Contact Help center
Tennis Tennis
HOME Tennis SEARCH

Tennis: fitness

fitness DRILLS
View All

2 in 2 out ladder

Player stands next to the ladder. Player alternates legs while stepping in and out of the ladder. This drill is a great exercise to improve speed and agility of the tennis player.

Agility & Fitness

Forehand hitting cross court from 3 zones

Coach feeds 3 balls to the player's deuce side down the line. Standing on the base line, the player moves to their right to meet the ball on their forehand side. The player then returns the ball hitting forehand cross court to the corner of the deuce side between cones. he/she then moves back to the centre of the base line. The coach then feeds the next ball on the players deuce side service line. The player moves foreward and returns using a forehand cross court short to the corner of the deuce side. Player then returns back to the centre of the baseline. Coach then feeds the third ball a few feet beyond the net. Players moves to meet it and agins, using a forehand cross court shot, returns the ball beteen the cones set up on the cross court shot side.

Attacking

Hit and move: Running drives

Players are working in threes with player 1 in a full-court and players 2 and 3 in the forehand and backhand corners respectively. Player 1 is hitting running drives, 1 forehand cross followed by 1 backhand cross. Player 2 is hitting a forehand line, and player 3 a backhand line. The pattern is played in this way for up to 3 minutes depending on the level of fitness of player 1.

Rally Drills

Hitting in all directions

Player and coach rally together. The player hits shots in this pattern: forehand cross court forehand down the line backhand cross court backhand down the line

Forehand & Backhand Drill

Offensive-minded response

Player stands on the baseline. Coach feeds high topspin ball into one of the corners. Player tries to hit the ball on the rise without moving back. Drill specifications: 4 reps per set If coach has more players during the session he can set up 2 lines of players and work on forehand and backhand at the same time. With less players coach can focus just on one groundstroke for few minutes and then switch to the next one. Incorporating specific fitness exercises focused on shoulder strength is a good way to prevent possible injuries because of the higher point of contact.

Forehand Drills

Old-school slice as a modern weapon

Player stands on the baseline. Coach feeds high topspin ball into the backhand corner. Player tries to hit the ball with backhand slice without moving back. Drill specifications: 1-4 repetitions per set With less players on the court coach can work with one student while others are performing specific fitness drills or shadowing the high backhand slice to get comfortable with this motion. With more players on the court coach can put one player as a feeder and let him work on this tactical ball at the same time while others are working on responses to this high topspin shot.

Backhand Drills

Open the court and finish down the line

2 players rally together in cross court direction. Player A picks the right moment to hit angle shot and opens the court up. After successful angle shot player finishes the next ball down the line. Drill specifications: 1 point and switch Only 2 players can play at one court so quick change after the point is the best way to keep all players hitting. While waiting for own turn players should perform specific fitness drills that will lead to the improvements in their games. Jump rope or footwork on the ladder are quick and dynamic exercises that can be used to achieve these goals.

Forehand Drills

Rally with 3 zones

2 players rally together in cross court direction. 3 zones are set on each player’s side (Red, Yellow, Green). Player has to hit particular shot according to the opponent’s balls placement. If the ball lands in the red zone player hits defensive/neutral shot. If the ball lands in the yellow zone player hits neutral/offensive shot. If the ball lands in the green zone player has to attack it. Drill specifications: 30-60 seconds and switch 4 players can work on the court at the same time while others can have different duties. Coach can put 2 players next to the net post and let them say “stop” when the ball goes over the net. This is the signal for the player and feedback at the same time of their perception time. If there are more players on the court coach can make them do some fitness drill or put them far behind the hitting players and work on ball perception on their own.

Forehand Drills

Send and adjust

2 players rally in cross court direction. Players adjust their court position according to the placement of own shots. If the ball is hit really deep players move closer to the baseline. If the ball is hit with medium depth players maintain the position around 2 meters behind the baseline. If the ball is hit short players quickly move back to prepare for defense. Drill specifications: 1 min and switch 4 players work with each other at the same time so the coach can walk around and provide constant feedback about the footwork and positioning. Main goal is to focus on these two aspects so any faults related to stroke’s technique shouldn’t be pointed out at this time. Waiting players should do fitness drill to work on their footwork skills and legs endurance. Ladder, jump rope or plyometrics are great examples to implement while waiting for own turn.

