Tennis Strokes Drills For Beginners And Advanced Players

Fun, challenging tennis strokes drills can greatly accelerate a player's improvement. Here are the best tennis drills for beginners, intermediates, and advanced players. They can be used by individuals or groups. Tennis drills are an important part of every coach's and every player's tennis development repertoire. They are used by professional tennis coaches at every tennis academy and every tennis camp around the world.

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Tennis Strokes Drills: Beginner Drills

Tennis Strokes Drills: Aiming Drills

These tennis strokes drills give beginners a fun way to focus on aiming volleys and forehand and backhand groundstrokes. Of the five main attributes tennis players want to develop in their shots--consistency, depth, power, direction, and spin--direction probably brings the biggest sense of accomplishment per difficulty. For a beginner especially, it's fun to see the ball go more or less where you intended.

Tennis Strokes Drills: Aiming Drill # 1

Master Volleyer Extraordinaire is probably the single best tennis strokes drill for an oversized group of beginners on one court, but it's also an excellent drill for a single player. The player's basic goal is to spell out the word MASTER by volleying into the sections of the court that represent each letter, in correct order. Directions (left, right) are given from the volleyer's perspective:

M - the left service box.

A - the right service box.

S - the left half of the singles court beyond the service line.

T - the right half of the singles court beyond the service line.

E - the left alley.

R - the right alley.

As many as 10 players can have fun and develop their volleying skills on one court if you keep them moving quickly. Have them line up at the service T, run forward a few steps, split-step, and then volley toward whichever letter is the current target. Each player must hit the targets in order, but one does not start over because of a miss. It might take several attempts to hit some targets, especially the later ones. To help you and the players keep track of where they are, if they call out the letter they're aiming for as they run forward, reward them with an extra try if they miss.

In a large group, some players will advance very quickly, while others get stuck for a while on a certain letter. To keep everyone engaged, let the players spell out the words VOLLEYER and then EXTRAORDINAIRE as needed. Just map the letters of those words onto the same sequence of target areas, so that the V in VOLLEYER is the left service box, etc.

Generally, for beginners, it makes sense to feed easy forehand volleys, but if you have some players who want more challenge, you can mix in feeds to the backhand as well.

Difficulties: This is an easy drill to run. Just make sure to have players clear any balls that hit the net so that no one will step on them.

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Tennis Strokes Drills: Aiming Drill # 2

This is the groundstroke cousin of Master Volleyer Extraordinaire, but it doesn't move quite as quickly, so it begins to seem too slow with more than six players on a court.

Each player tries to spell MASTER by hitting the following court areas in order, but not necessarily without some misses between successes:

M - the left half of the singles court beyoud the service line.

A - the right half of the singles court beyoud the service line.

S - the left service box.

T - the right service box.

E - the left alley.

R - the right alley.

Have the players line up down the middle of the court at whatever depth they can handle, usually the baseline unless they're very small. Alternate feeds left and right so that each player has ample time to get out of the way before the next player comes in the same direction. If you have an odd number of players, each will automatically run in alternating directions. With an even number of players, each will always go in one direction until you switch halfway through.

To help you and the players keep track of where they are, if they call out the letter they're aiming for as they run toward the ball, reward them with an extra try (without a run) if they miss.

Some players will advance faster than others; so, if you want to keep the drill going beyond the point where someone has spelled MASTER, let the leading players begin spelling OF and GROUNDSTROKES too, using the same sequence of target areas.

Difficulties: This is an easy tennis strokes drill to run, but it's more difficult than its volley cousin, so it's more likely that someone will get stuck on a letter for quite a while. Trying to pronounce whatever bizarre word a stuck person has spelled is usually quite funny and helps to keep any frustration to a minimum.

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Tennis Strokes Drills: Level Drills

Many beginners never want to stop working on these two tennis strokes drill, as they get caught up in the challenge of working through increasingly difficult levels. One drill improves quickness and builds skill at hitting on the run, while the other improves one of the most underpracticed shots in tennis: the return of serve.

Tennis Strokes Drills: Level Drill # 1

This tennis drill enjoys wild popularity among roughly 3/4 of juniors, mostly because it offers a steady progression of increasingly difficult and novel challenges. The essence of Chase Levels is learning to chase down and return balls that are harder and harder to reach. In Basic Chase Levels, the student need only get the ball into the singles court to pass. As a student completes each level, she moves up to the next. Chase Levels is so much fun for some students, they often ask to "play" it, a verb they almost never apply to other drills. In addition to the fun, students take away a greatly increased confidence in their ability to get to balls they might have thought impossible beforehand.

