Steal This Drill: Serving With a Purpose

The purpose of this drill is to practice connecting the serve with the next shot in order to combine a deadly 1-2 punch combination. Often times, players will practice their ground strokes, then practice their serves (usually at the end of practice) and, perhaps, play a couple of points at the end. This is the only times when they have the opportunity to combine the two and figure out what they want or need to do with the shot that comes back after the serve. And, unless you're name is John Isner, the serve will usually come back. Therefore, it is important to master a combination play and take the guessing work out of the situation.

In other words, IF the serve comes back, you know exactly WHERE you place the next ball and HOW you can go about doing it. In the figures above, the blue line represents the path of the serve; the yellow lines represent the path of the returns; and the red represent the path of the server's follow-up shot.

First, set up the service box by dividing it into two halves. Tell your partner the half of the box into which you will be serving; s/he will then return it either down-the-line or cross court (agree in advance; maybe 5 minutes on each side). The server takes the return and redirects it again towards a target to the opposite side of the court (i.e., away from the returner). The players can either do a set number of serve/returns or stay in a particular role for a set number of minutes and then switch roles. This way, both players get to serve/open up the court and return. This is a drill that can be done with/without a coach so there's no excuse for not doing it. Thus, when your coaches tell you that you need to "work on serves and/or returns", please feel free to "steal this drill" and accomplish your mission. By repeating this drill a few days a week, you will become more confident at knowing how to react to a returned serve (fast feet; low center of gravity; quick back-swing; explosive follow-through) which will take more pressure off your serves to begin with (because you won't have to rely on an Ace or service winner to win the point). In addition, this is another great way for the players to get focused and repetitive practice for their returns.

Steal This Drill: The Backhand Game

In honor of my dad's birthday, "MR. G", I present to you "the backhand drill". When learning to play, he always told me that you're only as good as your backhand and second serve. If both or either of those two components break down, it's going to be tough row to hoe. Anyway, the purpose of this drill is to get as much repetition and backhand practice as possible. This is particularly important for juniors who seem to hit forehands day-in and day-out but regard the backhand as a mere after thought. Here's a little tip from an old snake: don't let me catch you with a glaring weakness on your backhand; I don't care how good your forehand may because you're simply never going to hit it (don't even bother warming it up - j/k) or you're only going to hit it from the most awkward positions. I'm not too proud to slice you, dice you, moonball or junk your forehand to get enough of the backhand exposed. So make your backhand rock solid or be prepared to run.

Figure 1: this is a half-court game up to 10, 15, 21, etc. where the players (a) can only hit backhands; (b) the ball can only go cross court unless you go down-the-line drop shot (player chasing the drop shot CAN hit a forehand on that play only). Players cannot hit inside out forehands but can come to the net where they can hit forehand volleys. The point, however, is to stay back and grind with the backhand.

Figure 2: this game is the same as the one in Figure 1 although the players get to use "more court" (i.e., players can hit 2-3 feet in the down-the-line half (deuce side)). The purpose of this drill is to learn how to hit the backhand and recover to the middle (otherwise you get caught with a forehand). This is particularly useful for players who tend to plant themselves 2-3 feet in the backhand side of the court. Anytime you get complacent, a good player is going to take advantage of your positioning so it's always preferable to "stick and move".

Steal This Drill: Practical Ways To Train With 6+ Players/Court

Our first request for a drill comes from Paul N. from Iowa. Paul runs a small junior academy and, with winter coming, he wanted to know if with limited time and court space there would be a practical way to have 6 or more players on court without it becoming a zoo or resulting in too much loafing around. I said, "buddy, you came to the right place." You see, in Romania we only had 3-4 indoor, wood courts/city and those would have to be shared with: volleyball, team handball, basketball, indoor soccer, gymnastics, martial arts, etc. So whenever we had access to a tennis court we were forced to not just double up, but quintuple up (and whatever the proper word may be for 6, 7, 8 or more). What can I say, in US we watched "Rocky"; in Eastern Europe we lived it. So here are the drills: 

Figure 1: one pair of players practices short court down-the line. Since they stay just inside the baseline, they have better ball control so they shouldn't need as much room. Therefore, the doubles alley is all they need. A pair of players hit volley-volley (tap-tap). Again, they also do not need much room. The other pair of players hit from baseline and thy need more room to hit. This is usually a good way to warm up. Other players may be jumping rope, running or doing some other physical exercise. Players would cycle in, work their way through every position and then transition to/fitness routine. 

Figure 2: This is for 6 players on court. Two players (on their own "X") hit cross court. On the other side, one player lines up right behind each other. These players hit the ball cross-court also and then move outwards toward the sidelines allowing the other player to hit the next shot. Usually, there were specific markers that the player would have to touch or run around. This way, players practiced hitting as well as movement. In many of these drills, more emphasis was put on movement than actual hitting. Same as above, some players could have been doing fitness in the corners waiting their turn. 

