TennisOne Lessons
“Rounding Out Drills” Creating Diversity in your Game Dave Smith, TennisOne Senior Editor Oftentimes when learning tennis, players get so caught up in the ‘stroke mechanics’ that their ability to play fluid tennis suffers. Many players practice the correct grips, footwork, and stroke patterns to the degree that they become one-dimensional robots and can’t adjust to an opponent’s shot diversity nor are they able to fluctuate much from their methodical stroke tendencies. As many of you know by now, I am a stickler for proper grips and stroke patterns from the start. I have seen where thousands of players learned to play tennis using comfortable but ineffective methods, only to become stagnant—literally for life—at certain levels because of such methods. However, in all of our camps, clinics and in my private lessons, we stress drills that complement what I call fluid form within the strict stroke and grip techniques we indoctrinate our students with. This action of providing proper instruction with proper ‘tools’ in which players progress and ultimately reach their ‘true potential’ results in truly skilled tennis players. Rounding Out Drills There is a set of drills that we use to help players incorporate both the proper grip and stroke pattern, while at the same time teaching these students how to develop touch, finesse, and shot diversity in a way that they might not otherwise learn. We call these drills ‘Rounding Out’ drills. Rounding out drills may or may not be exact shots or sequences you would use in a match. However, they do teach excellent racquet head control and management…something very important if you are going excel in the game! Rounding out drills move away from the typical feeding and stroke grooving drills that we also use to first discover a new grip or stroke pattern, as well as refine the aim and confidence of specific shots. Rounding out drills teach a player there are many ways to respond to opponents' shots. These drills also allow players to get accustomed to the speed of incoming balls. That is, as players get better, the balls coming from opponents seem to come slower. Beginners have not developed a perception of mental and physical preparation and anticipation to the point that almost any ball seems like it is coming faster than they can react or hit with control. Over time, however, such players gain proficiency in ball awareness, tracking, anticipation, and preparation to the point that they can sustain a rally and even begin to react to faster and faster hit balls.
However, there is an area of the game that can only come from specific practice or experience. Before I ever played tennis, I was a nationally competitive badminton player, giving coaching clinics in the sport when I was only 10 years old with my father, National Navel Badminton Champion as well as with our eventual Olympic badminton coach, Vicki Toutz. In badminton, you practice drop shots, severe angles, clears (lobs) as well as smashes and drives. No, I’m not talking about backyard badminton! At the highest levels, badminton smashes can move at over 125 mph and a player can sprint over 4 miles in a competitive singles match. This experience gave me great touch and finesse at the net when I started playing tennis as well as potent overheads and serves. (My groundstrokes were a bit wristy until I learned to lock out that part of my hand and arm in tennis!) I use many of the drills we used in badminton to teach tennis players these very elements. They are not only fun to do, they are a great warm up. Catching Drills It is amazing to see the lack of true racquet head control many tennis players exhibit. Tennis is all about controlling the racquet and making it do what you want it to do. Too many players are controlled by the incoming shot because they don’t have mastery of their own racquet head. Truly skilled players are said to do ‘magic’ with their racquet. Well, let me tell you that such ‘magic’ is available to all of you! However, you must train for it! The ‘Catching’ drill can teach you to manipulate a moving ball so that you control it. The simplest catching drill is one where you toss the ball up and ‘catch it’ on your strings so it doesn’t bounce or fall off your frame. The idea is to get your racquet falling at the same rate of speed that the ball is before you try to touch the ball. Imagine you are catching an egg or a water balloon so as not to break it. You have to ‘give’ with the ball and to do that, you must have the racquet moving at or near the same speed as the ball. You will want to use a continental grip and make sure that your wrist is below the racquet head and not held up as if you were holding a palm-up frying pan. Try to first catch the ball with your ‘palm up’ or forehand side of the racquet.