Feeding for Chase Levels takes some practice. Generally, you'll feed from just inside the service line across the net from the students, but you can move forward or back to make it easier to achieve the desired effect.

Here are the eight levels. In all cases. the player starts running when you, as feeder, make contact with the ball:

1. The player starts from the center mark on the baseline and runs to a forehand that will be contacted just behind the service line.

2. The backhand version of 1.

3. The same as 1, but with a shorter feed that requires some quickness to reach, with the running forehand met roughly halfway from the net to the service line.

4. The backhand version of 3. As the ball lands shorter, most students will do better with one hand than two, even if they're used to two hands on other types of shots.

5. The same as 3, but with a very short feed that requires a real sprint to reach, with the running forehand met roughly 1/4 of the distance from the net to the service line. Advise the students not to try so hard for these that they fall, and subtly adjust the feeds for slower students so that they can reach the ball running as fast as they can without losing good balance and control.

6. The backhand version of 3. A one-handed backhand is greatly superior on a ball this short, because it allows you to reach well in front while keeping your center of gravity over your feet.

7. The player starts with her racquet touching the net, halfway between the center strap and the singles sideline diagonally opposite her deep forehand corner. Lob the ball so that she'll have just enough time to chase it back, turn, and make contact near the back forehand corner of her singles court. Recommend that she hit a lob, but any forehand that lands in the singles court is acceptable.

8. The same as 7, but the player starts on the other half of the net so that she can run diagonally back to her deep backhand corner, from which she must hit a backhand.

Difficulties: Be extremely careful that no balls are left where a runner could step on them, and don't let anyone play with balls while waiting for a turn, because sooner or later, one of those balls is likely to roll out onto the court at the wrong time. The feeding is difficult enough that you'll occasionally give much too easy a feed for a given level. When this happens, say "redo" right away. If you give too difficult a feed, you needn't say anything unless it will be dangerous to chase, and if the player gets it, she passes that level with extra congratulations.

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Tennis Strokes Drills: Level Drill # 2

You will hit serves at different levels of difficulty, and the players, starting from Level One, will take turns trying to return two out of three to move up to the next level. Have the players alternate the side (deuce or ad) from which they take each turn of hitting three returns.

1. Level One is the dinkiest serve you can get in, a total pitty-pat, hit to the forehand.

2. Level Two is the same as Level One, but to the backhand.

3. Level Three is also quite soft and flat, but it lands fairly deep in the service box. It goes to the forehand.

4. Level Four is the same as Level Three, but to the backhand.

5. Level Five is still flat, but it has more speed, around 45 mph.

6. Level Six is the same as Level Five, but to the backhand.

7. Level Seven has a mixture of topspin and slice and travels at around 60 mph.

8. Level Eight is the same as Level Five, but to the backhand.

9. Level Nine is like Level Eight, but placed near the sideline or centerline at a speed of around 75 mph.

10. Level Ten is the same as Level Nine, but to the backhand.

Group or Individual: If a player misses or returns both of your first two serves, the third return doesn't matter, but give her a third serve at the same level just for practice. Although maintaining distinct sets of three serves isn't strictly necessary with just one participant, the structure helps to keep the challenge consistent.

Difficulties: Accurately producing serves at different levels becomes more difficult when you have to switch between levels from one player to the next after players have advanced at different rates. If you goof and hit too difficult a serve for the intended level, let the player count the return if it was successful, but give her another if she missed.

Watch this excellent video showing the Return of Serve drill.

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Tennis Strokes Drills: Consistency Drills

Here's how to run the two best beginner tennis strokes drill that work on consistency of forehand and backhand volleys and groundstrokes. Both include a levels element that makes them especially fun, and the second is a great way to get beginners over that essential threshold of really playing tennis: the ability to sustain a rally.

Tennis Strokes Drills: Consistency Drill # 1

Tennis beginners always seem to enjoy learning how to alternate between forehand and backhand volleys, and this drill makes that learning even more fun while emphasizing consistency.

