Photo courtesy of clubcorp
Written by Carl Benjamin
Although Spring and warmer weather is a weeks away, you can still do some indoor work, to help improve hand-eye coordination with your tennis racket. Many times, I would use these drills on rain days in the gym. This article is a tutorial, on drills that you can do inside your home, to get you ready for the outdoor season.
The first thing, that you want to do is inspect your racket. Check your strings and especially your hand grip. Both will wear out over time. Racket care is common sense. Don’t leave it in your hot car or outside, where it can freeze. Excessive exposure to sunlight will stretch your string and dry out your grip. Physical abuse can also destroy it. If you have a racket cover, use it. Restringing your racket depends on how much the racket is used. Once your racket is ready, get a tennis ball and you are ready to go.
Drill One; Dribble the ball. You will do this drill sitting and standing. Sitting down, dribble the ball with a high bounce. As you get better, shorten your dribble. Concentrate on control. Next, stand up and repeat the same drill.
Drill Two; Repeat drill one, but do it standing and turning both clockwise and counterclockwise. Like drill one, concentrate on controlling the ball.
Drill Three; Repeat drill one, but his time twist the face of the racket. The ball should now hit on both sides of the tennis racket face. You can do this, by pivoting the racket back and forth from one side to the other. The closer you get to the floor, the faster you must rotate your wrist.
Drill Four; Dribble the ball upward. Rest the ball on the top of your racket and bounce it upward slowly. As you get better, work for height. See how close you can get to the ceiling, without hitting it.
Drill Five; Doing drill four, rotate your wrist so that you use both sides of the racket face. The shorter the height of the ball, the quicker you must rotate the racket.
Drill Six; Doing drill four/five, try to move the ball from your right side to your left side. You will have to slightly angle your racket to get the ball to go from right to left and back.
Drill Seven; Stand a 4 foot by 8 foot piece of particle board against the wall. You want the 8 foot side up high. Stand about ten feet from the wall and practice volleying the ball back and forth. Work on pivoting, using both the forehand and backhand stroke. Go very slow and concentrate on racket and ball contact. The ball will get away from you at times, as you do this drill. However, if you work on pivot and execution, you will get better.
These seven drills will prepare you for the outdoor season.
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