Steal This Drill: The Iron Butterfly

Here's a neat little offense-defense drill that CAtennis.com dreamt up last night. This a two-player drill where one player (the PARTNER) stays in the corner and moves the other player (the PRINCIPAL) around. The pattern is as follows: Shot #1 - deep forehand; Shot #2 - deep backhand (or deep inside-out forehand); Shot #3 - short backhand; and Shot #4 - short forenahd. Rinse and repeat. The PARTNER's role is to work on ball control and perfect placement. His focus is to "look good" (perfect strokes and movement) and give the PRINCIPAL a good workout. 

When moving from the deep forehand to the deep backhand, the PRINCIPAL sprints forward around the cone (blue line). When moving from the short backhand to the short forehand, the PRINCIPAL circles backwards around the cone (white line). This way, the PRINCIPAL learns how to (a) hit and recover (short groundstrokes); and (b) turn defense into offense (deep groundstrokes). 

After a couple of sets, the players trade roles. The point is for each player to learn how to "hit and move" particularly when the opponent has managed to push you deep off the court and out of position. Much like Aikido and Jiu-Jitsu, tennis is a moving sport where you must learn how to use your opponent's energy (offense) against them in order to gain control (and put them on the defensive). 

One of the basic mistakes that players often make is to remain on the defensive when the opponent has managed to get them out of the comfort zone. They play the defensive role for the duration of the point without figuring out how to get back on top. In this drill, the PRINCIPAL learns that when he's pushed back, he can hit the ball high and deep and recover forward around the cone. Similarly, he learns how to recover backwards (in order to bisect the opponent's angle) when being pulled off-the court slightly short. By being moved out of his comfort zone, the PRINCIPAL manages to make his movement and his shots more effective and efficient under the given circumstances. 

Steal This Drill: Aggressive Baseline Practice Part 1

CAtennis.com received the following message from a friend and college coach: "Dear CAtennis.com, It's been a long time. I enjoy reading your tips. I am now a college coach at _____________. I have a couple of players on my team from Europe and South America and they are having difficulty adjusting to the fast-paced game of college tennis. No matter what I do, they just want to stay back and grind (like you, haha). Are there any drills you can recommend for getting them to come in more? I hope that all's well with you and we should get together soon"

Assuming that basic drills such as serve and volleying or approach-pass have been tried, I believe that part of the issue with the baseliner mentality is that they simply do not put sufficient value on points won inside the baseline. Here are two drills that one can try:

1. In the first drill, set up a the court so that there is a line about 3-4ft behind the service line on each side. At first, play regular points (maybe up to 21) and simply keep track of how many times the player ventures inside that area. This sets the measurement standard. Thereafter, play a game where the player can only hit a winner from that area (i.e. winners from baseline don't count) and that if he loses a ball from there (i.e., misses a volley or gets passed), it doesn't count. This adds a layer of confidence in that the reward of coming in outweighs the risks. In the third game, the player can still only hit winners from inside the area but he can also lose the point from there (e.g. missed volley or attacker gets passed). This means that the risks and rewards are about even. In the fourth game, adjust the scoring so that any point won from inside the area counts as two (the player can also lose the point from inside the attacking area as well as anywhere in the court). This teaches the player to add more value to points won while in an aggressive position. However, unlike the previous game, here the player can choose which point will pay the most dividend. Lastly, play another "regular" game to 21 and keep track of how they do in this game versus the first. In this game, you can also make it so that the player runs sprints (e.g. ten-balls) for the difference between points lost and number of times ventured in (for example: lost 18 points but made it inside 15 times = 3 sprints). 

