I am doing some drills together with my hitting partner and we’re both noticing the benefits. This video deals with why you should do drills.
My guess is that most club players just play tennis to enjoy practice matches and tournaments. They like tennis for exercise and the competitive element. I enjoy pretty much all aspects of the sport and that is why I even find drills fun and interesting. So I made a vlog that says: Why you should do drills.
The reasons are quite obvious. You want to improve your strokes, footwork, positioning, etc. One key point is to make the drills fun and “game-ifying” them can be a good idea. The drills in the video below are not advanced or extremely creative, but hopefully, it gives you the inspiration to seek out some drills that you want to do. I will keep searching for new ways to practice and hope to share them with you if you like this type of content.
I also invite you to please share your own favorite drills and ideas for tennis practice. There are endless variations and I find that world quite fascinating.
Why you should do drills – Video (available at 8 pm CET on Aug 26)
A disclaimer: I’m not a tennis coach. I’m just a player who is passionate about tennis and love to improve my game and my physique through the sport. So I’m a happy tennis nerd like most of you readers out there, trying to take my tennis to the next level without spending a fortune on going to great coaches (which is a good idea if you have the cash for it). You can do a lot of work yourself by doing a couple of small things.
My road to tennis self-improvement
My road to tennis self-improvement consists of a few things I try to do regularly.
- Playing a lot (I’m doing my best to find time in a busy life to play 4 times a week)
- Recording myself.
- Looking at the footage to see what I do wrong (sharing it with the internet is not mandatory!)
- Making sure to warm-up and strengthen my body to avoid injury.
- Watching clips online for ideas on how to improve
- Mixing up drills with hitting and matches to learn different areas of the game
- (Having a hitting partner that is willing to improve along with me helps!)
- Staying positive even when things don’t go my way
- Eating well (vitamins, superfoods, and things like that)
- Drinking a lot (I am trying to stay hydrated) but I also like wine :)
- Paying attention to my gear to see what works best for me
These are some of the key things I do in my search for improvement. What about you?Â
1 comment
My tip: write down at least one area to focus on after each session. For example, when I watch both you and Mike doing the drills it seems to me that in the static FH shots you are hitting quite nicely, but in the 4-shots moving forward you both seem to get too close to the ball leading to a cramped stroke. I’m not a coach, but I think it is easy to get too close to the ball when you are on the move, so ensuring space would be a thought to try next time.
I also noticed something that I have experienced too: take a look at Mike’s shots when you are volleying and he is hitting at the baseline. It looks like his best and most consistent FH shots there. I think having the target to provide a good but difficult volley ball leads to hitting a solid and accurate shot, controlled but powerful. Is there a way to replicate the accurate feeling of feeding shots to volley, when you are playing a full shot? Rather than focusing on hitting to a rally partner at the baseline, I’m going to think only about hitting over a certain part and at a certain height of the net in my next session, effecitvely bringing the target in closer. Worth a try!