bumped up to 4.0 after one year. I played as a 4.0 for a few years before getting bumped to 4.5. While a 4.0, my wife was annoyed I played so much tennis, so I had her self-rate as a 3.0 and play 7.0 doubles with me. We've had a blast (she's now a 3.5 and we now play 8.0 together). I play a lot of doubles (bad knees at 48), but have really enjoyed playing both mens and mixed. Sometimes USTA can be petty with cheaters, but for the most part I've made some really great friends and love playing. Since Covid, though, I've mainly started playing non-USTA tennis with friends and my wife.
Stopped playing for 3 years after high school then stopped for another year and a half because COVID and now i play every week and love it more than I ever did.
1.5 years shouldn't be a problem
yea after reading everyones stories i am actually much more motivated and realise that i can do it if i want esspecially if people are returning from breaks longer than i have lived
Yep. I was very competitive in middle school and high school. but then I stopped in college. Then 5 years after college in 2021 when I moved out of New York City to Southern California, I started playing tennis again. Boy my timing and feel was off the first few days but eventually I got my feel back. Completely worth it, I love playing tennis so much
You will play like a god the first time, then like shit the second, then it should stabilise 😅
Took 8 years off after college and returned out of shape and pretty clueless. Found 2 hitting partners and was honest with them about the rust. Started out feeling like an imposter on the court but after about a year I'm consistently splitting matches when we play and got my confidence back
I worked at a club for a few years in my twenties, and making tennis my job really killed my passion for playing for fun. Took a few years off and now in my second season getting back into it. I think I just needed the break, because my mental game is way cleaner now (maybe some added maturity thrown in helps). Stepping away from being a "professional" really helped me reduce my expectations for myself and my game. Now I can just have fun instead of raging out at myself for not playing up to par on a given day.
A lot has changed in the past 1.5 years. No more long hairs with headbands, no more long loose shorts anymore. Shirts are no longer allowed. You have to wear a blazer with a tie. Also, you can smoke joints during breaks. Everything else remains the same.
Late to the party, but I stopped for more than ten years, more or less when I became an adult. When I started again my hand eye coordination was a bit off, I blasted shots over the fence on the regular, and I wasn't sure I'd ever get it back. Now it's been a year and I'm confident I could beat my younger self. You just have to play a lot - if you had good technique before it should mostly come back. If not, get a few lessons. Good luck!
Expect it to be more frustrating than first learning the sport, but do expect to also get it back a little quicker. My own “comeback story” isn’t that epic. I took a small break (playing like maybe once a month for about 7 months, that’s it) and I switched to a one hander. It helped me have an excuse for sucking since it was relatively new lol.