The following post is an excerpt from Frank’s Bestselling Book Championship Tennis available through most on-line retailers!
Spacing
In the early 1990s, I did high-speed video analysis of players’ strokes and discovered that a large a majority of mis-hits occurred because of the player being too close to the ball at impact. Mis- hits also resulted from the player being too far away from the ball, but being jammed was clearly more prevalent. This is why proper spacing plays such a large role in clean stroke production.
Hitting effectively on the move is a requirement for high-level play, and it’s something that must be practiced repeatedly. This is a great drill for developing the footwork required for proper spacing. An experienced feeder is mandatory for this quick-paced drill. The feeder customizes the ball’s speed, spin, and trajectory to suit the player’s ability level.
Begin with the coach standing with a basket of balls, positioned behind the ad-side doubles alley. The coach will deliver a rapid-fire two-ball sequence to the player’s forehand wing at three different stations on the court.
- The player begins by standing behind the baseline on the opposing ad-side corner. The coach feeds a high deep ball directly at the player. The player has to run around to the side of the ball and space herself to hit an aggressive inside-out forehand. As the ball is struck, the coach feeds another ball, this time short and inside the service box. The player has to move into the court, properly space herself away from the ball, and once again hit an inside-out forehand.
- The player quickly slides back to the base-line, this time at the center hash mark, and the coach repeats the sequence—deep ball followed by short ball. The player continues to direct her shots toward the coach’s corner.
- The player quickly slides back to the base-line, this time to the deuce-side corner. The coach again repeats the sequence of deep ball followed by short ball. The player’s target remains the coach’s corner of the court.
After the player hits from all stations, repeat the stations with the coach drilling to the back- hand wing. Next, repeat the drill for both the forehand and backhand with the coach standing behind the deuce-side doubles alley. This corner of the court now becomes the player’s target area.
