Cross court inside-out forehands, Forehand Drills Tennis

Description

The coach feeds the first ball in and then players have to keep the rally going, running around the ball to play a cross-court forehand into the coned area.
So player 1 hits the ball to player 1 on the other team who then returns to player 2 and so on.

Coaching Points

Encourage players to use correct footwork.
Remind players to hit enough spin to achieve consistency and clearance of the net.
Progression:
Turn this drill into a competition. The team scores a point each time the target area is hit.

1st and 2nd volley position, Volley Drills Tennis

 

Description

The coach is feeding from the basket and players hit 2 balls each, a 1st volley and a 2nd volley.
Players can start between the baseline and the service-line running forwards and split-stepping as the coach makes contact with the ball.
After hitting the first volley down the line, they must move forwards closing the net down and edging to cover the line before they hit the 2nd volley cross-court.
The 1st volley must be played deep and the 2nd volley as a shorter angled shot.

Coaching Points

Even though the players know where the ball is going they should be on balance and ready to react to whatever ball is fed.
The split step as the coach feeds will help this.

"Threes"

This drill teaches the players the importance of momentum and concentration until the end.
a) Two players play and the game starts with a serve.
b) The score is only one (not X:Y but just X) and it starts at 0
c) The server's winning points increase the score by +1, and the returner's winning points decrease the score by -1. Example: if the server wins first two points, the score is 2. If then the returner wins one point, the score goes to 1.
d) The first player to reach +3 or -3 wins the game. Then they change roles - the server now returns and vice versa.
e) The whole score is now 1:0 and they play to 3. So the winner wins by 3:0, 3:1 or 3:2.
Benefits:

• Players learn to fight and never give up, even when things don't look so well. They can get back in the game faster. Example: if the opponent leads 2:0 and you win 1 point, you've actually pulled your opponent away from winning the game.
• In real tennis when your opponent is 40:15 up and you win a point, he can still win the game with the next point. But that is only on the score board. Psychologically the leading player feels as if he is held back and can become impatient. And you know what that means.
• The player also learns to focus and fight for the last point, even if he leads 2:0. If he loses the point, he will now need 2 in a row to win the game. In reality most players relax too much when they lead 40:0. This gives good players a chance to catch up.

"100"

Two players rally from the baseline. The drill starts with a drop and hit. 
Players count the number of times the ball goes over the net during the rally with each one of them calling out a number as they hit the ball (1, 2, 3, 4… etc.). The player who wins the rally gets the number of points equal to the number of balls hit over the net during the rally. Example: if they hit 22 balls over the net, then the winner of the rally gets 22 points.

If the next rally is won by the other player and, for example, 14 balls went over the net, then the score is 22-14; and so on. The points won in each rally are added up. A coach or the players themselves can keep count of the number of balls in a rally.

The first player to win (total) 100 points wins.

General Quick Tips

1. When hitting topspin, swing low to high. You can swing as hard as you want at the ball as long as you generate enough topspin to bring the ball down into the other side of the court.
2. Always bring the racquet back as early as possible. This allows you more time to prepare your shot and will help you to feel less rushed, especially against big hitters. Bringing the racquet back early also helps you to adjust for bad bounces or weird spins.
3. Take little steps to adjust your position to hit the ball, never large strides. Taking smaller steps helps you to make the right adjustments to hit the ball. It helps keep you balanced as well as adjusting to any bad bounces.
4. Always watch the ball into your strings. Avoid taking your eyes off the ball before impact, many people look to see where they are going to hit the ball before they actually hit the ball. If your head lifts up, so does your racquet, often causing miss-hits. Most of us have played enough tennis to know if the ball will go in or not once we hit the ball if we never even look at the court. Trust yourself and keep your eyes on the ball.
5. Do not be afraid to lob. Lobbing can get you back into a point and is sometimes the smarter play.
6. Always aim to get your ground strokes beyond the service line. Hitting your shots short in the court can set your opponent up to attack.
7. Swing as hard at your second serve as you do at your first serve, just use all spin.
8. On the return of serve do not take a big backswing swing if your opponent has a big serve. Instead, keep your backswing compact and short. This will allow you more time to adjust and hit the ball.
9. Use different spins on your shots to help keep your opponent off balance. Hitting the same shot with the same spin every time will allow your opponent to get into a groove on their shots.

