HOME Tennis Drills Serve and Return

Tennis: Serve, Volley

Your tennis drills are extremely useful coaching tools.

Nail, Tennis coach

DESCRIPTION

-Student serves, the player has to split step before the feeder makes contact with the ball.
-This drill was used to demonstrate that one server and one feeder can hit 6 balls in 35 seconds while four servers and one feeder can hit 21 balls in the same amount of time.

COACHING POINTS

The timing of the split step is essential, perhaps the player or the coach should be shouting out the correct time to split.

READ MORE

READ LESS

OFTEN USED WITH...

Serve and Volley:

-Player serves diagonally to returner / feeder who hits cross court.
-Server moves forward and volleys back to returner / feeder.
-Returner / feeder hits a short low ball to the net players feet.
-The returner / feeder then plays out the point.
-Lobs are only allowed after a minimum of two volleys.

Serve and Return

Serve Placement:

Divide the box into 3 areas using TDL (Throw down lines)

First person to hit each area 3 times on both the deuce and advantage boxes is the winner

Progression - The server has to say which area they are going to serve into if the serve lands in that area and they win the point they get a bonus point

Serve and Return

Serve and Volley - Low returns:

Player A serves softly from between the service line and the base line and player B has to return across the court. The point only begins when player A makes their first volley. The first player to 7 points then swap

Progression - As above but server starts from baseline

As above if the server can make 1st volley a winner then an extra two points can be scored.

Serve and Return

Serving A / B:

Player 1 has to tell player 2 whether the are serving into area A or B. Player 1 has two serves, if the serve goes in the correct area and they eventually win the point they get a bonus point.

If the serve goes in the unstated area the point is still played out with no bonus points. The first player to 4 points wins.

Serve and Return

36064

1010

SIGN UP NOW FOR FREE

search our library of 1200+ tennis drills
create professional tennis coaching plans
or access our tried and tested tennis plans

Tennis

MORE Serve and Return DRILLS

/drills/ Tennis/ Serve-and-Return /categoryDrills_21.jsp

JOIN SPORTPLAN FOR FREE

search our library of 1200+ tennis drills
create your own professional coaching plans
or access our tried and tested plans

Tennis

LATEST COACHING TRENDS

6 Things Changing Tennis in 2026

On-court coaching is now fully legal, technology continues to advance, and the ATP calendar evolves. Here's what tennis coaches need to know for 2026.

January 2026

Sportplan Coaching

Tennis Tennis Trends Physical Preparation: The Complete Tennis Athlete

Physical Preparation: The Complete Tennis Athlete

Tennis demands a unique combination of endurance, power, agility, and flexibility. Physical preparation determines how long careers last and how players perform when it matters most.

December 2025

Sportplan Coaching

Tennis Tennis Trends Ecological Dynamics: Constraints-Led Coaching

Ecological Dynamics: Constraints-Led Coaching

Ecological dynamics is transforming tennis coaching. This constraints-led approach develops adaptable, creative players who can solve problems in competition, not just execute drilled patterns.

November 2025

Sportplan Coaching

VIEW ALL COACHING TRENDS