Tennis: Confident Inside In

Get your players on the front foot and playing aggressive tennis, plucking the ball out of the air with this session plan.

The aim is to encourage players to progressively attack on the move.

Coach feeds 3 balls to player A as per diagram.

Player A should aim to hit the return ball down the centre of the court.

Player A then joins the queue and Player B joins the drill.

In this drill, the player works on aggressive forehand. This exercise is a demanding work for the body so if coach sees that players get tired really quick, it is a visible sign that more off-court workout has to be done to prepare the body for tennis' specifications.

The coach stands in the deuce corner, and hits easy balls. The player hits all aggressive forehands to the deuce corner.

The coach stands in front of the player and keeps their racquet facing the player, holding it in the same position.

The player imitates a forehand and moves their racquet forward to touch the coach's racquet.

Player stands on the baseline. Coach feeds an easy ball and stays on the baseline or moves far behind it. Player has to make proper decision according to the coach’s position. If the coach is on the baseline player should attack the easy ball with a powerful groundstroke. If the coach moves far behind the baseline player should hit a drop shot.

Drill specifications:

4 repetitions per set

Small number of repetitions is required to achieve quality work. Peripheral vision is one of the skills that is necessary to effectively execute offensive strokes. Waiting players should work on making quick decisions after the visual sign so coach should prepare physical drills based on quick reaction.