The Split Step

The split step is the first reaction to every shot you must return. The split step is a maneuver performed when you jump up an inch or two onto your toes as your opponent is about to hit his/her shot. Your feet should be about shoulder width apart, and your knees should be slightly bent when you land. This body position keeps you off of your heels and ready to move quickly to any position of the court. The split step should be used when you are returning serves, ground strokes, volleys and when you are approaching the net for a volley.
I feel that the split step is ignored most often when people make their way to net. Many times players run right through the split step to try and get closer to the net to hit the first volley. Being close to the net is important, but you may never get there if you do not split step. The split step allows you to slow down and concentrate on hitting the ball. Picture sprinting to the net and trying to hit a ball while you are moving that fast and never slowing down to hit the ball, it is almost impossible to hit a good shot! This rush to the net is a very important time to split step! If you do not split step and the ball is hit out of your immediate reach, you will not be in a good position to start moving in another direction and the ball can be past you before you know it. It is better to take the time and split step so you can hit a good first volley and continue your way to net.
Getting in the habit of the split step will always help you to start moving towards the ball quicker each and every time.

Teaching The Forehand Volley

Most instructors have had students that no matter how many lessons they have taken, they just can't seem to get the feel for the forehand volley. Here is a tip that might give your students the breakthrough they need.
Take a folding chair or small stool to the court with you. Set it up inside the service box. Place your cart or ball hopper across the net from the chair.
Have your student sit sideways on the chair with her upper body turned about 45 degrees from the net. Have her hold the racquet in a position that mirrors the end of the volley preparation position; i.e., wrist cocked and locked, racquet face parallel to the net, laid back, and slightly raised. Either an Eastern forehand or a continental grip is acceptable. Feed softly hit balls to the student and have her try to clear the net and land the ball in your cart or hopper using a volley stroke.
There are a couple of things you can do to help your student obtain the feel for the volley from this sitting position. Have the student place her non-hitting arm across her waist with her hand under her hitting elbow; this will emphasize the use of the forearm only and minimize any over-swinging on the volley. Choking up on the racquet handle will make the stroke seem easier. Also, encourage the student to clear the net by several feet, using plenty of backspin.
Once the student gets the feel for hitting the volley in this way, have her stand up and hit regular volleys, again trying to put the ball in the basket. After a while, have her sit down on the chair again and hit volleys from there. Keep repeating this sitting and standing until the volley is grooved. In subsequent lessons, any time the feel for the volley weakens, have the student briefly resume the sitting position to reestablish the mechanics of the stroke.

Live Ball Volley Drill

Here is a great volley drill done with 2 or more students. It is a variant of the hot seat drill. I position one person on the tee, and one on the baseline on the deuce side of the court. I stand just inside the service line, directly in front of the person on the baseline. The focus here is on forehand ground strokes and forehand volleys. I begin by feeding a ball to the baseline person, who hits a controlled forehand ground stroke back to me. I volley this ball to the person standing on the tee, who volleys the ball back to me. I volley this ball back to the baseline person, who again hits a ground stroke back to me. We continue this way, trying to keep the ball in play, until someone makes an error. After several minutes, I rotate the two students.
If there are three students, I put two on the baseline and have them alternate their forehand hits as in a circle drill. I might also have them each stand on the baseline facing each other, one hitting forehands and the other backhands. After several minutes, I rotate the 3 students.
After 10 minutes or so of feeding and hitting on the forehand side, I shift over to the ad court and now focus on the backhand ground stroke from the baseline and the backhand volley from the tee.
This is a great drill for building confidence and quickening reaction time for net play for beginners and intermediates. For more advanced students, I try to hit more random volleys: high, low, hard, soft, forehands, and backhands.
I think the reason I love this drill so much is that it forces me to be very precise in my volleying and gives me great practice for my own game!