Forehand Drills

Using the middle to defend under pressure (it's the biggest part of the court after all!)

The coach feeds single ball feeds from the basket putting the player under extreme pressure. Starting from the singles tramline the players must try to hit the ball on the run directly back down the middle of the court to the rectangular target. Players can choose whether they slice or hit over the ball depending on how quickly they can get to the ball. Each player hits just one ball at a time so players waiting must be ready immediately for the next feed and after the shot has been played must jog back to the start position at the back of the court in order to keep the drill continuous. Repeat this drill with the coach feeding from the opposite corner.

Passing Shots Drills

Cone Warm Up Agility & Fitness...

Set up a cone on the baseline, and if there is more than one player taking part in the session, you can set up multiple cones to be used, but ensure these are correctly spaced out.Players will use quick footwork to move around the cone in circles.

General

Frog jumps Agility & Fitness -...

The player performs explosive jumps with minimal break time between repetitions.

General

Kangaroo Jumps Agility & Fitne...

Player performs kangaroo jumps.Player should bring knees as close to the chest as possible.

General

Shadow Warm Up Agility & Fitne...

Players stand either side of the service line and face each other. One player acts as a mover, and the other as a shadower. The mover will move left and right across the service line, never backwards or forwards, and the shadower must keep up with their movements and follow them across the line.

General

Sumo squats Agility & Fitness ...

Wide deep squats moving from one side of court to the other.Feet turned out at 45°.Lift one leg up and use it to turn 180° so that they are facing the opposite direction.

General

Quick Feet Ball Warm Up Agilit...

Player stands on the baseline and rolls the ball forward. They then run forward to catch up with the ball, but instead of picking it up, they use quick feed to run around the ball before running forward to catch it up again and do the same.

General

Respond to Drop Shot Agility &...

Coach tosses low and short balls really close to the net. Player sprints and responds with counter drop shots.

General

2 in 2 out ladder Agility & Fi...

Player stands next to the ladder. Player alternates legs while stepping in and out of the ladder. This drill is a great exercise to improve speed and agility of the tennis player.

General

Balance touch cones Agility & ...

The player stands on the balance platforms. Cones are set around the player, with the player's goal to touch each cone separately without falling off the platforms.Balance platforms work best with this drills. If coaches don't these though use your creativity to find an alternative (stand on a bean bag for example).The important thing is to use something that is SAFE to stand on and ideally forces the kid to test their balance.

General

Colour Ball Agility & Fitness ...

Coach has 2 balls: red and yellow. Coach throws one of the balls to the player. If this is yellow ball, player has to catch it after one bounce. If it is red ball, player has to catch it in the air.

General

Racquetless tennis Agility & F...

Staying in one service box on their side, players compete against each other just like a tennis game. Players have to bounce the ball on their side of the net, so it crosses to their opponents side. The player receiving the ball has to catch it with one hand, making sure the ball only bounces once on their side of the court. Continue this as a rally until the ball bounces twice on one side of the court.

General

Point the cone Agility & Fitne...

4 cones are set around the player. Coach faces the player and points out one of the cones. Player runs in this direction, touches the cone and recovers back.

General

TRX Lunge Agility & Fitness - ...

Player stands facing away from the wall and performs a regular lunge while moving straight arms up. The player has to remember to press on the handles all the time to work properly with TRX equipment. Straps should never lose tension during the exercise.

General

Random cones Agility & Fitness...

Cones are set randomly around the court. The player starts from the centre of the baseline and their goal is to touch each cone as fast as possible. Order can be random but player has to recover to the middle after each touch.

General

Zig zag up the ladder Agility ...

Player goes diagonally through the ladder, using only little steps in between each space. In this drill, player works on speed and coordination. At the beginning, kids should focus more on coordination rather than speed.

General

Diagonal shuttles Agility & Fi...

Start on one side of the baseline.Cross feet shuttles moving diagonally forward and to the other side.Push off from the outside foot and straight into the next diagonal shuttle.

General

Warm up: side to side Agility ...

Players perform warm up routines to prepare body for the practice. The main theme of this session is serving, so the warm up exercises should be related to that tennis discipline.

