I started playing tennis just a few months ago. The summer of 2006.  My intent was to get back in shape, after a…, oh, 5 year break.  When my wife was pregnant with our twin boys, I gained more than her. It hasnt come off, so, enter tennis.

One thing Ive been pretty good about, I think, is playing to have fun.  I am eager to play more, and with advanced players, even though I know I cant win. Im in it for excersize. I long to be good, but it aint happening without lots of practice.  I did find some good tips for this situation though, that is, beginner playing player an advanced player at about.com. 

1. Hit groundstrokes high to hit deep. Unless you hit hard, aiming your forehands and backhands between three and eight feet above the net will almost guarantee that you’ll get the ball in, and it will also help you keep the ball deep. Very deep balls can often draw an error from an inexperienced opponent, and depth in general will limit your opponent’s options. You’ll want to hit some short balls on purpose, but your standard shot should be deep.
2. Hit second serves high to hit deep. Aim your second serves two to five feet above the net for reliability and depth. The pros do this too, but they use heavy topspin that allows them to add quite a bit more pace than you’ll be able to. If you know you have a reliable second serve, you can experiment more with an aggressive first serve and probably earn a few easy points. Until you start learning to spin your first serve, not too many hard ones will go in, but experimenting will help you judge how much speed to attempt.
3. Pull your opponent forward, then hit past her. This is one of the easiest and most reliable tactics you can use. Hitting a short ball to an advanced player is extremely dangerous, because she’ll usually reply with a winner, but beginners will most often just hit the ball right back to you. Beginners get caught in “No Person’s (formerly No Man’s) Land,” the area between the baseline and service line, all the time. When you see your opponent there, just aim the ball to either side of her and several feet deeper than she is standing, and you’ll almost certainly win the point.
4. Recover your court position quickly. This is your defense against tip #3 and a lot of other difficult situations. Unless you’re attacking at the net, which isn’t easy as a beginner, you should get back to a spot somewhat diagonally opposite your opponent and roughly three feet behind your baseline after each ball you hit.
5. Use full swings. Full swings don’t have to be fast swings. It’s tempting to poke at the ball as a way to keep from hitting too hard, but you’ll find that a longer swing is far more reliable, and it will be much better for your arm and your rate of improvement. If you want to take some speed off your shot, just slow down your full swing.

Derrik Dyka, Minneapolis tennis player (learning!), and realtor