Turtle, Koala, Ferret, and Cheetah are the names of the four levels of this drill. The player must get seven out of eight alternating forehand and backhand volleys into the singles court to move up to the next level. At each level, the interval between feeds decreases significantly. Turtle gives the player roughly four seconds between feeds, Koala around two seconds, Ferret one second, and Cheetah roughly half a second. If you have a stronger group, you can increase the frequency of the feeds more steeply. Feed the ball at a comfortable height and distance from the body. Encourage the players to step and turn properly.

Difficulties: This is an easy tennis strokes drill to run, but don't get so carried away with Cheetah that you end up losing control of your feeds. For smaller kids especially, easy feeds tend to be near head height, and you don't want to misfire a feed into someone's face.

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Tennis Strokes Drills: Consistency Drill # 2

This simple rallying tennis strokes drill works either for two beginners or for a beginner and a more advanced tennis player. The basic idea is to reach a goal of a certain number of consecutive hits with both players at the service lines and then to try for smaller goals as both players move back.

For early beginners, try goals of eight consecutive hits from the service line, six from halfway between the service line and the baseline, and four from the baseline. For more advanced beginners, try twelve, nine, and six. Instruct the players to use shorter, slower swings from the shorter distances and to concentrate on control, good positioning, and seeing the ball well. Also remind them to try to make the ball bounce well in front of their partners, not right at their feet.

If you reach the baseline goal, you can continue by trying to set new records from the baseline, or you can start from the service line again, but require that all but the starting hit be backhands. For an even more challenging extension, you can run through the whole sequence with the requirement that each player alternate between forehand and backhand strokes.

Difficulties: Some pairs of players tend to magnify each other's errors. Player A hits a little bit off target, and in trying to adjust, Player B hits even more off target, and so on. It will help to mix pairs around so that no one gets stuck at a certain distance for too long. If you have an especially wild hitter, hit with him yourself, both to regain control of balls that start to go wild and to give him a good demonstration of a controlled swing.

Watch this excellent video showing long rally drills for consistency.

Tennis Strokes Drills: Intermediate Drills

Once a player can handle the beginner tennis strokes drills fairly well, these intermediate drills will offer challenges that will keep them engaged almost indefinitely, as these drills remain fun and interesting at the advanced level too.

Tennis Strokes Drills: Net Drills

Here are three favorites of intermediate players for working on volleys and overheads. Two of them are exceptionally good for keeping a larger group moving and hitting with engaging frequency, and the third gives two players at a time an intense workout from which they'll want to recover while another two take a turn.

Tennis Strokes Drills: Net Drill # 1

Even a short player can become quite difficult to lob if she perfects the scoot smash. Amanda Coetzer, at 5'2", could scoot backward so quickly and smash so well, she often surprised opponents by putting away lobs that many taller players would not have reached.

This drill is best done with pairs of players. Draw a "back line" halfway between the service line and the baseline and a "front line" halfway between the service line and net. Start with one player centered on the right half of the back line; the other on the left. The player on the right runs forward and tags the front line with her foot, at which point you lob so that she'll have to scoot back at least several feet to reach your lob with a smash. The other player is entirely safe from being hit by the smash, because she's farther back than the smasher. As soon as the smasher has hit, she retreats to the back line, and the other player runs forward, tags up, and scoots back for her own smash. The two alternate like this until each has hit a set number of smashes, usually 6-10. Once you get the right timing and depth for the feeds, the players will feel as if they're in almost constant motion, and it's quite a lively drill.

Although the depths specified above for the two lines result in the most realistic scoot smashes, you can move both lines forward to make the drill easier. For first-timers, the service line makes a good back line, from which the players run forward to tag the net (with their racquets).

Difficulties: Lobbing at the right height and depth to give the smasher a challenging scoot takes practice, and scooting ability varies quite a bit from one player to the next. Make sure that the players always clear any balls that they've hit into the net, and keep any waiting pairs safely farther back than the smashers.

Tennis Strokes Drills: Net Drill # 2

Poaching makes doubles more fun and gives your opponents a lot more to worry about each time they hit the ball. This tennis strokes drill gives intermediate tennis players excellent practice at the movement, timing, and volley execution of poaches in both directions.

