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What are some of the best drills to do at home if you don't have a net. But you still want to work on your groundstrokes and serves.

David

Dear David,

Some of the best practice sessions I ever had as a child were against a door in our basement. Standing just 6 or 8 feet away from the door, I would hit thousands of volleys, half-volleys and compact groundtrokes while learning how to recover quickly after each shot. I'm sure my mother wasn't thrilled with the noise factor, but it sure helped my tennis on rainy days. 

We all know the benefits of hitting groundstrokes (and serves) against a backboard, and a good substitute for it at home is your garage door. A few unpredictable bounces will be good for your reflexes, but for the most part, pick a pane of wood and get good at hitting it. Set gradual and attainable goals, like 3 in a row to this pane then 3 in a row to that one. Two here, two there: total of 50, then 60, etc. 

If you do not have a garage or sufficient space near a door you don't mind banging up, there are lots of soft balls an the market you can practice with indoors. They're great, you can swing fully and not break furniture. They're good for grooving groundstrokes, but don't get used to the timing from a door or wall -- they're lighter and slower than the real thing. Foam balls are most effective for practicing serves, they won't throw off your timing because the serve is the only shot in tennis that is totally self-paced. I've bought some from the ONCOURT OFFCOURT catalogue.

Have you seen a product called the STROKE TRAINER? It's a terrific training tool because it allows you to groove your groundstrokes with topspin or underspin. You can STROKE TRAIN in your house or outside. I wish they had been available when I was a kid!

Remember, practice doesn't make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect. Do the best you can to practice while using the proper fundamentals. If you get sloppy, you'll get good at hitting sloppily. Practice well, and you won't have to think about technical issues while you matches, they'll just happen naturally.

Have fun,
A.J. Chabria

TennisONE,

What is all this talk about a 3.0 or whatever player? I played this woman who told me she was a 3.0 player and I was pretty intimidated by such talk. Well, I went ahead and played her and I found out that she was so easy to beat. Why don't I know this if I've been playing for a long time? How do I found out what kind of player I am? I really am interested in finding out. 

By the way, I've been playing for about fifteen years on and off. I don't really have any real weapon but I play pretty aggressively and I rarely lose. Also, if it's worth mentioning, I 'm used to playing with