Need Some Specific Drills for Practice Partners

[Cindysphinx]

Three of my tennis buddies and I have decided what we need is more practice. We have picked a time and day each week to meet just for drilling for 90 minutes (no pro). We will all try to come, but some weeks we may have only two or three players.

I know of one drill so far, which is designed to work on fitness, footwork and directional control from the baseline. Two players trade groundstrokes, attempting to hit deep. One player always hits down the line, the other always hits crosscourt. This forces players to hit on the run and encourage proper recovery. I did this yesterday with one of the ladies, and it was very helpful.

We need good drills for volleys (a huge weakness for many of us), passing shots, and serves, and we need drills for when we have different numbers of players. Drills that challenge players to use good footwork are especially valuable. Drills that discourage volleys from putting their navels on the net strap to avoid having to volley properly would also be a good idea.

I have foam balls and a hopper full of dead balls.

Any ideas?

 

[saram]

Just saw this one--look at my reply to your post about not being able to hit a barn--put a drill in there for ya!

 

[smiley74]

I don't know if these would be helpful to you or not because you are above my 3.0 level.....

In my lessons, I have to do several drills.

1) Hit an approach shot down the line (I play mostly singles so for you it would be cross court) and then come in for a volley.

2) Practice hitting to your partner by keeping the ball in the alley only (it's a lot harder than it sounds -especially on your backhand side).

3) Hit an approach shot down the line, come in for forehand volley, backhand volley, and then overhead. Lots of footwork here.....

4) Set cones up or the ring thing and try to hit 15+ cross court shots in the designated area on both forehand and backhand side.

5) Another footwork drill- have a partner and play to seven points by only using the service boxes as the court. You REALLY work on your footwork and touch because all your shots will be extreme angles with topspin and lots of footwork to get to the balls.

That's all I got. The other ones are just the pro feeding balls and working on mechanics.....