Groundstroke placement and coming around the ball

This will work on your stroke placement and force you to move fast on your feet to line up the shot. Also you will learn to bring your body around quickly to change from backhand to forehand and back again.
Two players start at the baseline on one side of the tennis court centered on the "doubles lane." Quite simply, start a rally to your partner but keep them in the "doubles lane". This might sound easy, but try it. You will be tempted to stay with either your backhand or forehand, and in order for you to change to the other side you must do some quick footwork to come about the ball. Set a total score of 11 points and see who can "win" this game by two points. I use this to work on my weak side until I start losing and then I switch to my stronger side. Remember, hitting the line is ok, but not outside your opponents doubles lane. Take turns starting the rally, or allow the "losing" player to start all the rallies. His "serve" must be a clean hit deep to his partner to start the play. You may have the players each hit twice before "play" to get a fair start. You may lob, approach, and use spin to defeat your partner, but remember to watch the lines when he overheads or sends you a drop shot and don't volley a ball that is going out.
This drill will cause you to focus on hitting on an exact spot on the court. It is a very small target frame, but will greatly increase your accuracy.
Because two players are using one side of the tennis court in one lane, it is possible have another pair of drillees on the other side doing the same thing. Let both "matches" play out 11 points and then switch partners, winners against winners and losers together. See who becomes the "Doubles Lane Champion."

Improve your reaction time on return of serve

Volley-to-volley drills are good for improving reaction times generally, but here's a good practice to help you improve your reaction times on return of serve:
Practise returning a friend's serve, but simulate a much faster serve by getting him to serve from the service line instead of the baseline. He'll need to place the ball in front of him and use a lot of wrist snap to avoid hitting the ball long, but he should get the knack after a few attempts. As for you - you may need to adopt a neutral grip (halfway between your forehand and backhand grips), you may have to adjust your waiting position and you may have to use an abbreviated swing. Don't play the point out. Return half a dozen from the deuce court, then half a dozen from the ad court, then the two of you can change roles. After a while, you can make it competitive by counting how many of the 12 returns land in court and your friend can try and beat your score.
The abbreviated swing is achieved by placing your elbows close in to the side of your hips instead of out in front of you. That way you'll shorten the radius of your backswing, making it faster.

Low Ball Toss

Here is a great groundstroke drill.  It will help correct many different problems: footwork, racquet prep, height and speed, and it helps a player increase depth. However, prepare to get pegged when your player tires.
You start with your player standing just behind the baseline at the center hashmark. You kneel about 6 feet in front, off to the side with a 60-ball hopper. Toss low balls to the player: your toss should be less than two feet high, and dead balls work best. Player shuffles, hits the ball on the rise and shuffles back to the hashmark. Repeat until the hopper is empty, varying placement from standard feed, to wide, to at the body. As the player tires, it's important to remind them to get thier racquet back early, bend thier knees, and to keep thier back straight.
Surprisingly, players love this drill - it's exhausting for them, especially on the backhand side, which requires more steps. If a player can hit all 60 balls in play, watch out, you have a soon to be superstar on your hands.

Zig-Zag Drill

This drill is done with 4 players.
This drill helps players hit crosscourt ground strokes and down the line volleys.
On one side of the court there will be 2 players at the baseline. One on the deuce side the other on the ad side. The other side of the net there will be 2 players playing at the net. One on the deuce side and the other on the ad side.
One of the players at the baseline starts the rally cross court to one of the players at the net. The player at the net must hit the ball down the line. Continue this method, the players at the baseline hits cross court and players at the net hit down the line. Switch roles after a while so the players at the baseline get to hit some volleys and vise versa for the players at the net.
Also be sure to switch sides of the court with your partner so you can hit forehands and backhand crosscourt.