2. In the second drill, set up the court so there's a line about 4 feet inside each baseline. THAT line becomes the baseline. The regular baseline is the "cliff". The rule is that if the player steps behind the baseline during the point, he falls "off the cliff" and loses the point (over-stepping the side-lines is OK). As above, try to have the players compete in a couple of baseline games and see how many choose to venture inside the service line. The objective is to become accustomed to playing from this area of the court in order to be more relaxed during the transition stage. Accordingly, the players should be instructed to "work the point" rather than slapping at the ball senselessly. Once there's an opening, seek to come in and cut off the short ball or floater (regular or swinging volley). 

One issue with college practices (or other "team" formats) is that the workouts are often designed to suit the greatest number of players without being tailored to a particular player's needs. In this regard, simply hitting more volleys is not likely to get the desired response from a pure baseliner. Sure, the volleys will improve but not his/her comfort level through the mid-court. CAtennis.com believes that these drills (part of a series) are a good step in the right direction to "stress inoculating" the grinders to the pace/style of American tennis. Hopefully, after a couple of focused workouts, the player will look at every point with the intention of stepping inside the baseline. 

Steal This Drill: Watch The Ball!!!

Are you the type of player who has trouble with focusing on the ball? Do you own a couple of tennis balls? Maybe a felt marker? Next time, draw a couple of markings on the ball (e.g., letters, numbers or symbols) about 1/2 an inch in size and rally until you can pick up the marking (coach or practice partner feeds so that you don't know which ball is being used). Guess wrong run a sprint!

With a fast moving object, the sense of sight is the most important. Train your tennis hand to eye coordination by focusing on the ball until you can spot the marking right off the opponent's string bed. The sooner you see the ball, the earlier you are able to anticipate the trajectory if the ball and prepare for it; the earlier you can prepare, the better your chance of getting in position and doing something effective and proactive with the ball. This is a great way to practice ball control. Remember, that tennis requires the striking of a moving object, with a moving object while you yourself are in motion (anticipating your opponent's future positioning is another component of motion). Or, in medi-geek: "[t]he human visual system must perform complex visuospatial extrapolations (VSE) across space and time in order to extract shape and form from the retinal projection of a cluttered visual environment characterized by occluded surfaces and moving objects", The neural correlates of visuospatial perceptual and oculomotor extrapolation (Tibber M, Saygin AP, Grant S, Melmoth D, Rees G, Morgan M.). Therefore, given the pace of the modern game, you simply cannot afford to have "lazy", untrained eyes.

Steal This Drill: Chessboxingtennis

I confess that when I first heard about chessboxing on Penn and Teller's Showtime series, I was a bit perplexed; I didn't entirely understand the benefit of combining the two activities. But then I thought: could this, rather than being an entirely new "sport", be utilized as a new training concept for tennis players? With this in mind, I looked around to the limited resources regarding the benefits of combining a physical activity with an entirely mental one.

In various studies, chess-players (when compared to control groups) have been shown to (a) possess significant advancement in spatial, numerical and administrative-directional abilities, along with verbal aptitudes; (b) experience a statistically significant gain in cognitive development; (c) have a 15% improvement in math and science test scores; (d) accelerate the increase of IQ in elementary age children of both sexes at all socio-economic levels; etc. Furthermore, an Osaka University study found heightened testosterone and cortisol (stress biomarkers) level in players who completed competitive games of shogi - Japanese chess. In addition, sports - including boxing - release (or secrete) endorphins (help combat stress and pain) and adrenaline (which stimulates heart-rate, dilate air passages, increase muscle strength for short bursts, etc.). Although no studies have been performed with respect to a combination of a cerebral activity such as chess coupled with a physical activity such as boxing, it is not hard to see how jumping from activity to activity forces the brain to adjust from focusing on controlling emotions and making calculated decisions under stress to tapping into the fight-or-flight instinct. In many ways, this is similar to tennis where, on the one hand, you need to be a zen master; on the other, a caged wild animal.

