Tennis: Be confident with low forehand

DESCRIPTION

The coach stands in front of player and feeds low balls to player's forehand. The player executes forehands.

COACHING POINTS

Practice makes perfect. Unfortunately most of the time players get perfect only at one kind of balls – these around the waist level. Coaches tend to feed the same kind of balls all the time and players look well but the reality is that they can't win matches against decent opponents. One of the reasons of this situation is the fact that during competition players have to adapt to changing environment. If they don't practise in changing environment, they can be successful only in one scenario so there is no chance to achieve consistent results on tournaments.

In this drill, the player works on ability to deal with low balls using forehand stroke. Hitting forehands from low point of contact requires technical and tactical adaptations from the player so only by practising these skills in pressure-free environment player will be able to use them effectively while fighting in tournaments. The coach should teach player to get below the ball with racquet's head and apply more spin with accelerated wrist action. From the tactical point of view, it is crucial for players to understand that the most important thing is to clear the net with solid margin to be able to play the ball over the net and deep into opponent's court. At the beginning, the coach should focus just on technical aspects and later on emphasis should be put more on location of the ball.