Attack and Retreat

Setup: The players are divided into two teams and start at the opposite baselines. The instructor feeds the ball from the net post.

Description: The instructor feeds the ball to one of the teams, who play out the point. The winning team gets a short ball and attacks the net. If they win the point they score a point and stay at the net. If they lose the point, they retreat back to their baseline, and the other team gets a short ball to attack the net. Teams can only score points at the net; baseline teams do not get points even if they win the rally. The first team to get to 10 points is the winner. This is a fast paced and fun drill that players love.

The Wave

This is optimal for a big group of 8 people:
You will have two teams of 4, and ask each team to grab a partner (So a total of 2 pairs on each team)
The first team on each side stands at the baseline for the point, while the pro feeds from the net to either side. Position yourself so that you can feed to either side quickly.
The first ball is fed in and anything goes. Whichever side wins the point gets to begin the next point from the service line, and the feed goes to a new pair on the other side of the net. They are instructed to hit passing shots (no lob on the first ball), and will play out against the net team. If they lose the point, they will again quickly switch with the other pair on their team. However, if they win, they will advance forward on their side to the service line, and the ball will be fed to a new team on the other side replacing the pair that was at the service line, now at the baseline.
In this game, you will keep track of score, and points are only awarded to the team who wins the point from starting at the service line. No points are awarded when knocking the opposing team off the service line.
The object of the game is to shift and move at the net as a doubles team, and look to close off the net using drop volleys, sharp angle-volleys. It also allows you to work on your passing shots from the baseline, hitting balls with topspin low at volleyer’s feet and looking to move in.
The game can also be played with 4, so instead of switching out teams you just stay together and backpedal back.

Basic Approach Shot Drill

The Forehand Approach
 The players line up behind the center mark on the baseline. The coach or a ball machine feeds a short forehand. The player, hitting on the run, hits down the line to the opposition's backhand corner. He or she follows the shot a few steps and then exits to the alley so the next player in line can take a turn.
Depending on the ability and game-style of your players, you may find it better to work with just one or two players in this drill.
Approach + First Volley   When players consistently put the approach deep in the corner, then you add the first volley to the drill. So, instead of exiting after hitting the approach shot, a player plays the next shot too-a first volley down the line, deep into the same corner. He or she follows it a few steps into the forecourt and exits to the alley so the next player can take a turn. (This introduces the idea of a set-up shot)
Approach + First Volley + Put-Away Volley   When players consistently put the first volley deep to the backhand corner, then you add the second volley to the drill-a crosscourt angle shot. (This introduces the idea of a finishing shot.)
The Backhand Approach   To drill the backhand approach, you run the mirror image of this drill. Feed short shots to the left court. The players hit backhand approach shots and first volleys down the line, then they hit put-away volleys to the opposite alley. Start drilling the Backhand Approach as soon as the players have some success on the forehand side. If you wait too long, they get such a head case about their backhand approach being weaker that they never attempt it.
Tactics   Approach shots need to be deep. But they do NOT need to be fast, especially if you hit them with topspin. In fact, the most common mistake in approach shots is whamming them. It's good if your approach shot eats some time. Then you get closer to the net for your first volley.
Conventional wisdom says that underspin approach shots are best. They are so reliable and easy to hit on the run. Which means they get you closer to the net for your first volley. Even if one lands a little short, its topspin usually gets the opponent moving backward to play it from deep. Some touring pros (notably Andre Agassi) prefer topspin too. So, you'll have to decide which side of that argument you're on.
Do not hit approach shots at a sharp angle. That's because an angle-shot's Angle of Return is a fright = you can easily be passed. Yes, John McEnroe followed his screaming angle shots to the net. You should do likewise, both to get out of no man's land and to be in position to put away a return. But if you view screaming angle shots as approach shots, you're going to be whamming them just to get to net. That's unnecessarily risky. Use the (high-percentage) regular approach shot for that, instead.
Screaming angle shots are attempted winners, not approach shots. Like a basketball player, you do follow them. Nevertheless, just as a basketball player puts up a shot to score, not to get a rebound, you do not hit screaming angle shots to get to net. For, unless they are VERY forcing, you are in trouble if the ball comes back.
A note about feeding the ball in drills:   You give those you're drilling better practice if you keep a cart or sack of balls and feed a new one for each shot-especially when feeding lobs.

