Player starts on the baseline with the coach just in front of them, ready to feed the ball to them. The feed should be done in a 4 ball pattern: 1 short forehand, 1 short backhand, 1 deep forehand and 1 deep backhand. The player comes forward to the feed and plays the shot before returning to the baseline ready for the next feed.
This exercise is a basic for any Spanish player. That's why Rafa Nadal or Fernando Verdasco are such great movers. Doing this exercise has many benefits: players work on endurance, footwork and strokes at the same time. This is also a great tool to see how strong mentally your players are if they are forced to do this drill for a long time.
Coach can make it easy for weaker players (4 balls) or make it really difficult for more advanced players (20 + balls).
A tiebreak is a short sprint where every point is worth the same as a break of serve. The players who win them are rarely the ones who hit hardest. Here is how to coach the patterns, habits and scoreboard thinking that win the big points.
Most club players practise the serve on its own and then have no idea what to do with the ball that comes back. Serve plus one is the pattern that turns a good serve into a won point.
Wimbledon has just crowned another champion, and if you watched closely you saw the same thing every year: the best returners quietly won the tournament. Here is how to coach a return that pressures the server rather than just surviving it.
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