4 fun racquet sports to try this summer

If you want to get active this summer, there are lots of racquet sports you can try. Here's how to get started on some of the most popular ones.

• Tennis is the most prestigious of all racquet sports.
• Tennis can be played indoors or outdoors, by two or four people on a court.
• Different playing surfaces create different conditions. For example, synthetic surfaces tend to be hard, with a high bounce and fast play style; clay is considered slow but allows for a good bounce; and grass can be slippery and unpredictable, with a lower bounce but a faster speed than clay.
• Due to the size of the playing surface and the small number of participants, the costs associated with playing tennis can be high when you factor in club membership and court time.

Like tennis, badminton is played with two or four players. Instead of a ball, opponents hit a shuttlecock, also known as a birdie.

• The shuttlecock is made of feathers (real or synthetic), attached to a cork which flies at a slow speed.
• Techniques and strategy are used to clear the birdie or drop it, thereby causing the opponent to run across the court in an attempt to prevent them from returning the serve.
• Today badminton competitions are normally played inside. It can also be practiced outdoors on the lawn, as long as the wind is cooperative.

Table tennis or Ping-Pong is played with two or four players.

• A ping-pong table is designed to evoke the appearance of a miniature tennis court, and as the name suggests, it relies on the same rules as tennis.
• Table tennis is played indoors. Opponents use smaller racquets (or paddles) to rally a small, plastic ball.
• The game is very fast, and the ball travels at impressive speeds.

Both squash and racquetball are indoor racquet sports, but unlike other racquet sports, there is no net separating the court.

• Instead of hitting a ball over the net, you hit a small ball against four walls.
• Walls are used to bounce the ball as far away from the opponent as possible to prevent them from retrieving it.
• The ball used for these sports is heavier than a tennis ball, making for very fast exchanges.

Whatever your preference, racquet sports have one thing in common: they require good physical fitness.