Practice Awkward Shots

In general, professional men are far more skilled on the court than professional women.  No situation seems too foreign and the racket skills are impeccable when called upon to get themselves out of a jam.  Hitting awkward shots from obscure positions in the court is a very real skill.  There can be a wide variety of factors for this, obviously the athleticism and testosterone necessary to propel a unique combination of strength and uncanniness to work together in these rare situations.  But why is it that some players are better at it than others?  Henine, Schiavone, Niculescu for modern day women.  Almost all the men have a high proficiency of caginess, but most notably uncanny are Dolgopolov, Santoro, Tomic, Federer, Djokovic to name a few.  

If some women can do it, but almost all men are cagey with their racket skills- why is that?  One conclusion is men simply practice awkward shots more than women.  Men love to play mini-tennis, practice on the wall, try goofy shots, slice on purpose, try tweeners, dropshots, high backhand volleys, topspin dive volleys, the list goes on.  Dirk Notitzki, the German NBA superstar who led his Dallas Mavericks to the NBA Championship last year adamantly practices weird shots- he makes a point of it.  

"Nowitzki's unusual talent is a rare marriage of athleticism, improvisation and height. His personal shooting coach, Holger Geschwindner, said last week that Nowitzki has had the ability to shoot from one leg since he was 16. Nowitzki practices the shots at least twice a day: once at the end of practice, where teammate Corey Brewer sees Nowitzki go through a whole routine of spin moves and simulated awkwardness, and again around 7 p.m. when teammate Brian Cardinal says he has seen Nowitzki practice an array of wacky shots in every spot on the court." -Wall Street Journal

From a young age, practice being different.  Time is on your side.  Certain coaches can be very limiting in creativity in style, almost being too vanilla and dogmatic.  Sure their is always a place for consistency and discipline, but balance that with creative skills- all areas of the court.  Here is a list of some shots to practice:

• Touch volleys off any type of passing shot
• High backhand volleys (angle cc and slow or down-the-line controlled)
• Slice on the run dink pass
• Severe defense lob to the moon
• Kick serves from doubles alley on ad
• Slice serves from doubles alley on deuce
• Tweeners
• Learn to sell the dropshot by changing grip mid-swing
• Learn to sell the dropshot by moving forward as if approaching
• Slice forehands
• Block forehands
• Volleying from no-mans land
• Volleying between your legs
• Serving underhand with sideways slice
• Using different grips to hit forehands
• Using different grips to hit serves
• Using different grips to hit different types of slices and dropshots
• Hitting balls from 15 ft behind baseline
• Hitting balls from the doubles alley
• Screw CCs, can you hit down-the-line off tough balls controlled
• Slice inside-out spin DTL
• Changing speeds and heights of ball, switching gears from shot to shot

There are an endless amount of awkward shots to be practiced, so what are you waiting for?  Go make your practices fun and beneficial- but remember, the ball always has to go in the court at the end of the day.  Put in that time.  

Steal This Drill: Razorback Doubles Drill

Thank you, Brad Berry, for submitting the following doubles drill. Brad is currently the Director of Tennis at Rancho La Quinta Country Club. For more help with your doubles game as well as your general tennis game, please feel free to contact Brad directly. 

Steal This Drill: Grab a Bench for Better Depth

Again, much gratitude is due to Roy Coopersmith for suggesting the following drill. The purpose of this drill is to improve the depth of one's groundstrokes. One way to do this would be to place a broomstick or PVC pipe through, or, conversely, an Airzone Training System over the net. This forces the player to aim considerably higher than the net thereby increasing the player's margin for error in a match.

However, one problem with relying strictly on an above-the-net device is that players tend to limit their shots to height while not improving their depth. In other words, there's a risk that the player will develop high, loopy shots that bounce mid-court (and can be easy sitters for the opponent). The goal for a tennis player is to hit high over the net but to also have deep, penetrating shots that put the opponent in a defensive position (or, at least, a position from which they are unable to hurt you). As previously discussed, one of the main strategies in tennis is to hit the ball deep in order to (a) put the opponent in a defensive position and force him to expend his own energy to give pace to the ball; (b) cut down on the angles that he may be able to hit; and (c) put yurself in the best position to control time and space. In order to develop depth, it's not enough to hit the ball high or hard; it's finding the middle ground where you're staying away from the net but also hitting just inside the baseline.

