Player stands inside the service line. Coach drops the ball from the net on the deuce side. Player sprints and hits controlled forehand drop shot down the line.
Hitting controlled shots while running with full speed is a skill that even the best players in the world have problems with. Ability to sprint, decelerate and maintain balanced position has to be practised in different situation to bring desired effects.
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.