want to pick up tennis, shill me on entry level gear pls

Try out 2-3 rackets (you can get demos from a local shop), pick the one you like most, don’t change it for 2 years.

3 good ones to try if you’re new:
- Pure Drive 100
- Ezone 100
- Clash 100

String with any kind of synthetic hit string, at around 52 lbs tension.

These are all high end rackets but pretty neutral / default settings. Will give you a high ceiling and plenty of room to tune as you go.

For shoes just get real tennis shoes, not running shoes.

🙏 🙏 

would using my existing ~minimalist shoes be a mistake?

I briefly tried tennis, and even with a proper tennis shoe, I ended up falling once and twisting my ankle and had to do weeks of physical therapy. So yeah, get proper shoes, and beyond that still be careful and learn proper movement form from someone. Rapid lateral movements are more dangerous than we realize.