An Intro to Game-Based Drills
While there’s nothing normal about the current competitive tennis calendar, a few of my players are in a situation where they’re able to play a competitive league - organized by Tennis Canada.
Because they’re playing 2-3 matches per week, our training is geared slightly more towards ‘situations’. Let’s not forget that tennis is an open-skill sport. A highly unpredictable environment; for the most part anyway. Constructing practice sessions that take this into account - especially with players who have techniques that are grossly ‘consolidated’ - should be anything but an afterthought.
But irrespective of your tennis abilities and current ranking, every player should incorporate more game-based and situational practices. And from my perspective, these type of games are often under-utilized in many academy and club settings.
In this post, we’ll provide a mini sample of ‘game-based drills’ - ones I use regularly with my futures players (and some of which we even use with higher ranked players like Marc Polmans). I’ll also aim to outline some distinct features of the games below. In particular, the what, why and when behind each of them. But keep this in mind - while I am trying to compartmentalize drills/games into various ‘buckets’, because of the open nature of tennis, there are obvious grey areas and carryovers that exist (that is, from situation to situation).
Situation 1 - Initiating the Point
Adapted 2nd Serve Game
In this game, there are 3 things you first need to know:
We’re only serving 2nd serves and only to the AD court (i.e. 1 serve only - you miss and you lose the point).
Only one player serves out the entire game (in this case, it was played up to 7 points); then we switch roles and start from 0-0.
The player begins the service motion in an abbreviated start position (in this case, only 1 player did this).
This was only the 2nd session this player had after a pretty lengthy layoff - he was having trouble finding his rhythm and targets with a full swing, so we simplified the motion for part of the practice.
You see, when we served out of a basket with no returner (prior to this game), he could get the serve in pretty consistently. But add a returner - and a little pressure - and that quickly changed.
Also, playing only on the AD side is my way of ‘blocking’ the skill. It provides a bit more repetition while still staying relatively ‘open-chain’. Recall that block vs random practice types and drills should be viewed on a continuum. This game probably lies somewhere in the middle of the two extremes.
Situation 2 - Building the Point
BH Start (Point is Open after 1st FH)
In this game, we’re targeting rally situations from the backhand corner. The players cannot change the direction of the ball unless they see a forehand (they can run around the backhand anytime if they feel the quality of the crosscourt isn’t good enough). As you can see from the video, they are looking to take the forehand quite early in the rally - pretty common with higher level players (although I still wasn’t too happy with all the decision-making...and the errors).
It’s a pretty common pattern - one player tries to pin the other player in the backhand corner (usually the weaker wing) and then favors their recovery position to see a forehand on the next ball. From there, they have options, go back to the backhand with a bigger forehand - using height, pace, direction (or any combination of those features) - or go inside-in, into the open court.
Situation 3 - Taking Advantage of the Point
‘The Polmans’
In this net-play game, the first ball is fed by the net player. The receiver can hit the initial shot as hard (or soft...or in any manner) as they want, as long as it goes back to the volleyer. From there, the point is open - both the volleyer and baseline player can play any type of shot they’d like. In other words, the volleyer can block it back, hit a touch volley etc., and the baseliner can lob, aim to hit a passing shot and so on.
I was actually introduced to this game by Marc Polmans (hence the name). He’s a pretty good doubles player - made Aus Open semis a few years back - and fair to say that playing these types of games has helped his net-play tremendously. Overall, it’s a great game to develop blocking abilities at net as usually, the baseliner tries to hit the first ball with quite a bit of pace, right at the net player.
It also shows players that you don’t need to pass on the first shot - making the net-player hit a really tough first shot and then going for the pass, is a great tactic (and oftentimes, less risky).
Either way, it’s a game where both players are trying to gain an advantage in the point - the net-player is trying to set themselves up for a the 2nd volley while the baseliner is trying to set themselves up for a passing shot on the 2nd ball. It’s all about who can execute their first shots best.
Situation 4 - Finishing/Staying in The Point
Approach Shot Anywhere + Play
In this game, the approaching/attacking player can hit their FH anywhere. This makes it quite challenging for the opposing player to ‘stay in the point’. That means that one player is working on one skill (attacking/finishing) and the other is working on another (staying in/defending). Most of the time, the approach player wins, but we’ve had moments where the reverse happens - usually a combo of the approach player not doing enough (or missing the approach) and the defender moving well and playing that extra shot.
In general, we probably don’t practice these types of games enough. It’s a common situation in tennis - one player builds the point well, gets a short ball and misses or doesn’t do enough with it or doesn’t close the net well etc. Mistakes often occur because the approaching player (whether consciously or subconsciously) believes the ball is ‘easy’. But if you’ve played (or coached) at a decent level, you know there’s nothing ‘easy’ when it comes to tennis
Adapted Scoring
Many of these games can be further manipulated to help accentuate a particular situation or shot. For example, if we play a baseline game, I can make a rule that anytime you win the point at net, you get an additional point (so 2 points instead of 1).
You can entice players - and their risk-taking abilities - to a greater degree by awarding 3 points for an ace - but a double fault will not only give a point to the opposing player, it’ll subtract a point from their total.
Or perhaps if you make a mistake into the net during a ‘depth-focused’ rally drill, you lose 2 points instead of 1 (all other mistakes - long or wide - are worth 1 point).
These types of scoring formats are ideal with junior and/or developing players as they encourage risk taking and playing ‘outside of their comfort zones’. Pro players, however (from my experiences anyway), aren’t too keen on these types of adapted scoring systems (the mood has to be right).
Final Word (Plus What’s Next)
This was a small taste of some of the drilling we do - especially while gearing up for (or during) competitive periods. We still hit a fairly high number of balls but not as much we would do during prep cycles (where competitions are perhaps several weeks - or even months - away).
Lastly - this is a modified excerpt from my new online course (which will be released before the end of the month!).
It will include 4 modules - coaching/learning, tennis fundamentals, tennis strategy and tennis footwork/movement. In total, it’ll be comprised of close to 40 lessons, tons of drills, games, video content and more.