Group: Line everyone up behind the center of the ad service box. As you begin your feeding motion, the player at the front of the line will split-step and then cut diagonally forward to intercept your feed, which simulates a crosscourt return of serve. After the player has hit, she stands behind the deuce service box until everyone has gone and then lines up behind its center. Once everyone has hit a forehand poach (for righties), everyone hits a backhand poach, and so on.

Place a cone, ball tube standing on end, or spare hopper on the service line in each of the spots where the receiver's partner would normally stand, and instruct the players to try to hit their volleys past the marker that's on the side to which they're moving when they poach.

Individual: For a single player, this becomes an excellent conditioning drill, as each poach requires split-stepping, cutting diagonally forward to cut off the return, and then backpedaling to reach the center spot in the other service box. A few cycles, consisting of two minutes of poach volleys, non-stop, followed by 30 seconds of rest, will provide a great workout for the leg muscles driving many of the essential tennis movements.

Difficulties: Most players lose track of the centers of the service boxes and end up lining up at the service line. It helps to draw a big X at the right spot, but the players will still need reminders to start from that X. As always, make sure that players clear any balls they have hit into the net so that no one will step on them.

Tennis Strokes Drills: Net Drill # 3

The basic idea of this drill should be familiar. Players line up at the service line T, run forward along the center line a few steps, split-step as you begin the motion to feed the ball, and then volley whatever you send them. The key to the drill's success is the frequency and variety of your feeds. Try to keep the students hitting volleys in as rapid succession as safety permits. As soon as one has hit, the next should be on her way. Give each volleyer a full spectrum of heights and widths on both sides, from easy, high forehands a gentle step away to low backhands that require an extreme stretch. If a player is having trouble with a particular volley, such as a medium-high backhand, give her that volley on several consecutive turns until she gets it working well.

Group or Individual: This drill is ideal for a group, and it's one of the few drills that will keep everyone moving and engaged even when you have more than you'd wish on the court. With an individual player, the run from the service line becomes too tedious, so you can just have her split-step and volley.

Difficulties: It takes a skillful feeder to stretch a player right to her maximum reach or to barely clear the net so that the volleyer must meet the ball almost at ground level. You also need to keep track of which players need repeated attempts at a certain volley while also remembering to give others a well-balanced mixture. A most important safety precaution in this tennis strokes drill is to have each player always clear any ball that he hits into the net so that no one will step on it.

Watch this excellent video showing a drill which starts out with two players on the service line. One player feeds the ball in while they each close the net and try to finish the point.

Tennis Strokes Drills: Contest Drills

The popularity of these three tennis strokes drills, a lob contest and two types of overhead smash contest, probably stems from their resemblance to games.

Tennis Strokes Drills: Contest Drill # 1

If you want to capture some photos of your students making their most ferocious unposed faces, this is the drill. You'll be feeding them the juiciest possible opportunities to pound on an overhead. The one catch is that they'll have to move forward significantly to get in ideal position. This drill helps with their timing and overhead mechanics, but most importantly, it teaches them to close in on easy balls and take them at the optimal height. Failing to close on easy balls at the net is one of the most common sources of lost opportunities for intermediates.

Group: Line the players up behind the service-line T. Each will start moving forward when you make contact with the feed. Feed so that they can meet the ball at full reach roughly five feet from the net. They should have time to move forward, turn, set up, and hit a well-balanced overhead.

Individual: Have the player start from the service-line T each time. Keep track of her personal bests for sets of ten feeds.

Scoring: Each player gets ten feeds, taken one per turn in line. If the ball lands in the singles court, then bounces two more times before hitting the fence, it's worth one point. If it bounces only once after landing in and before hitting the fence, it's worth three points. If it lands in and then hits the fence, with no bounces in between, it's worth five points below the crossbar (halfway up the fence) and seven points above. The players usually love to try to bounce balls over the fence, and the fun usually justifies rewarding such shots with ten points despite the questionable wisdom of trying such a shot in a match. (You have to aim shorter to bounce a ball over the fence, and you might end up either hitting the net or not producing enough power to put the ball out of reach.) The best accumulated score after ten feeds wins.

Difficulties: For your own safety, feed from well behind your baseline, especially to powerful players in this tennis strokes drill.

Watch this excellent video showing a drill on hitting an overhead volley smash.

Tennis Strokes Drills: Contest Drill # 2

Given enough height to clear your opponent's reach at the net, the main criterion for a good lob is depth. Although placing a lob over your opponent's backhand side can help too, for intermediates it makes sense simply to focus on depth and sufficient height.

