Enhancing Your
Training and Practice

Nick Wheatley

Unless you have the luxury of training full time, finding time to practice with all the other things that are going on in your life isn't always easy. Practice time is often precious and restricted, so making the very most of that time is important.

Your practice should be purposeful, and tailored specifically to your individual game—the characteristics of which we have been helping you discover in the previous articles.

There is little point spending 30 minutes hitting balls back and forth. You'll get some exercise and some enjoyment, but you won't be any better prepared for your next match.

Instead set up scenarios that tick all the boxes of quality practice. This starts by doing work based on your top shot.

Here is a simple game. Start a rally from the back and play out the point. But if you end the point by hitting a quality top shot you are awarded 3 points instead of 1.

You don't get the 3 points if you hit your top shot defensively and the other player happens to make an unforced error. But if you hit your top shot with intent and get a winner or forced error, then the 3 points are yours. You can also claim the points if your top shot sets up a simple put away.

For example, let's say your top shot is your forehand down the line. With the 3 point system, practice will have you constantly looking for opportunities to play this shot, and also to think about shots you could hit to set it up. As a right-hander, you would be happy rallying in the right side pattern, looking for a shorter ball that wasn't too near the side line.

Or if you find yourself in the left side pattern, you might be considering a backhand down the line or a forehand inside in to switch the rally back to the right side pattern where your top shot becomes a possibility.

As a left-hander, your forehand crosscourt has top shot potential from the left side pattern. But if you find yourself in the right side look to possibly set up shots to switch the pattern to the left side, a backhand down the line or a forehand inside in.

This opens the possibility for your top shot, which has the added benefit of going to a right handed opponent's backhand. With the understanding you have built, straight away your tennis brain is thinking more productively through this type of practice game.

One note in this drill game is to never start the rally with a feed up the middle of the court. The first feed should be either crosscourt or down the line, so the other player has their own options to think about.

If you have 2 players doing this drill with the same intentions, then tactical thinking can also include how to restrict the opportunities for your opponent to hit their top shot. The more potent that top shot is, the more your tactical thinking may be focused on restricting it, as opposed to solely focusing on using your own.

This practice game can be modified. You can award 5 points if a player manages to win a point by using their set up shot and top shot in succession. You could award double or triple points when a player wins a point by hitting their secondary shot with quality.

You can also award double points when a player wins on their favoured pattern, asking players to decide which is their favoured pattern when they take into account not only their game but that of their opponent, assuming they know the opponent well enough.

The Net!

You can also set up a practice game that incorporates your top shot with a net approach. One player feeds the other player their top shot to approach.

The quality of the feed is very important to make this productive, so I always ask the player who receives the feed to feel free to decline it if it's not right, or it's not a ball that they would realistically be happy to hit an approach in a real match.

Since the feeder knows where the first shot is going, he is encouraged to make a slightly earlier move in that direction from the split step, which in turn promotes extending the rally. The rally is played out with normal rules, players can score first to 10 before switching roles.

Down the Line Live

Finally, you can open up the practice to one of my favourite games, called Down the Line Live. There are numerous versions of this drill game, but here is one ticks all the boxes of quality practice.

Pick a side to start the rally from, either right side or left side. The feed must go crosscourt, and the receiver must hit their regular shot first. In other words they can't run around their backhand to hit a forehand from the feed. However, they can use this option on their second and subsequent shots.

While the rally stays in the crosscourt pattern, it is not yet live. Once a player hits down the line, the scoring becomes live from that moment, and will continue to the points conclusion whatever that may be. All normal tennis rules are now in play.

The winner of the point scores 1. If the first attempted down the line shot is missed, the point is deemed to be live and the other player scores a point. This really focuses players on managing their decision making better when it comes to taking balls down the line.

There is one other way in which a point can be scored when the point hasn't gone live. A clean winner from a quality shot while the rally is still in the initial crosscourt pattern will earn that player the point. This stop players from overly covering the down the line shot. It also gives options when an easy put away is available before the point has gone live.

Some players moan that their crosscourt play doesn't earn them anything in this game. Firstly, if the crosscourt play is high quality, it could force an unintentional down the line shot from the opponent, which tends to put that player in control of the rally at the critical moment it has gone live. Secondly, quality crosscourt play may also lead to your opponent dropping the ball a little shorter and giving you a clearer opportunity to take the ball down the line.

This drill helps players understand how their crosscourt shots can create opportunities. Finally and most importantly, this drill is about getting almost every rally to that crucial point where someone changes direction on the ball. That moment often defines who takes control of the rally and ultimately wins it, so the more practice players get on that specific scenario, the better.

Obviously within the Down the Line Live game, players are encouraged to develop use of their top shot, and other chosen favourite shots, and develop their tactical ability at the same time. Just like the previous exercises, you could introduce extra points when players have successfully used their strengths to win points.

Serve and Return

Finally, let's move on to serve and return practice. This will in turn take us nicely to the next article, which looks at the start of the point. Much is talked about first strike tennis these days, and the undisputed importance of the first 4 shots of the point. Now we take your enhanced understanding of your game and the game of tennis, and see how to apply it to the crucial early moments of the point from all the scenarios you will face.

Serve and return practice in its purest form should simply be about serve and return. One player will serve a first serve. The other player will be practising only their return of serve.

The server doesn't hit the next shot after the return, but instead finishes with a well-timed split step. This split step after the serve is the hardest to master.

This is because the serve takes a little longer to execute than a groundstroke, and often players are then late taking their first split step after the serve. Mastering the timing of the split step is the key to taking advantage of weaker returns, as well as defending better against quality attacking returns.

If the server misses the first serve, he then hits a second serve. The returner should be encouraged to adjust their position accordingly, and look to try and bring their stronger shots into play on the return with the extra time they have on a second serve.

The same player will continue serving, switching sides. After 5-10 minutes, the players can switch roles.

This practice can then be adjusted from just concentrating on the first 2 shots to the first 4. This allows the server to hit the next shot, assuming the return is in play, and also the returner to play another shot of their own.

Players are encouraged to think about how they can bring their strengths and perhaps their top shot into the equation. Servers hold the cards after a successful first serve, but often the returner has the advantage in this regard once the first serve has been missed.

For the purpose of scoring when the point hasn't been won within 4 shots, I ask the players to adjudicate based on who has the upper hand in the point at the moment the fifth shot in the rally is about to be played. Once again, extra points can be awarded when players have successfully used their strengths within the first 4 shots, enabling them to fully understand how they can do this in different scenarios, and that is what the next article is all about!