Tip of the Week (Coach Dave): Practice Tennis (Part 1) June 06 2016, 33 Comments

Whether you are a beginner or a touring pro, you must practice regularly in order to achieve your goals. Finding an hour per day to practice can make a huge difference to your improvement and will help you get more bang for your buck during your tennis lessons.

Question: How do I practice tennis with a practice partner, but without my tennis coach present?

Answer: If you are lucky enough to have a hitting partner and access to a court, fantastic!

Grab your practice partner and aim to make a rally of 10/20/100 strokes (whatever is realistic to your level of play) from a distance in the court where you can both maintain control of the ball and hold your shape on each shot.

If you are unable to make more than 10 strokes in a row from the service line, work in a smaller area until you can! Once your goal is achieved, you and your practice partner can play a small game of first-up-to-21-points in the area where you are both competent.

If this means playing mini-tennis in the service boxes with a red/orange ball for adult beginners, then so be it. You are still playing tennis! There is absolutely no need to rush into playing full-court until you are ready.

Coach Dave's mini-red kids - Hugo, Archie, Sophia, Jonas

As tennis coaches, we do notice if our student has put in even just the smallest amount of practice in-between lessons. An example is how the student tends to notice the ball earlier. Students would also have had the chance to digest what was taught to them during the previous lesson.

Having regular weekly tennis lessons would improve one's tennis game, but never underestimate the difference of practices in-between lessons.