General

Arms Prevention Agility & Fitn...

Player uses a resistance band.Player keeps the band in one hand and performs outside move to the side.

General

High Knees 123 Agility & Fitne...

The player performs high knees over the cone. Pattern includes 3 steps on the right side and 3 steps on the left side of the cone.

General

Shadow with intensity Agility ...

Cones are set inside the service boxes. The player starts from the middle, sprints to the right cone and imitates forehand volley. As fast as possible, the player recovers back and moves to the other side.

General

Drop And Run Agility & Fitness...

The player stands in one corner of the court, with the coach on the opposite side of the baseline. The coach drops the ball from shoulder height and the player must sprint across the baseline and hit the ball, before returning to their starting position.

General

Walking lunges Agility & Fitne...

Walk across the court doing lunges. Step out in front and bend both legs 90°.

General

Decelerate and turn Agility & ...

Fasten a resistance band to the net post.Walk out until it is stretched as far as possible.Accelerate in towards the net but before the player reaches the net they need to decelerate and turn to run back out.

General

Hop and steps to side Agility ...

Fasten a resistance band to the net post.Walk out until it is stretched as far as possible.Hold the band (can loop hand inside for grip) with the right hand, whilst standing on just the right leg.One legged hop forward to the left foot.Put the right leg in front and side skip out to the side before pushing off the ouside foot (the right foot) to turn.

General

Catch with carioca Agility & F...

The coach faces the player, with both only using the carioca step. The coach tries to "lose" the player who is trying to stay in line with the coach.

General

Shoulder rotation in Agility &...

Attach a resistance band to the net post.Hold band with right arm facing away from the net post.Bring right arm to shoulder height, out to the side, bent at the elbow so that the hand is in front off to the right.Keeping the elbow to shoulder steady and level, hinge at the elbow to raise the forearm to above the elbow.Slowly lower and repeat 10 times on each side.The band is working against the player as the rotate their shoulder in.

General

Protect The Wrist Agility & Fi...

<span style=&quot;background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(50, 50, 50);&quot;>Player keeps light dumbbell in one hand. <span style=&quot;background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(50, 50, 50);&quot;>Player takes position with the back of the hand pointing up and performs up and down motions using only the wrist.

General

Elevated push-ups Agility & Fi...

Player puts legs on bench and performs push-ups.

General

Lunge and arm stretch Agility ...

Start in plank position. Bring one foot next to hand. Lift that hand up and turn to face that side. Repeat across court.

General

Unfortunately there were no results for your search! Please try again
fitness DRILL CATEGORIES
View All
Agility & Fitness Drills
Agility & Fitness Drills
fitness SESSIONS
View All

Challenge the serve to meet demands!

Make your players tactically aware and ready for their return of serve, hitting shot patterns to go on the front foot

Cardio Tennis Fun

Improve your player's tennis skills in a friendly and fun environment while being active and burning a lot of calories!

Running Scenarios

Fluid movement is essential to firstly making balls and then being in a good position to play an effective shot. Go through the full repertoire of shots whilst on the move with this tough session.

Non-Stop Movement Session - Keep the pressure on!

A non-stop, physically challenging quick thinking session - working on your players' fitness, tennis reflexes and natural instincts

Agility and coordination - Sharpen their senses!

Say no to heavy footed players. Improve your players' reactions with this fast footwork session - working in pairs on their acceleration, agility and reaction speed

Smash It! Perfect the Overhead Volley

Teach your players on how to improve the tricky overhead shot, developing their technique and tactical thinking - don?t tap it, smash it!

Improving Key Skills For Juniors

Use this session plan to help your players’ confidence and skills grow, by putting in use of key skills that are required in the game.
fitness ANSWERS
View All

How do you beat someone who is clearly inferior but?

How do you beat someone who is clearly inferior but just keeps the ball in play?

Archived User Coach

How to run try-outs, getting 50 students down to 32?

There are 50 students, and I need to select 32 of them. How will you plan your try-out? Test for accuracy? Fitness?

Farhad Roshanaie Coach, United States of America

free access to agility and fitness

I was offered free access to agility and fitness library. but it says locked, upgrade.