So train your mind my combining hard tennis drills (including sprints) with playing quick rounds of chess (2-minute option on your iPhone), Sudoku or Backgammon during the breaks while the coach is picking up the balls {NOTE: forget about the boxing aspect}. You don't need to do this every day, but once in a while to change things up. See how your mind adjust from performing the physical exercise to mental exercises and how clear-headed you can be while your heart is racing and your body is more focused on catching your breath. Again, the point of these drills is to "shock your system"... to get you out of your comfort zone so that you are better prepared to deal with anything that your opponent throws your way (pre-event counseling). If you think that this is crazy, see the training regimen of elite military forces; they are often subjected to basic interrogation consisting of math or geography questions during high-intensity training. The trainers want to ensure that the soldiers are keeping their wits (and heads) while everyone around them are losing theirs.

Steal This Drill: Peel the Orange for a Nasty Slice Serve

The slice serve is an often underutilized serve but one of the most effective. When juniors (and other developing players) see Isner, Roddick and Karlovic bombing aces at 145mph+ down the middle, it is easy to become mesmerized and forget about all the other serving possibilities. If, however, we put testosterone aside and analyze Roger Federer's serving pattern, we see that he is one of the best at exploting the slice serve.

As a matter of fact, Federer routinely starts his service games with the out-wide serve and uses it up to 2/3 of the time (on first serves) thoroughout the match (more on a faster surface than on a slower surface). The slice serve is effective because (a) it gets the opponent's momentum moving to the right (red arrow) and (b) even a well struck return doesn't compensate for an open court (sharp cross-court backhand or down the line forehand - both difficult to track down). On the ad-side of the court, the slice serve is a great way to start a wrong-foot play (i.e., hit behind the returner) as well as to "keep an opponent" honest (especially when she runs around your normal serves and pounds winners).

When practicing the slice serve, it is often tempting to just put a target out-wide in the service box (deuce side) and aim for it. A better way may, in fact, be to insert a broomstick or PVC pipe right through the center strap (red line) and aim for serves down-the-center. Try to get your slice serves to curve outwards (orange line) around the right side of the pipe. This may be a better way to practice than aiming straight for the wide serve because you will work on actually seeing the ball breaking around the pipe as opposed to merely hitting flat serves out-wide (i.e., "side-winder's" v. "throwing darts"). That is, you're working on the slide; the skid; the curve. As you get better, move the pipe 1 inch to your right (i.e., the opponent's ad-side - purple line above) and continue curving your serves around it down-the-T. Keep moving it inch-by-inch until the pipe is about 10 inches or a foot off-center (your right side). When you master 10 sliders around the pipe in this position, start shifting the pipe more and more to your left (i.e., towards the opponent's deuce side) until it reaches about half-way into the service box (opponent's deuce side). This is the point where the ball should to "break" left and slide out-wide.

One of the concepts to keep in mind when practicing the slice serve is to vizualize "peeling the orange". I first learned this from Guy Fritz when I was practicing at his and Kathy May's home in Rancho Santa Fe which was surrounded by orange groves. At first, I thought that he actually wanted me to quit my day job and start peeling oranges for a living but what he meant was that the string bed simulate an orange peel moving up and around the ball. Here's the interesting part: the red part of the arrow outlines the path of the string-bed BEFORE it makes contact with the ball. The blue part of the arrow outlines the general contact point. The RED zone is, however, the contact zone for a good kick or top-spin serve. This means that, from the opponent's point of view, it looks as if you're "kicking him" out wide.

Do this correctly, and you will bamboozle him into switching his grip to backhand and shifting his weight onto his left foot thereby making it more difficult to cover the slider. At the last second, you actually make contact with the ball ("up and around") curving the ball towards your left (his right). Sometimes, this may require two grip changes from the opponent (from forehand to backhand and back to forehand again). If this happens, your opponent - even one with a monster forehand - may be tripped up by a serve that looks as if it's going to the backhand and then breaks to his forehand. This may just enough of an edge to create a huge opening in you opponent's side of the court which you can exploit with your groundstrokes. So peel the orange for juicier points.