You can develop this comfort zone my placing a plastic bench (chair or pee-wee tennis net) on or around the practice partner's service line (or on both sides of the court - for both players to practice). The players will then rally (baseline points) OVER the net as well as the bench. This simple exercise forces the players to hit not only high, but penetrating shots that explode off the court. Once the players master this drill, they can alternate rallies where one player hits 5-10 deep shots and then a short angle. Doing so would teach the players how to be flexible with their thinking: push the opponent deep; then yank her side-to-side with sharp angles. 

Training the Body's 3 Energy Systems

I would like to thank Ray Brown (Director of EASI Academy, Houston, TX; contributor to MidAtlantic Match Point, TennisONE, Procompare tennis and Tennis World USA) for piquing our interest in this topic. On an unrelated forum, Mr. Brown challenged contributors to (1) identify the three energy systems of the human body; (2) determine how each system is best suited for a particular tennis strategy; and (3) outline how to efficiently develop each system.

From our research - and bearing in mind that we discarded our lab coats, protractors and test tubes exactly 0.34 seconds after receiving our respective college diplomas - it appears that the three types of energy systems are as follows: ATP-PC; Glycolytic; and Oxidative.

1. ATP-PC: anaerobic energy system that utilizes ATP (as in Adenosine Triphosphate - a nucleotide that performs many essential roles in the cell including providing energy for cellular activities) to create energy. When this process takes place, ATP is broken down into ADP (Adenosine Diphosphate). The body then has to add phosphocreatine (PC) to the ADP in order to form ATP. This chemical energy source is used by living things almost like a battery - for short bursts of high-intensity work lasting approximately 10 seconds or less; think "maxing" in the weight room. In terms of tennis, this is the system that would support your body's energy needs in high intensity points of short duration: e.g., serve and volleys.

2. Glycolytic (Lactic Acid System): this system utilizes glucose (or carbohydrates stored in the muscle) to create ATP for energy. In this system, six-carbon sugars are split to three-carbon compounds with subsequent release of energy. Glycolysis can happen under anaerobic and aerobic conditions. However, because of the duration needed to break down glucose to form lactic or pyruvic acid (10 separate reactions), it is the system used for relatively short periods of high-intensity work lasting only a few minutes - think a set of circuit training. After a few minutes of work, the body accumulates lactic acid to the point where pain and fatigue (accumulation of acid breaks down the muscle) will begin to affect performance. For tennis players, this is the main source of eneregy. Most points are won and lost in bursts lasting anywhere between 30 seconds to 1 minute (more than ATP-PC but less than Oxidative). With a short rest break, the work will have to be repeated.

3. Oxidative (Aerobic System): this is an aerobic energy system where the body utilizes carbohydrates, fats and proteins to generate ATP for energy. This a complex system which relies on the circulatory system to supply oxygen. Although slow to kick in, it is the primary system used for long-term, low-to-moderate-intensity work lasting more than just a few minutes - think marathon runners. Although it's unlikely that tennis players will be called to rely on this system as a primary source of energy, it is foreseeable that under some circumstances - extremely long matches which rely mostly on endurance (extremely long points) rather than power - it may be a factor. However, we are "endurance animals" and, therefore, we should focus more on things at which we do not excel than building up the support system that we already master, The limits of endurance exercise, Basic Res. Cardiol. 2006 Sep. ("A skeletal design which favours running and walking, including the greatest ratio of leg length to body weight of any mammal; the ability to sweat and so to exercise vigorously in the heat; and greater endurance than all land mammals other than the Alaskan Husky, indicates that humans evolved as endurance animals").

