You're not alone if you stick to your favorite brand for running—but that company may make tennis shoes a little bit differently, and you could find another brand's shoe is better suited for you when it comes to tennis.
If Internet shopping is your thing, go ahead for the research, reading the reviews, comparing prices—there's no harm in that. But if getting on the court with running shoes is mistake No. 1, buying tennis shoes online is mistake No. 2, according to Nolen.
"I'm an active online shopper myself, but shoe purchasing is not something that should be [online], you need to try it on, go to a tennis pro shop or one of the big box stores," he says. "Try it on and get something specific for tennis—and realize you can get a good tennis shoe for $65 or $75."
More: Essential Equipment for Beginner Tennis Players
If you're concerned about the dollars, think about it this way: You're getting into tennis and want to get the gear you need. You spend a couple hundred dollars on your shiny new racket, and find you're only playing a couple of times a year. If you spend some money on tennis shoes, and find you're not hitting the court as much as you want, you can still use those shoes—in the yard, walking around, pretty much whatever you want. You could probably still use your racket for self-defense or as a giant bug killer, but most likely, it'll collect dust in your garage.
Hopefully, you stick with the sport, and both items will get more use than that.
"I understand for someone beginning a new activity, they don't want to make that expense, but it's much better to make that expense on shoes and wait on the racket," Nolen says. "Shoes are the most important thing that people should buy."
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