Tennis: Being automatic

DESCRIPTION

The player serves to the T from Ad side. The coach throws 2 balls to the backhand side. The player executes backhand cross-court and backhand down the line.

COACHING POINTS

Being able to use learned patterns while under pressure is a big weapon for any player. Watching top players in the world we can see that many times they play the same sequence of shots because it is an automatic reaction for them. That is why players should work on own individual patterns to make sure that they can plan their actions especially while serving because everything depends on them this time. "Serve and next shots” is an area that a player can be really creative and only number of repetitions will decide how good an automated pattern will be during the match.

In this drill, the player works on sequence of shots starting with serve to the T from Ad side. Serving in this direction gives less opportunities for returners to have good angle shots so we can expect many balls to go around the centre. The player should be ready for this scenario and know how to respond effectively. Using backhand stroke it is crucial to learn how to move rival from the first ball so a simple sequence of hitting cross-court and down the line is many times enough to win the point if there is a good power and depth combined. The coach should remind players how important it is to properly position to this kind of balls because many mistakes happen while players don't react properly to first ball after the serve.