A good training system will focus on developing each energy system. The first system is trained by including lots of short but high intensity drills into the practice. Think, for example, serving at 95%-100% of your speed and bolting towards the net in a quick sprint. Or, alternatively, perform 2-3 shot combos at maximum power and intensity. The player performs a lot of these sets but is given adequate time to recover. Some nutritionists would advise the post-workout ingestion of creatine (natural or supplement) along with simple sugars to rebuild the body's PC storages. The second system would be trained by performing repetitive, medium-intensity drills, lasting anywhere from 1 minute to 3 minutes. Utilize figure-8s, corners or side-to-sides (now you know why pros favor this drill). Again, adequate rest is given between sets in order to allow the body to recover. You rebuild this system by ingesting protein (amino acid leucine), glutamine, Vitamin C and water. To train the third system, you want to include drills that last anywhere from 20-40 minutes (depending on the level of the player). Although these drills would be of relatively low physical intensity (e.g. cross-courts, down-the-lines), the players should "suck in" sufficient oxygen in order for the oxidative process to commence. Players should look for slightly elevated but rhythmic breathing to ensure that enough oxygen is being ingested. If possible, coaches should develop training regimens where the boundaries of all three systems are being pushed beyond the player's comfort zones.

Nevertheless, since most points are played within the ATP-PC and Glycolytic range, a competitive player who has mastered the basics of the various strokes should spend the majority of his practices trying to improve those 2 systems. Unfortunately, a lot of players spend an inordinate amount of time working on stationary drills (which may kickstart the aerobic energy system) that have no effect on increasing the threshold of the two main energy systems for this type of an activity.

Steal This Drill: The Rainbow Drill

It is said that great minds think alike. As evidenced by the following drill, the same thing can be said about lesser minds as well (just kidding). The following drill is a collaboration between CAtennis.com, Karl Rosenstock and Roy Coopersmith. As it happened, and out of pure coincidence, the three parties discussed covering the following drill on exactly the same date. 

Here's a little background on our co-conspirators:

Karl Rosenstock: Karl is currently the official tennis X-mo cam videographer for USC Tennis and a Contributing Editor for CAtennis.com where he provides video content and articles. These days, Karl is most well known as the tennis slow mo guy insofar as he provides X-Mo cam high speed videography for tennis coaching and keepsake purposes for college tennis, tennis clubs and tennis tournaments. Karl has been a USPTA tennis teaching professional and professional television producer. He has specialties in producing, multi camera studio production and directing, lighting design and studio and remote camera operation. For more information regarding his services, please contact Karl at 415-794-5250.

Roy Coopersmith: Roy is currently the Tennis Director at Pine Bluff Country Club in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. With a tennis career spanning over 4 decades, Roy has done it all and seen it all. He was an accomplished professional, college, open as well as senior player (#6 in Germany in U40s) and, as a coach, he has had the opportunity to coach an impressive list of players including: Philipp Kohlschreiber, Lisa Raymond, Tom Shimada, Jelena Jankovic, Jamea Jackson, Christian Weiss, Toma Walter, Maja Palaversic,  Christina Singer, Kim Couts, Roko Karanusic, Helena Vildova, Nguyen Hoang (2009 Orange Bowl Champion), Josip Mesin, etc. Currently, however, his main focus is on developing the game of his daughter - Niki Coopersmith. Nevertheless, if going to the next level is your goal, Roy has the technical, tactical, mental and physical expertise to assist you.

Rainbow Drill:

Here, at CAtennis.com, we are huge fans of situational-based practice. We feel that if the players have experienced certain pressure situations in practice they will be able to relax and think more clearly in the heat of battle. In the Rainbow Drill, one of the players starts with his racket on the net chord and the other is on the baseline. The coach (or the baseline player) feeds a deep lob over the net-player. The lob should bounce somewhere close to the baseline (even slightly outside of the lines). The net player chases it down and either hits a baseline overhead or a groundstroke. The baseline player must let this ball bounce and the point starts immediately (i.e., if the net player misses the "feed" he loses the point). This drill is not only a fun variation on the ol' baseline game, but it also teaches the players how to hit overheads from less than optimal positions and, also, how to regain the advantage after having lost it. This is particularly important for juniors and female players bacause they may lack the put-away ability from the net. That is, sometimes players get to the net but fail to capitalize on the situation and are forced to "restart" the point if the opponent comes up with a decent lob. This drill will, hopefully, teach the players that losing the upper hand mid-point is not the end of the world. One can regain the advantage with a well placed shot...a shot that must be practiced and mastered.