Tennis Coaching / How to Engage Students to Practice More Often

by | Tennis Tips Blog | 4 comments

We all love playing tennis, but we may not enjoy practicing as much.

Often, coaches find it frustrating to see their players not dedicating enough time to practice the skills they learn.

Playing the game is obviously more fun than the repetition required to hone skills like the forehand down the line, kick serve, or drop shot.

So, what can coaches or tennis parents do to engage players in practicing their skills more often?

It all depends on the players: are they beginners, intermediate, or advanced?

If they are beginners, give them ideas for fun tennis drills and games they can practice alone, with a friend, or with a family member. Let them know that you would like to hear about the games or drills they tried before the next lesson. Show interest and give them tasks to accomplish, such as hitting 50 backhands down the line, serving 100 times, playing two sets with a friend, rallying 200 balls over the net, and so on.

If they are intermediate or advanced players, remind them about the benefits of practicing, such as consistency under pressure, better shot placement, winning more matches, more power, and foot speed. For these players, give them tasks to accomplish before the next lesson, such as hitting 100 serves down the T, hitting 50 drop shots, hitting 200 forehands cross-court, serving 50 kick serves to the ad court, and so on.

On or off the court, when it comes to explaining to your students the benefits of practicing and playing more tennis, some will pay attention and follow your advice, while others may need more reminding. People are all different, so it’s important to test what works and what doesn’t.

The bottom line is that self-motivation is a rare thing among most people. This is where the coach or parent must step in. We all need a little push sometimes.

To learn more about how to create exciting practice drills and lesson plans for tennis, check out the Lesson Plans section at WebTennis24.

Cosmin Miholca

Cosmin Miholca

Certified Tennis Coach

Check out my work at WebTennis24 where I share with you my best video tennis lessons, drills and tips for players, coaches and tennis parents.

Outcome-Oriented Tennis Practice

by | Tennis Tips Blog, Uncategorized | 0 comments

tennis practice outcome

“Whatever you do, don’t say anything to me about my serve. If I think about it, I’m in trouble.” Andy Roddick said this when he first met Patrick McEnroe, his Davis Cup coach.

In a tennis world where the emphasis is on the technical aspect, there is one area that very few tennis players dare to adopt – and it pays off big time for their game. That is… letting things happen naturally. 

What I’m about to tell you is directed to your tennis improvement by getting you out of the normal and popular tennis culture. 

As a tennis player and coach, I have been experiencing many frustrations and successes in my own lessons with all kinds of players. 

One thing that’s certain is that all players are different and you cannot teach the same technical aspect to everyone. I have to pay very much attention to what works for each of my students individually.

For example, in teaching my two daughters, Cezara (8 years old) and Bianca (6 years old)…

Cezara, on the serve, prefers the pinpoint stance (when during the toss the back foot joins up with the front foot) whereas Bianca likes the more traditional platform stance (when both feet are not moving during the toss and stand fairly close to each other). 

Cezara’s dominant elbow must elevate during the forehand ground-stroke preparation to avoid opening her racquet too much during contact; Bianca has a natural way of controlling the racquet face at contact without having to focus on the set-up. And so forth…

But my ultimate point for this letter is that players should be allowed to forget about all the technical overload and focus on the outcome. 

When serving, the outcome could be just getting the ball in (for beginning players), sending the ball with lots of slice or topspin, or placing it powerfully in the corner of the service box. 

As Andy Roddick did when he was a junior – he got fed up with all the technique that was imposed on him when serving and then one day he just threw the ball up and hit it as hard as he naturally felt. And it worked great. 
Just imagine if someone would have tried to change his serve technique!
Or if some coach would have told Nadal to not hit his forehands with that looping finish! (he was so fortunate to have such an open-minded coach like his uncle Toni)

You can only imagine what damage you can do when you want to impose one kind of technique on every single player that you coach. 

We should always be paying attention to what works for each player. 

As a tennis player, you should listen to your body and how it reacts to every stroke you execute…

In my teachings, I get the best results when I give my kids tasks that are goal-oriented. Examples:
– hit 40 serves in
– send 25 forehands cross-court
– rally 50 balls over the net with your partner
– etc.

When goal-oriented tasks are given, the mind and body work together to accomplish them successfully.