More advanced catching drills include catching the ball with the palm down and the back side or backhand side of your racquet. Once this is mastered, try tossing the ball after catching it with the racquet and alternate catching it on each side. Finally, try catching a ball being tossed to you until you can catch a ball thrown fairly fast. (This takes a little time to master!) Sharp Angle Volley Drills In our clinics, we almost always warm up with angle volley drills. They not only are very easy on the arm and provide great warm up characteristics, they immediately open the player’s eyes to the shot’s potential. (Nothing worse than watching a couple players, not warmed up, start hitting full-swinging groundstrokes from baseline to baseline to warm up!) The idea is to stand very close to the net and hit from alley to alley and as close to the net to your hitting partner as possible. Using a continental grip, this shot is very easy to execute as you only need to turn a small degree away from your hitting partner to have the racquet in line with the intended trajectory. This drill also develops your ability to slice the volley to soften the speed of the shot yet still hit with a firm stroke. Nothing develops a ‘dinking’ mentality faster than to hit such volleys flat. Players will usually hit with too much pace on the angles and are forced to resort to hitting softer balls until they are simply pushing the ball over the net. By adding slice to the volley, a player can add firmness and punch to the volley without over-hitting the ball.
Make sure you spend equal time hitting backhand to backhand volleys. In fact, as I recommend in my book, TENNIS MASTERY, start with your weaker shot first. You will spend more time on those shots and they won’t be weak for very long! Drop-Drop, Clear-Clear This is a drill we used in badminton a lot. The idea is to hit two drop shots followed by two short lobs. This is truly a rounding out drill which focuses on the feel of the ball and the differentiation of hitting two specifically different shots. When players first attempt this drill, the drop shots and the lobs tend to look very similar! Make sure you hit significant drop shots and the lobs have a high, but short trajectory. Obviously, you wouldn’t hit a short lob in a match standing close to the net yourself, at least intentionally! However, the ability to mix up drop shots with a touch volley-lob teaches you to have soft hands and quick feet. Make sure you keep the racquet head up and the racquet face parallel with your forearm. Like most volleys, you don’t want to ‘reach’ to hit the ball. Move your feet instead. Most all top volleyers hit the ball near their side, more parallel with the net. Also, don’t try to hit the drop shot off a clear when the ball is high! Here is one of those times you will want to let the ball drop while you move your feet and hit the ball more at the waist level. It is very hard to hit an effective drop shot from a high position. The ball will usually bounce too high to be effective in match play and by letting it drop, you learn to move your feet and create more time for your shot. Alternate the first player to start the drill as it creates a different set of drops and clears off a different drop or clear. Also, do this drill both as a straight ahead (down the line) drill as well as a sharp angle, crosscourt drill.
Let it Drop Drill Often times, players panic and try to rush some shots when a little relaxation and patience would open the door for an easier and more effective ball. For example, if you have a slow ball and you want to hit a drop shot, rushing up to the ball only increases the likelihood of hitting the ball too hard or into the net. In this drill, you will hit the ball out of the air, but, you will let the ball drop near the ground before volleying up and over the net. This drill teaches you to not just hit straight volleys deep, but to create touch and drop shots as well as to create the perception of more time as you master the drill. Conclusion There are many ways to develop touch and racquet-head control. These drill should open the door for you to gain both greater finesse as well as greater diversity in your ability to hit shots. Practice them until they become consistent and comfortable. At first, because these drills don’t resemble the typical tennis drills, you will find them difficult to get a feel for. But, like I mentioned earlier about riding a bike, you will, in time, gain a level of comfort and confidence in their execution and your overall game will be better for it.
TENNIS MASTERYFinally. a resource that unlocks these mysteries: • Why do m • Why are making changes in one's game so frustratingly difficult? • What tennis teaching methods are disruptive or detrimental to player progression? Read David W. Smith's TENNIS MASTERY and learn not just how to avoid playing at mediocre levels, but how the best players in the world Master the sport of tennis! "With a depth of knowledge and fresh perspective, TENNIS MASTERY is set to become a manual for tennis instructors and a measure for tennis literature." Richard Wigley, Director, Kayenta Tennis Center, Ivins Utah. Take in David Smith's 30 plus years in the tennis teaching industry. This 335-page manual will provide for every level of player as well as support for all tennis-teaching professionals, a blueprint for reaching higher levels of tennis mastery. Order TENNIS MASTERY at tenniswarehouse.com , or go to tennismastery.net for exciting excerpts from the book and a host of tennis information! And check out David Smith's other articles found here at TennisONE.com
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