Julie Lumb Coach, England

high ball

hi what is the best drill to improve high ball contact point and footwork.

samala ashok Coach, India

JOIN SPORTPLAN FOR FREE

  • search our library of 1200+ tennis drills
  • create your own professional coaching plans
  • or access our tried and tested plans
LATEST FROM THE BLOG
Banish Your Coaching Nightmares with Sportplan

Banish Your Coaching Nightmares with Sportplan

Save yourself a scare this Halloween and ensure your session runs smoothly. No chaos, no fright, just structure.

October 30th, 2025
|
Cam Hughes
The 2025 British & Irish Lions Tour: What To Expect

The 2025 British & Irish Lions Tour: What To Expect

As the Lions tour approaches with their first tour game this Friday against Argentina, we look ahead at what the fans can expect to see from both sides as the tour in Australia approaches...

June 18th, 2025
|
Cam Hughes
Transform Your Coaching: Discover the Power of FootballBot!

Transform Your Coaching: Discover the Power of FootballBot!

Introducing the Sportplan FootballBot. Your new coaching partner that has all the answers to the questions you may have...

June 12th, 2025
|
Cam Hughes
VISIT THE BLOG TO READ MORE
Tennis POPULAR SEARCH TERMS
backhand drillsconsistencyfootworkservedrop shotforehandmini tennisdoublesforehand drillsbackhandbeginnerlesson plansgameswarm updoubles drillsservingvolleykidsslice

What our users have been saying...

Coaches from around the world look to Sportplan for coaching confidence.

Sportplan has been very helpful in guiding me through my first year as a High School Coach.

Bill O'Neill Newly qualified coach, America

Your tennis drills are extremely useful coaching tools.

Nail Tennis coach, Bangalore

Thanks for everything! Sportplan has helped me to improve my tennis lessons, making them more interesting and fun.

Andrea Tennis coach, England

Wow what a great website, I have found sportplan an important tool for me when planning my netball sessions with my netball team. There are alot of very helpful tips/ideas/skills that I can learn and teach to my team. Thank you sportplan I hope to continue to use your helpful tips and to learn more about improving my teams netball skills. Thanks again....keep it up....

Monique New Zealand

I have been using Sportplan now for 3 years and can honestly say that I have never repeated the same session twice. My girls are always focused and are improving every year. Thanks Sportplan.

Debbie Cross Australia

What a fantastic tool. The Chalkboard and session tools make an unbelievable difference in making training plans in both time and organization. I will be instructing all of my assistant coaches that this tool must be used for all sessions during the season, so that we may build a club coaching resource library.

Wes Campbell Rugby Coach Canada

I can't get enough of the Sportplan, It has given me back the enthusiasm i was starting to lose. My girls are so keen and are ready at 14 to take the next up in their game. Sportplan will help no end.

Cornel Basketball Coach, South Africa

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

Sportplan App

Give it a try - it's better in the app

SPORTPLAN USES COOKIES

Sportspeople like cookies too! By continuing to browse, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. More info

Privacy Policy
We are committed to privacy and support current industry initiatives to preserve individual privacy rights on the Internet. Protecting your privacy on-line is an evolving area and this website will constantly evolve to meet these demands.


Cookies
Some of our web pages utilise "cookies". A "cookie" is a small text file that may be used, forexample, to collect information about web site activity. Some cookies and other technologies may serve to recallPersonal Information previously indicated by a web user. Most browsers allow you to control cookies, includingwhether or not to accept them and how to remove them.

Some cookies are necessary for the operation of our website, if you choose to block them some aspects of the site may not work for you. Non necessary cookies are only set when you have given your explicit consent to their use. Such cookies included those set by our statistics package Google Analytics.

We use cookies to personalise content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyse our traffic. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners who may combine it with other information that you've provided to them or that they've collected from your use of their services.

More info
Tennis POPULAR SEARCH TERMS
approach backhand backhand drills badminton beginner donkey doubles doubles drills drills drop shot football footwork forehand forehand drills games kids lesson plans lob mini mini tennis search serve serving short slice smash tennis volley volley drills warm up
YOUR SESSION IS STARTING SOON... Join the growing community of tennis coaches plus 1200+ drills and pro tools to make coaching easy.
LET'S DO IT