Exclusive: 3 mini-games to help fix the most common tennis problems
Welcome to Talking Tennis! As a thank you for signing up to my newsletter, I’m sharing three of my favourite mini-games to help with some of the most common on-court problems that players ask me about.
Developing a consistent second serve
Reducing unforced errors
Improving your crosscourt accuracy.
They’re completely adaptable for kids and adults of any skill level - from beginners right the way through to strong club players.
They’re easy, they’re fun and hopefully they’re something a bit different… and they’ll also help you to develop your game and love tennis even more.
I’d love to hear what you think about these games, or requests for more tennis tips and solutions. Drop me a line at lizzie@talkingtennis.co.uk or on Twitter.
Happy hitting!
Lizzie Flint - Editor
Game #1: Second Serve… Against Yourself
For a better, more reliable second serve.
There’s a saying in tennis that ‘you’re only as good as your second serve’, so it’s important to stop worrying about your serve and start enjoying it. Feeling pressure on the second serve is really common – and so often it can lead to an easy opportunity for your opponent or worse still, a double fault.
It’s very difficult to recreate in training the pressures that you feel in a match. So when it comes to serving a bucket of balls in practice, it can all feel too easy (and sometimes a tad boring).
This is a little game that can make the boring monotony of serving a bucket of balls slightly more fun - and go some way to getting that feeling of match pressure.
How to play:
Get a bucket of balls and ‘play a set’ against yourself. You get just one serve on each side.
If you get it in then you score a point (15-0).
If you miss it’s a ‘double fault’ and your imaginary opponent scores (15-15)... And so on.
See if you can win a virtual ‘set’.
If playing outside, change ends properly as you would in a real game, so you face all the different conditions. Simple as that!
You can tailor the game for whatever you need to practice. For example, you can do a set of slice serves or kick serves, or you might be trying a chopper grip out for the first time...
For more advanced players, you can set out some cones/drinks bottles/jumpers to make the targets more challenging than simply ‘in’.
What you’ll get:
Much needed serve practice - it’s a fun way of getting a lot of serves hit
Practice at putting your serve under match pressure - or as close as you can get
A good measure for how your serve is improving (e.g. ‘this week I won 6-3, whereas last week it was only 7-5’)
Game #2: Shrinking Target
For greater consistency in your cross-court shots.
You can use variations of this game for different things, but here I’m focusing on hitting cross-court - which for most players, is something you should do a lot more of!
This game forces you to consistently hit quality cross-court angles. The better you get at it, the harder the challenge - i.e. the target shrinks!
How to play:
You and your partner have a target each (a water bottle is good).
To begin with, both place your targets on the centre-line in between the service line and the baseline T at your respective ends (Figure A below)
Choose your cross-court to practice (i.e. the right or left side) and between the bottle and the inside tramline of that side is your target area.
Now play rallies cross-court, using only your outside shot (i.e. for right-handers, forehand on the Deuce court; backhand on the Deuce court for lefties). Your goal is to hit 10 consecutive shots between you within one rally in the target area. If one of you misses, you start over again from zero.
Once the 10 have been hit, stop the rally and move the target one racket-length from the centre-line towards the relevant tramline, so the target area is now smaller (Figure B).
Repeat - and keep making the target area smaller, one racket-length at a time, until you’re down to the final one (Figure C). Then change sides.
Variations:
Use the tramlines if you’re practising for doubles
Adjust the number of consecutive shots you need to make, to make it challenging but achievable for your ability.
To make it easier, the shots don’t need to be consecutive. So if you miss the target area but the ball is in, you can carry on counting from where you left off, rather than starting from zero.
What you’ll get:
Practice at hitting angles consistently
Build up your ability to hit the ball exactly where you want
Mental resilience - you’ll have to overcome your annoyance and frustration at having to start over again (which is a great trait to have for match players)
A good measure of how your cross-court accuracy is improving
Teamwork - and dealing with frustrations with your partner
This version is for two players, but you can easily do a one-player version where only one of you has a target area - for example, with a coach.
Game #3: No Winners Allowed
Reduce unforced errors when rallying
One of the most common strategic mistakes club players and beginners make is impatience.
A lack of patience - trying to hit winners at the wrong moment - leads to unnecessary unforced errors, which leads to frustration, which lowers your confidence and enjoyment. I believe the key to having more competitive success is ‘Aggressive Patience’- an approach to playing that is attacking but also smart.
And this ‘No Winners Allowed’ game is a fun and surprisingly challenging game for practising your patience on the court. It’s also very good for your fitness, as you’ll have some very long rallies!
How to play:
This game does what it says on the tin! Start with a second serve or feed up the middle and simply play out the point - but neither player is allowed to go for a winner. So the point should only end with a forced or unforced error. (On some shots you’ll have to agree between you whether a shot was a ‘winner’ or just laziness by the loser to get to the ball!).
Play first to 11 or 12… or until you both collapse!
What you’ll get:
You’ll learn how it feels to be patient within a rally
The discipline of toughing out a rally
Confidence that you can last a long rally
Tactically it will get you thinking outside your regular game plan and habits, and force you think outside the box
Physical stamina
…And mental stamina - you’ve got no choice but to hang in there!