Scoring: Use cones, ball tubes, or a rope to mark a line that runs across the singles court, parallel to and eight feet inside of the baseline. Any lob that lands in the rectangle formed by the new line, the baseline, and the singles sidelines scores one point. For a shot to be considered a lob, it must reach a height of at least 12 feet (the top of the typical tennis fence).

Group: Have the players line up behind the center mark. Feed to alternating corners, making each feed bounce so that it can be hit from three feet behind the baseline at a comfortable height. Each player will run to the corner, hit one ball, see how it lands, announce her total score if it has changed, and then move to the back of the line. If you have an even number of players, switch directions halfway through the drill so that the players hitting forehands will hit backhands and vice-versa.

Individual: Feed a set number of balls and see how many the player can lob successfully. Keep long-term track of the player's best performance out of, say 40. If the player is less skilled at lobbing, you can feed all to one side, but have her recover back to the center after each hit.

Difficulties: The only tricky part of this tennis strokes drill might be getting accurate judgments from the players about whether their own lobs land in. Turning to look at every lob will wear you out quickly, but if you look only when you can tell it will be close, you might find it tolerable. The best solution is to lay out sheets of cardboard or some other material that will make a distinctive noise when hit, if you have enough such material.

Watch this excellent video showing a drill on hitting an topspin backhand lob.

Tennis Strokes Drills: Contest Drill # 3

Bounced overheads get considerably more difficult as the depth from which they're hit increases. In this drill, the players work through a progression of increasing depths. This is like a levels drill, but it's also a race to the end, where there's a fun reward.

This tennis strokes drill emphasizes learning to judge bounces and execute good timing more than it focuses on power, so the depth and power requirement is modest: the ball must bounce no more than twice between landing in the singles court and hitting the fence. Except for at the very end, all of the lobs are high enough that one would likely elect to bounce them regardless of position on the court.

Scoring: The first level is Shorties, which land less than halfway between the net and the service line. A player must hit three good bounced overheads on Shorties to move up to Mediums.

A Medium feed lands a little behind the service line. Two good Mediums are the ticket to Deeps.

A Deep feed lands within the last six feet of the singles court. Two good Deeps earn an Ultra High Lob.

The contest is won when someone hits two good bounced overheads on Ultra High Lobs. You should try to make the feeds moderately difficult by feeding to at least service-line depth, but you'll probably be happy just to get the Ultra High Lobs to come down somewhere in the court.

Difficulties: Getting an Ultra High Lob to come down into a reasonable part of the singles court isn't easy, especially if your ultra high is high enough to make the ball look like a marble at its peak, and it doesn't take more than a bit of breeze to make the whole thing quite an adventure. There's usually a look of wonder and amusement on the face of whoever's supposed to hit the ball--and various screams and laughter among the rest, who are hoping the thing doesn't come down on them. If everyone's pretty close to reaching the Ultra High Lob level, you can continue until each has had at least one, or you can end the contest when someone wins.

Watch this excellent video showing a tennis strokes drill on hitting a bounce overhead.

Tennis Strokes Drills: Scored Drills

Players enjoy tracking their improvement through the scores these two drills produce. The first drill excels at building power, depth, and consistency on groundstrokes, and the second practices six different strokes.

Tennis Strokes Drills: Scored Drill # 1

"Power, Depth, and Consistency" is an outstanding groundstroke drill for rewarding the three major virtues in its name. It also rewards topspin, because the scoring system is based upon the depth of the bounce after the ball lands in. Any ball that lands in is worth at least one point. An in - bounce - fence (total of two bounces before hitting the fence) ball is worth three. An in - fence (lands in and then hits the fence) ball that hits the lower half of the fence (below the crossbar) is worth five points, and one that hits above is worth seven. Each player gets ten feeds alternating to the forehand and backhand corners, so the maximum possible base score is 70, but if a player remembers to side-step back toward the center before running to every next shot, she earns a bonus of 20%, which would bring the absolute maximum score to 84.

Group of Players: While one player hits, the others tally her results. Assign one person simply to count how many shots land in, another to count all the three-point shots, and another to count all the fives and sevens. The counting isn't difficult, but kids especially tend to space out and lose track now and then, so if you have enough counters, it's a good idea to have two people count each type of ball independently. You'll be able to deduce the number of ones from the total number in minus the threes and higher.

