HOME Tennis Drills Serve and Return

Tennis: Target Serve Corner

Sportplan has been very helpful in guiding me through my first year...

Bill, Newly qualified coach

DESCRIPTION

4 players, cones or spots, basket of tennis balls.

4 cones set up in each corner of the service box.

Two players take 2 serves each to the relevant service box aiming to hit the cones.

The next 2 players then take 2 serves each.

The drill continues until all balls have been used.

1 point scored for every cone hit.

COACHING POINTS

Correct ball toss - throw slightly in front.

Keep left arm upwards whilst serving.

Use of wrist to control racket face.

Keep front foot still.

Use knee bend at appropiate time after ball toss.

READ MORE

READ LESS

OFTEN USED WITH...

Target Serve Central Line:

4 players, Â 4 cones or spots, basket of tennis balls.

4 cones set up in a line along the centre of each service box.

Two players take 2 serves each to the relevant service box aiming to hit the cones.

The next 2 players then take 2 serves each.

The drill continues until all balls have been used.

1 point scored for every cone hit.

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

Cone Serving:

Players serve at the targets shown, taking two balls at a time and serving 1 first serve, 1 second serve at each target.

After a certain amount of time players switch and repeat the same from the other side.

The player with the most targets at the end of the practice wins the drill.

If groups are large, players can take it in turns to serve one after the other, and/or also from the doubles serving positions.

Serve and Return

Toss Variety - Kick Serve:

Player learns how to toss the ball into the proper spot. Coach stands on the right of the player (slice serve) or on the left of the player (kick serve). Player tries to toss the ball into the coach's hand.

Players have to be able to vary the toss according to the serve they want to execute. Slice, kick serve and flat serves require slightly different tosses to make chances bigger for effective results.

For the kick serve, toss to the left side is a necessity to successfuly deliver the ball with high and unexpected bounce. Hitting from the left to the right will add spin responsible for ball bounces to the right side. Tossing the ball to the left helps also with contacting the ball at lower point (in opposite to any other serve) which has an impact on loopy trajectory of the serve.

Serve and Return

1347746

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

Smart Courts and Wearable Tech: How Technology Is Transforming Tennis Training

From sensor-equipped rackets to AI-powered coaching, technology is making tennis training more precise than ever. Here's what actually works.

March 2026

Sportplan Coaching

On-Court Coaching: Making the Most of Your 90 Seconds

On-court coaching is now fully legal. Here's how to deliver advice that actually helps during those crucial 90-second changeovers.

February 2026

Sportplan Coaching

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

VIEW ALL COACHING TRENDS