Tennis as a beginner - how to improve?

[AnthonyCrowley]

I've recently upgraded mine and 18 yo dd's gym membership to include tennis.

I haven't played since I was a kid and dd reckons she had a few lesson at school.

We played at the weekend and as we were new members one of the tennis coaches came to help us for an hour. I got on OK, dd can barely hit the ball.

I have a friend I can play with and the tennis coach said he's also going to fix me up with another new member who he thinks I could play with. I'm bothered about dd and asked about her - apparently she's not good enough for social tennis but could do cardio tennis. Which by the sound of it is hit the odd ball and then run a few lengths of the court and then try and hit a ball again. So not actual tennis, but I get it might help her coordination a bit - but doesn't sound like there will be coaching on how to control the ball. Which is what she needs.

I'm happy to play with her but if it's anything like the other day I will spend 30 mins doing gentle serves/throws to her. She misses 80% of them and of the ones she does hit none of them come back over the net. Will she get better if we persevere with this or do I need to pay for lessons at £30 a go and if so how many before she gets to a level where she can partake in some fun games?

Oh and can anyone recommend any good beginners rackets?

Bumping this because I'm a complete novice at tennis too and don't know how to improve!

Good coaching makes all the difference IME. I was a decent junior player and so I've had a fair bit of coaching over the years. I've played pretty much all my life... but I joined a new team a couple of years ago and the coach there has taught me loads of stuff I didn't know how to do before.
It's improved my game/enjoyment massively, more than I would ever have thought tbh!

So it's the quality of the coaching that helps IME. I don't think it takes many sessions to make a big improvement with a coach who knows what they're doing. What did the coach do - did he help with techniques/movement etc? Is there scope for 1:1 sessions/small group coaching? If your DD wants to play tennis itself, this cardio tennis doesn't sound like it will fit the bill?

Also £30 seems really expensive for a lesson and I can appreciate you might not want to spend that on top of the gym membership! (I pay £6 per hour for a small group lesson (usually 6 of us) with an LTA registered coach, maybe she should be charging us more!) Would a small group lesson be an option as that might be cheaper? She might only need a small block if lessons to see a big improvement and then as you said, it'll be much more enjoyable for her just to play some social games.

Also I would ask the coach or go to a racquet sports shop for advice on which racquet - you don't need to spend loads to get a decent one.

Sorry, I just realised my first post made it sound like I think I was destined to be Serena Williams or something I definitely wasn't.

I was just trying to say I was pootling along quite nicely, but then a decent coach taught me loads of new stuff in a very short time, which made a big difference as it felt like loads of things just clicked. And made playing a lot more fun in the process.

Thanks. Think I'm going to have to pay for some lessons. They don't do group lessons sadly.