Individual Player: It's almost impossible to maintain the proper feeding rhythm while turning around to watch each ball land and reach the fence, so you'll need at least one scorekeeper to assist.

Difficulties: Some players do much worse on their first tries than they expect to. Let them know that this is common and encourage them to keep working at improving their personal bests. Many players show huge improvements in their match-play power, depth, and consistency as a result of this drill.

Tennis Strokes Drills: Scored Drill # 2

"Olympics" is always a top favorite among juniors. The drill gets its name mostly from the scoring system, but it also has Olympic-like variety.

Group or Individual: Run this drill the same way for an individual as for a group. Feed from the baseline to players on the opposite end of the court. Each player starts behind the center mark, runs to the forehand corner to hit a forehand groundstroke, to the backhand corner for a backhand, forward and to the forehand side for an approach shot, and then farther forward for a forehand volley followed by a backhand volley and an overhead smash. For lower intermediates, the first five shots must simply land in the singles court. For higher intermediates, require depth and/or placement. For every level, you should require smashes to be hit with sufficient power and depth to bounce no more than twice between landing in and hitting the fence. In - bounce - bounce - fence shouldn't be overly difficult even for very small intermediates.

The scoring system uses the Olympic medals, with a few supplements. If the player gets all six shots in on a given turn, it's a gold. Five is silver, four bronze, three tin, two wood, one plastic, and zero cardboard. Kids usually find the cardboard idea pretty funny.

Most players enjoy an additional challenge on the smash, where if you do better than the minimum depth and power requirement of in - bounce - bounce - fence, you can "bump up" a medal or two. In - bounce - fence bumps you up to one higher medal, and in - fence (no bounce between the ball landing in and hitting the fence) bumps you up two. If you already have a gold medal from getting all six balls in, bumping up one gives you a platinum, and bumping up two gives you a rhodium (a metal more valuable than platinum).

Difficulties: Inevitably, someone will miss the first couple of shots and therefore decide it will be funny to miss all the rest (sometimes rather dramatically) and earn a cardboard. Depending on maturity, others might follow suit, but as long as they're satisfied with one cardboard, which they usually are, the humor easily outweighs the small waste of time.

Watch this excellent video showing a tennis strokes drill to have your student go side to side and the drill ends when they hit seven in a row.

Tennis Strokes Drills: Advanced Drills

Tennis Strokes Drills: Serve and Return Drills

Advanced players are well challenged in these two tennis strokes drills that work on aiming and spinning serves and returning the full range of spin serves.

Tennis Strokes Drills: Serve and Return Drill # 1

In Return And Identify, you will hit any one of five or six different serves to your student. She will return the serve and then identify which type it was.

As an introduction to the tennis strokes drill, demonstrate each of the overhead serves and explain their differences. Include the pure slice, topspin-slice, topspin, twist, and flat serves, plus the reverse slice, if you're that rare player who can hit it well.

To begin Return and Identify, cycle through every type of serve before going back to one you've already used. If the student misses either the return or the identification, give her additional tries before moving on to the next type. Once she has returned and identified each type of serve at least once, start mixing the types randomly.

Difficulties: Most players find this drill exceptionally interesting and do well at both the returning and identifying tasks. How well they do at identifying doesn't correspond closely with hitting ability, though. An observant and curious intermediate will often identify more successfully than a more advanced player and will be especially intrigued by all of the variety possible in serving. A minority of players will find the identifications very difficult, so always introduce the drill as a tricky one to help prevent frustration.

Tennis Strokes Drills: Serve and Return Drill # 2

Serving Cat is really a game, but it's so useful, go ahead and sneak it into drill time.

The basic idea is the same as Horse in basketball. In Serving Cat, you describe what the ball will do on your serve, and if it does what you described, each of your opponents has to make it do the same or take on a letter in the word CAT. If you fail to execute your own idea, you don't get a letter, and the next person attempts her own idea. For the most part, the server will identify which section of the fence the ball will end up hitting, and you might also specify how many bounces the ball will take before reaching the fence. If you want to take advantage of your power, for example, you might say, "Section 3 with no bounce." That means your ball will hit the service box and then hit the third section of the fence without having bounced between the two. Spins become highly useful in this game, as you'll try to hit sections of the fence that cannot be hit in a straight line.