Next time you go to practice, forget about the technique. Instead, focus on what you want to accomplish: is it more slice on your serve? is it more power on your backhand? more penetrating volleys?

Then here’s what you need to do: 
– before you start hitting the balls visualize (or tell yourself) what you want: more power, more spin or to get it in
– let your body loose and the racquet do its work
– clear your mind of any technical thoughts and keep in there only the outcome you aim for (more power, spin, placement, etc.)

When you practice without the technical details cluttering your mind you will see better things happening.

Cosmin Miholca

Cosmin Miholca

Certified Tennis Coach

Check out my work at WebTennis24 where I share with you my best video tennis lessons, drills and tips for players, coaches and tennis parents.

How to Get the Most Out of Your Tennis Practice

by | Tennis Tips Blog, Uncategorized | 0 comments

tennis practice

As I watch the U.S. Open (Grand Slam) tennis tournament I can’t help but feel the urge to go out on the tennis court and practice.

I am sure you might feel the same. But before you do it, I’d like to share with you some tips that can help you get the most out of your time on the practice court:

1. Serve Practice:
– Hit the ball with a loose arm: begin at a slow pace then after about 10 serves increase the power on your serve.
– Practice with targets (use cones): place one target in the corner of the singles line and service line, one just inside the service line and about halfway between the singles line and center line, and one target at the corner of the center line and service line. Aim for them one at a time and do not move on to the next one until you get the serve within 6 inches close to it.
– Practice consistency: serve 10 balls in a row and see how many go in; then do it again and try to better the previous exercise. Do not cheat on the pace – if you practice your first serve, hit it at the speed you would in a match.

2. Return of Serve Practice:
If you can find a player willing to practice their serve then you are in luck.
Regardless if the player hits their serves hard or slow you can always practice returning them to certain areas in the opposite court.
Your targets should be cross-court, down-the-middle, or down-the-line – but they should always be DEEP – that is unless you would play to a serve-and-volley player…

3. Ground-Strokes Practice:
– Consistency is key on every shot in tennis, especially on groundstrokes.
Regardless of the level of skill that your partner possesses, you should always try to out-rally them in practice. Counting your good strokes in a row is a great way to rally practice – that gives you great feedback on how consistent you are and it also helps you relax as you play.
– Placement: Invite your partner to play some pattern drills like cross-court or down-the-line rallies; or rally deep and stop if the ball lands inside the service line (or better yet, if the ball lands inside the service line to have the player move up and attack at the net).
– Experiment with new shots: While you might be tentative about using your weak slice backhand in a match, the practice is the time to use those strokes that you need more improvement on.
But you don’t want to upset your practice partner by missing a lot of balls when using your weaker shots, therefore, you should do it on every 3rd or 4th shot.

4. Net Game Practice (volleys and overheads):
– Practice good court positioning and feel for the ball.
Considering that the ball comes to you a lot sooner when at the net, you will have to develop good habits of positioning to take the ball quickly and closer to the net as possible.
– Do not try to put the volleys away in practice, instead try to feel the ball and control the placement of every shot without the intent of finishing the rally right away (even if you could). Going for winners in practice will not win you anything besides frustrating your partner – save those shots for the match.

5. Match Play:
– If you play against a better player, that is the time to push yourself and see what areas of your game need improvement. Do not worry about the score too much; play to improve your strokes and quickness on the court instead.
– If you play against a weaker player, then you shouldn’t worry about the score either. This is the time for you to focus on new shots (maybe drop-shots, slices, etc.) and tactics (e.g. serve-and-volley). Avoid playing the same game that you find comfortable only for the sake of a win against your weaker opponent. Be okay to lose a match as long as you try different things in your practice match (I know it is hard to do so… :))
– Play pressure situation kind of games: begin every game with the server at 0-30, or play a game where the server loses two points instead of one when making a double fault, etc. These kinds of games teach you how to handle pressure situations.

Above all, make sure that your tennis practice is a positive experience and that you always learn something from your time on the court.

Cosmin Miholca

Cosmin Miholca

Certified Tennis Coach

Check out my work at WebTennis24 where I share with you my best video tennis lessons, drills and tips for players, coaches and tennis parents.