5 Tennis drills to improve your skills

Tennis is a combination of complex movements and individualistic style. It takes a lot of intense practice to master the game. To begin with, players use specialized tennis drills to tone themselves up. Tennis drills are the best way to understand the basis of tennis, learn the right methods and develop the confidence to face any opponent. These drills make a player consistent and make him/her strong both physically and mentally. There are unique tennis drills required for different players because each of their styles is different.

It is easy to figure out the kinds of drills to practice just after a few days of training. Continuous tennis drills are necessary to become efficient in one technique. With building experience, players tend to be more familiar with more drills that they can practice. The basic levels of drills are necessary for every player. That is how the complexity in tennis movements can be understood in a better way. Such movements are divided into small techniques that can be followed and learnt quickly.

In the below slides, you can learn easy drills that improve your skills and confidence.

#1 Basic Warm-ups and quick drills

Firstly, running and stretching is important for tennis. Warm-ups like running along the lines of the tennis court can really help. You will also get to know about the rules about every line on the courts. Running will loosen all your leg muscles and make them more flexible. Stretching before practice sessions will allow you to withstand shocks while hitting the ball.

Dribbling can improve your coordination towards the ball. In the beginning, you can dribble the ball by placing it on the racquet and hitting it upwards. You should do this continuously without losing control over the ball. Another way of dribbling is required for serving the ball. A good serve will earn quality points for you. Dropping the ball from your hand and dribbling it along with the ground can help you serve better. Moving while dribbling can be effective as a warm up too.

#2 Practice forehand and backhand strokes

This is another basic drill which will help you to understand forehand and backhand strokes. Stand on the centre line for service and make your companion stand on the opposite service line. Let them launch balls at you at regular intervals and you may hit them with your forearm stroke. Slowly, you can increase speed and improve your forehand strokes.

Practice forehand and backhand strokesÂ — Practice forehand and backhand strokes

Similarly, backhand can be practised by launching the balls on the opposite side of your playing arm. These balls can be launched at a height near your waist. In the next level, you can tell them to launch balls on either ends and making you run. This will help you improve your grip with the racquet. Later, balls can be tossed at shorter distances to make you move in all directions to hit the ball. Remember, this is not a rally, so has to be hit only by you and the other person just launches balls at you in different directions.

#3 Trying Alley rallies

Once you are confident in hitting balls from anywhere in both forehand and backhand you need advanced drills. Practising good rallies is the next goal for you. At first, you may begin by maintaining rallies with your companion. Start with 10 shots together and then try 20 balls at a time to make a rally. Practice rallies very frequently as it is vital for your tennis career. The alley rallies are advanced ones that will take a long time to achieve.

Never lose hope, anything is possible with practice. For alley rallies, you must strictly stay within the doubles alley lines of the court. You and the other player must try to achieve 10-20 balls within this limit. You are qualified to become a professional player if you reach this target. Making this happen in a narrow place might be difficult in the beginning. But this will greatly improve your concentration and allows you to move quickly to courts.

#4 Serve Drills

Tossing the right service is important for any tennis player. As a quick toss drill, you can stand near the service line to toss the balls in the opposite court. When you serve on the service line for practice, you will be able to serve without making fouls while standing on the baseline. Ensure that the ball does not go out of the alley line on the opposite court. Toss your ball, then aim at the opposite court and then serve it with your racquet.

You can have a basket on the other side and try serving the ball inside it. This helps you toss the balls in the right place. Another simple drill to improve power is by tossing the ball and hitting it as hard as possible on the opposite end. Aim the ball to hit the fence with great force. Always have an eye on the ball which is essential. You will also master the technique of avoiding the balls that are away or foul. This drill can fetch you those critical serve points.

#5 Volley Drills

In tennis, there are several volley drills to follow. A flow volley is something that will help you to improve speed. For this volley, your companion should launch balls very quickly without giving any time for you to stop and hit. While they stand on the baseline on the other side to launch balls continuously you need to hit them in forehand or backhand as quickly as possible. In just one run, they can toss you six to eight balls.

This has to continue for about 10 times making it one session. This will give you more consistency in the game and make you effective. Running volleys or flow volleys are more advantageous over the rest of the volleys. However, any volley drill can make you familiar with many tricks and tactics in tennis. These are the drills that turn you into a professional player. You can improve your concentration with these drills.

Most tennis drills are easy when you practice, and with practice, you can become a professional player. These drills are simple that can be followed by both beginners and professionals. Gradually players will learn how to combine these drills into the game.

Edited by Kingshuk Kusari