High Volley

This drill can handle a large group, a variety of levels and it's a great cardio drill. Players start in one line near the singles sideline and the baseline. The first player runs to the cone and splits then shuffles to the next cone and then hits a closing high volley from the pro's toss. That player then moves around the extra cones and goes back in line.  The next player starts when the first player starts to shuffle.  So the drill moves pretty fast.  For variety you can incorporate different physical activities between the cones on the side for example, a ladder station.  You can also use a variety of tosses moving the player up, back or over.  For safety make sure the players hit the volley down the line.  You can also adjust the space between the cones based on the number of players in the drill.

Approach Shot Drill

This drill is a good drill to help you practice your approach shots.
The drillee starts on the baseline while the ball feeder starts on the other side of the court at the baseline. The drill starts by the feeder hitting a groundstroke to the drillee. The drillee returns the ball and the feeder returns a short ball. The drillee closes in and hits an approach shot down the line and closes the net. If the feeder can return the approach shot then play out the point.
Be sure to practice both the slice approach shot and the topspin approach shot. Also be sure to practice both the backhand and the forehand side.

Volley Tag

Required: 2 players, balls and some court time.
Designed to focus to hit vollies at the feet of the opponent. Works wonders in club play as most club players seem to miss the easy put away volley as they have a lack of focus. Also teaches the player(s) to dig those same balls out and react. And stops the worst thing in doubles - Just standing there.
Start 1 - Step in from the service line. Either player feeds in the ball and the pair continue to rally. The object is to react on the 1st ball to cross high and slow over the net from a weak volley and punch it down aiming at your opponent's feet.
Play 1st to 21 points with instant game if a foot or lower leg is hit. If someone gets tagged in the body from a wild volley, they lose 10 points.
Remember:
Do not stand still
Do not forget the net position
A Bad vollier moving well is a great team mate and a match winner.
A Bad vollier not mooving.

"Forehand/Backhand"

This is a great drill for practicing your strokes as well as "thinking" about the stroke your going to play.
One player can only hit forehands, but they can hit the ball anywhere in the court. The other player must hit forehands crosscourt, and backhands straight down the line. In other words, they must always play to the forehand side of the other player. Any balls landing in the backhand side are out, and the point goes to the forehand player. Volleys can be played but the same rules apply, only forehands by the forehand player, and the other forehands crosscourt or backhands straight up the line. You play the first one to 11 points by 2. Thinking is really important, especially by the player only playing forehands, they must "think before they play the shot", what the best shot will be to play. Once 11 points has been reached, swop roles. Then play the same with backhands only. You need to play this a couple of times to get the idea, but its a great training game, for stroke production, movement and tactics.

Short Ball Feast

This drill is to help players hit winners off of their opponent's shots that land short.
Grab a bucket of balls and set one player up at the center of the service line and you feed them balls from the other side of the court. Feed the ball so they land short and the other player is able to step in and hit hard winners. Continue feeding the player short balls until they are tired and then switch roles. Be sure to feed balls to both sides of the player.
The better the player the further back you can have them start and the deeper you can hit the short shots. For beginners the service line is a good place to start. For advanced players just inside the baseline is a good place to start. This will allow both skill levels to step into the ball and be on the offensive.
This is one of my favorite drills because you can really come out swinging hard. But remember, the best shots are not always the hardest hit. Make sure you can hit the ball into the corners consistently. You can easily hit a winner from this position hitting 70-80% as hard as you can depending on the situation.