Tennis: Lateral Forehands Drill

The player rallies with the coach using forehand cross court. The player alternates regular follow through (to the left side) and Nadal's follow through (over the hitting shoulder).

Coach feeds three balls per player from the basket. Players should aim to hit the targets (as in diagram - can use cones to mark out targets). The aim is to encourage players to progressively attack on the move.

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.

In this exercise, the coach feeds all the balls to one side. The player's goal is to alternate shots with higher and lower trajectory over the net, firstly hitting a high shot, followed by a low shot, and this is repeated.

2 players rally together in cross court direction. Player A hits all the balls aggressively. Player B hits all the balls defensively. After the point both players switch roles and play another rally. Drill specifications : 5-10 min per side With more players on the court coach can use this drill strictly for the learning process or to make it really competitive. For learning purposes, players switch after few points to have a time to work on their shots as also to spend some time on different skills. For competitiveness, coach should put players into teams and play cross court points with clear defensive/offensive goals.

The coach feeds 2 balls to the deuce side. The player hits forehand approach and forehand volley to the ad side, then repeats the same pattern from the center of the court and from the ad side.

Players should use good quick footwork to get their feet in the correct position around the ball to play the shots. The aim is to encourage players to progressively attack on the move. Coach feeds 3 balls to 3 players. Feed 1 to player A at the net to play a forehand cross court volley. Feed 2 to player B to play a mid court forehand shot down the court. Feed 3 to player C to the corner of the court on the baseline, to play a forehand pass down the line. The drill should be continuous so as player A joins the queue. Player B moves to feed 1, player C to feed 2, player D to feed 3, so that the drill is continuous.

Cones are set in the deuce corner. The coach feeds 3 balls to the forehand side. The player executes forehand after the bounce, forehand drive in the air, and forehand volley in cross-court direction.

Coach feeds balls to the deuce side. Player hits 4 balls aiming at 4 different zones. Player hits deep cross-court, deep down the line, short cross-court and short down the line.

Cones are set in the ad corner. Coach feeds 3 kinds of balls: deep, medium and short in 3 directions: deuce, middle, ad. Player hits offensive shot to the ad and recovers back to the middle after every shot.

Coach feeds short balls to the player. Player alternates offensive shot and drop shot.

Coach stands on the player's side of the court and feeds the ball with the racquet off the ground. Player moves forward and hits an aggressive forehand.

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 rallies with a player using only forehand cross-court shots. The player tries to hit the target (Gymnastic ball). If she makes it she gets a tennis ball which she tries to throw into the cones with a service motion.

The player starts behind the service line and the coach feeds high ball to the forehand side. The player executes forehand drive deep cross-court and moves to the net. The coach feeds another ball to forehand side and the player then finishes with forehand stop-volley cross-court.

Coach feeds balls to the 'ad' side. Player hits 2 forehands inside out and 1 forehand inside in.

Cones are set in the deuce corner. The coach feeds random balls. The player has to use forehand from the all court and hit the balls to the deuce corner.

The coach stands on the service line and rallies with the player, who is stood on the baseline. Everytime the player returns the ball, they move forward. Once at the net, they move backwards after every shot. The player executes groundstrokes behind the service line, and volleys inside the service line.

Drill is continuous. Drill takes place witin the service box on each side of the net. Coach feeds the ball, player returns short forehand, a rally then continues with the player alternating between a short forehand and volley. Coach to make use of all the service box.

Cones are set in the ad corner. The coach feeds 9 balls. 3 to the deuce side (deep, middle, short), 3 to the centre (deep, middle, short) and 3 to the ad side (deep, middle, short). The player hits all forehands to the ad side.