If you want to play with your tennis students, you can make the game . . . I mean . . . drill . . . fairer by giving them two chances at every serve while you get only one.

If you're playing with just one person, you can stop when one of you has CAT, but if you have more players, keep going until all but one has CAT and have the players who have already gotten CAT start working on the words FUR and, if need be, BALL. Someone might be a CAT FUR BALL by the time a winner is declared, but it's funny enough to alleviate any sting.

Tennis Strokes Drills: Contest Drills

This drop volley contest, side pocket contest, and drop shot contest give advanced players a chance to cultivate finesse.

Tennis Strokes Drills: Contest Drill # 1

A drop volley is one of the more advanced net skills, but players at all levels from advanced beginner up enjoy trying them. This contest adds to their fun and provides great motivation to perfect the soft touch and delicate spin drop volleys require.

If a drop volley has a reasonably low trajectory, its quality can be measured fairly accurately by how many times the ball bounces before it reaches the service line. Three bounces is generally considered the minimum for a good drop volley, but it's possible to get many more, to park the ball inside the service box, or even to have the ball bounce back to your own side.

In the Drop Volley Contest, each player gets six balls fed so that she'll meet them below the top of the net. Her goal is to make each ball bounce as many times as possible before the service line (or its extension). She gets one point for each bounce, but because a ball that rolls, parks in the service box, or bounces back to the hitter's side is essentially equivalent to an infinite number of bounces and would thus ruin any arithmetic, we stop counting at seven bounces. A shot is disqualified if it reaches a height greater than six feet above the ground, because even if such a drop volley were very short and well spun, its height would make it too easy to run down. Each player takes a turn hitting six drop volleys in a row to earn a total score between zero and the maximum possible, 42.

It's usually best to feed only to one side (forehand or backhand) per turn. Some players may need a turn or two to start to get a feel for the shot, so doing multiple rounds makes the drill more likely to produce improvement.

Difficulties: Feeding a ball low enough to be appropriate for a drop volley gets more difficult as you feed from farther back. Feeds from farther back also have more pace on them, which makes them more difficult to drop volley. It's usually best to start off feeding from inside the service line, and then in later rounds, if players are ready to handle more pace, feed from farther back.

Watch this excellent video showing a simple practice tennis strokes drill to help you develop "feel" for the drop volley.

Tennis Strokes Drills: Contest Drill # 2

A side pocket shot is hit sharply crosscourt so that it bounces in the service box and then crosses the plane of the singles sideline before it crosses the plane of the service line. It's the best crosscourt passing shot, and it can open up the court beautifully in a baseline rally.

The Side Pocket Contest is pretty simple. Line the players up behind the center mark on the baseline and feed the ball alternately to the left and right so that the ball will be hit at a depth around halfway between the baseline and service line. Each player runs to the ball, attempts a side pocket shot, and returns to the back of the line. If you have an odd number of players, they will naturally alternate directions; otherwise, switch everyone's direction halfway through the drill. Run the drill for a set number of feeds or until someone has gotten a set number of successful side pocket shots.

Difficulties: Let the players know that the side pocket shot can be difficult at first, even for players who are otherwise quite strong. Most of them will improve noticeably during the course of the tennis strokes drill. If half of the players will be hitting backhands until the mid-drill switch, let them know that the backhand side is generally more difficult, and they'll have a good chance to catch up when they switch to forehands. Encourage topspin, but don't require it.

Watch this excellent video showing a short angle passing shot or a side pocket shot.

Tennis Strokes Drills: Contest Drill # 3

In the Drop Shot Contest, players start lined up across the service line, where they get one ball per turn and try to hit a drop shot that bounces at least three times before the service line on the other side. With each three-bounce drop shot, they move back one racquet length. The ultimate goal is to be the first to reach the baseline.

Disqualify any shots that reach a height greater than six feet above the ground.

Difficulties: At most, five players can fit safely across the service line. The ones nearer the sidelines will have a disadvantage in having the higher part of the net in front of them; so, if you know the players' strengths, put the weakest in the middle. You could also rotate their positions periodically, but transferring each player's progress (depth) to a new spot might be a bit inaccurate and time-consuming unless you've marked out increments across the court.

Watch this excellent video showing how to learn and practice the tennis drop shot.

(Resources: tennis.about.com)

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