10 Tennis Drills to Improve Your Game

Repeated practice is important. These 10 drills for tennis will help your players be more consistent with their strokes, footwork, and response time.
Is there a quicker way to become better at tennis? Adding these ten drills with intent will help you improve.

Future drills should be more descriptive; use your notes from these drills to better write future drills.

1. Crosscourt Rally Drill

Rally crosscourt with a partner or coach for 2–3 minutes and focus only on consistency.

2. Serve-and-Split-Step

After serving, immediately perform a split-step and recalculate for return movement. The goal is to become more ready after your serve.

3. Cone Target Drill

Place several cones in the service box or at the baseline. Players will try to hit 3 of 5 shots into the designated target areas.

4. Forehand-Backhand Alternating

The coach will feed alternating sides of the court while the player adjusts their footwork and works on hitting clean shots.

5. Drop Shot and (Real) Lob Drill

Make a drop shot, then recover and hit a deep lob. The goal is to improve touch, timing and be aware of your court position.

6. Shadow Swing Drill

No ball—just repeat clean strokes 20 times. The goal is to work on balance, technique and timing.

7. Short Court Control

Play mini tennis, limited to the service boxes. Topspin control and soft hands will be what the player relies on.

8. Return of Serve Drill

The partner will serve and the player will only need to return. All levels of coaching will work on: placement, timing and reaction time.

9. Volley Reflex Drill

The player will volley balls at a rapid speed coming from your partner at the net. The player works on speed and racquet control.

10. Match Simulation with Point Play

Take turns serving from the baseline, but play a match tiebreak to simulate a match.