Figure 3: In this drill, all players are at the net and hitting volley-volley. One player was usually by himself hitting volley against two players. This drill is fairly easy to figure out. 

Figure 4: This is a variation of the drill in Figure 2 in that there are EIGHT (8) or 6 players on court hitting either cross-courts or down the line. Two players can line up right behind the other and hit either cross-courts or down the lines against another pair. A player wold hit the ball and then rotate wide and around making sure that she leaves plenty of room for his partner. The other half of the court would do the same. Again, with players doing fitness in the corners, you could easily have 12 players getting a good workout. This is a pretty challenging drill because movement and ball control are key. The players cannot just "hit the ball to get rid of it"; they have to hit the ball cleanly and with a lot of control. 

Figure 5: In this drill, all 6 players are at the net hitting volleys. This is more of a "fun" game although it becomes QUITE CHALLENGING when two balls are added into the mix. It's a bit difficult to demonstrate on paper but the basic concept is that one of the player (in the alley) feeds the ball to the player in front of him, that player volleys it back diagonally to the "T" player; that player volley it in front of him to the other "T" player; that player volleys it diagonally to the alley player; that player volleys is in front of him to the other alley player that player then volleys it diagonally to the "T" player; and so on. A slight variation is where the "T" players do volley-volleys with the two alley players on the opposite side (wide "V" pattern). 

Figure 6: This is a variation of the Figure 3 drill but, in this case, only two players are at the net ("T" position on both sides). The other 4 players (2 per set) are at the baseline. In this drill, one of the player hits both against a volley and a ground-stroke. This way, he gets to see both a topspin and a skidding volley (and boy did those balls skid on the wood surface). 

In these drills, footwork and ball control are preeminent. I can tell you that sloppy work was more than frowned upon. You were expected to take pride in your work and show "teamwork" because this was EVERYONE'S practice not just yours. But we can see that with some imagination and some hard work, there is a workable way to make a decent practice happen for 6 or more players on court. In addition, these drills will demonstrate the benefits of combining tennis and fitness at the same time. 

Please feel free to send questions, drill suggestions or requests to catenniseditor@gmail.com. 

Steal This Drill: Return Practice

Here is a neat drill for practicing two things: returning solidly away from the sidelines (thereby neutralizing the server's initial advantage) and, for the server, learning how to construct points without relying on aces and service winners. The fact that the server is also trying to improve his jam-serve is a bonus (since this is often under-utilized in junior tennis). 

The drill is as follows: set up an area in the middle of the service box that is 2.5 feet from the [service box] sidelines (see shaded service box area above). This will give the returner ample opportunity to "see" many serves and get the balls back in play. Also, set up an area on the server's side that is 3-5ft from his sidelines. The returner must return in this area in order for the point to start. After that, anything goes (i.e. players can use the whole court). But the purpose is to train the returner to hit smart, high-percentage shots on the returns and apply lots of pressure on the server. This is also good for the server (especially if he's the big serving type who relies a lot on quick points) since now he has to construct a point with his head and his heart. Play practice games up to 10, 15 or 7-11 (I.e. Where the server must get to 11 before the returner gets to 11) and rotate; rinse and repeat as necessary. With lots of opportunities to see the serve and practice returns you, as a returner, will become more proficient at putting some heat on the server. As a server, you will gain more confidence from knowing that you can construct a point without relying on aces or service winner (allowing you to actually be more relaxed on your first serves). If possible, have two or three servers against one returner and play two points against each. This way, the returner gets a "look" at more than one service motion and can adjust for each. 

Steal This Drill: "Z" Forehand Drill

Many players are familiar with the volley drill popularized by the Bryan Brothers. In this drill, one player start in opposite corners of the service/side line and work their way side-to-side hitting back and forth volleys. This is a good drill for learning to control a moving object with the volleys while the player is also on the move. The only caveat is that you're supposed to move FORWARDS at the net so performing this drill exclusively might not be the best thing for your volley game. However, in the same vein as the "Z" volley drill, one could practice (along with a partner) the "Z" Forehand Drill. This is where the players position themselves at opposite corners at the baseline and work their way side--to-side by trading forehand. In the diagram above, A feeds X; X hits to B; B hits to Y; Y hits to C; C hits to Z; Z hits back to C; C hits to Y; Y hits to B; B hits to X; X hits to A. This is the basic concept of the game. In practice, there will be multiple targets but the point is the players push each other around the court with their forehands and learn how to set up for the ball and exploit angles. To spice things up, try playing the point out after performing the drill for one minute.