Stan enrolled his teenage son Jamey for a tennis class. The new coach handed them a list of mandatory sports gear for playing tennis. They spent a lot of time cruising through the mall and bought some new sportswear but fell short of time when they wished to buy tennis shoes. Upon reaching home, Stan went online and bought the best looking pair of tennis shoes for Jamey. The tennis class began. However, a week later, Jamey started complaining of severe foot pain and had to be taken to a podiatrist. Do you feel this problem could have been avoided? Yes, it could have been avoided. Read more to get some tips for choosing the perfect pair of tennis shoes. For Getting Perfect Pair of Tennis Shoes Expert podiatrist around the world unanimously say that tennis shoes will always differ from normal athletic shoes. Here is how you can get the perfect pair of tennis shoes. Understand Foot Type One of the first and foremost thing to do, is to understand the kind of feet that you have. There are people with either arched feet or flat feet. The shoe designs differ for both feet types. Ideally, flat feet are prone to more foot pain without proper heal support and therefore, shoes for flat feet need to be chosen with care. Purchasing Time The tissues in our feet tend to contract during the cooler night times and expand throughout the day on account of blood circulation and climatic heat. This expansion rises by approximately 10% during strenuous activities like running or playing tennis. Therefore, the best time to shop for tennis shoes is usually after you have finished playing tennis for the day or in late afternoons or evenings. This is the time when your feet will have expanded to their full limit. Foot Sizes This is again a crucial criterion for selection of perfect tennis shoes. What most of us do not realize is that our feet are dissimilar in size, length and width wise. In such a case, ask your podiatrist or shoe expert to measure your feet before you go out shoe shopping. Now look out for shoes that fit the larger foot perfectly. Often, this tends to be your perfect shoes size. You may also carry along your old comfortable pair of tennis shoes and socks to help you understand how well these new shoes fit you. Nature of Game One important factor that helps point out the best pair of tennis shoes is the nature of tennis court that you play on. There are separate shoe varieties to suit hard court players and clay court players. Shoe Trials It is recommended that you should try out tennis shoes in a standing position rather than a sitting position. This is because, our feet spread out when they take full body weight than when we are sitting. Also, these trials can be used to get an idea of comfort level offered by a pair of shoes in tennis foot positions like pivoting, cutting and on balls of feet. One should ideally walk or jog around the store to understand if the shoes are comfortable or not. There needs to be a minimum gap of 2 fingers between the tip of your longest toe (usually your big toe or hallux) and the inner edge of the shoe. Material and Finishing Touches It is essential that the materials used in making your shoes should be as airy as possible so as to let your foot breathe. You definitely don't want your feet to feel stuffy and sweaty after a long game. Put in your hand inside the shoes and watch out for some rough inner edges and prominent seams that are likely to cause shoe bites. You definitely want to avoid nursing a bad shoe bite after spending so many dollars on new shoes! Look out for added features like foot pads and lighter shoe weight. Players need to listen to their heart and especially their feet when finalizing their shoes. Judge the knowledge of sales personnel in shoe shops before you rely on their advice for purchasing new variety shoes. Always buy shoes with a shorter break-in time to ensure quicker foot comfort.