Tennis instructors use competitive drills to teach students strategy, tactics, court positioning and movement while working on specific stroke techniques and fitness. With fun, game-based drills, players are given an opportunity to develop an all-round game. Drills are not always designed for singles or doubles play; many can be altered to accommodate larger groups.
Keep 'Em Deep Singles
The goal of this drill is for players to work on keeping their shots deep. This is a one-on-one drill and only half of a singles court, lengthwise, is used. The boundaries are the singles side lines and the center service line with imaginary extension lines back to the baseline. At the beginning of the drill, players A and B stand on opposite baselines. A tennis instructor feeds, or hits, a ball to player A to start the point. Players hit the ball back and forth, trying to keep the ball deep in the court. If a player hits a ball and it lands in the receiver's service box, the receiving player must rush to the net and finish playing out the point. The winner of the rally wins a point. Players return to the baseline and the instructor feeds the next ball to player B for the next point. The instructor alternates the feeds between players until one player has a total of 10 points.
Keep 'Em Deep Doubles
This drill is similar to the previous drill but is a two-on-two drill using the doubles court boundaries. Team players A and B stand on one baseline and team players C and D stand on the opposite baseline. The instructor feeds the ball to team A and B. All four players hit the ball back and forth, trying to keep the ball deep in the court. If one team hits a ball that lands in the other team's service box, both players of the receiving team must rush to the net and finish playing out the point. After the point, the players return to the baseline and the instructor feeds the ball to team C and D for the next point. The feeds alternate between teams until one team has 15 points. A variation of this drill is to require the teams to immediately rush to the net when the ball is fed.
Approach and Pass
The approach and pass drill can be conducted with two to four players using the singles court boundaries. To perform this drill, player A stands at the baseline on one side of the court. The remaining players go to the opposite end of the court. The instructor stands on player A's side of the court and off to the side. She feeds a mid-court ball to player B on the opposite side of the court. If there is more than one player on the opposite side, only player B is involved in the point and the other players stand back by the fence waiting their turn. Player B must hit an approach shot to player A's backhand. The goal is for player A to hit a passing shot against player B. Play continues until the point is over. Player B returns to the baseline to play the next approach shot, or the next player waiting steps up to the baseline to play an approach shot. After seven points have been played, player A rotates to the opposite side and player B or another player rotates to the instructor's side of the court.
Tug of War
This is a one-on-one drill that works on players' court positioning, anticipation and movement. Player A starts with five points and her objective is to reach 10 points. Player B tries to keep player A from reaching her goal. The drill starts with each player standing on opposite baselines. An instructor feeds the ball to player A. The ball is hit back and forth, with player A trying to get player B to hit a short ball or the type of ball that she can potentially hit for a winner. If player A is successful, she earns a point. If she is not, she loses a point. After each point, players return to the baseline and the instructor feeds another ball to player A. When player A reaches 10 or zero, players switch roles.
References
- USPTA ADDvantage: Drills
- "Tennis: A Professional Guide"; U.S. Professional Tennis Association; 1984
- "The Tennis Drill Book"; Tina Hoskins; 2003
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