An effective net game is essential to winning points in tennis, so this article will outline several drills for strengthening your volleys, footwork and coordination at the net.
Starting at the baseline, have your partner stand approximately three feet behind the service line on the other side of the net and feed you a short shot from there; hit crosscourt to rush the net and prepare yourself for your volley volleys.
1. Cone Drill
If you want to develop your net game, two things are vitally important – being quick on your feet and having good coordination. Cone drill is an effective tennis training exercise designed to develop both of these qualities; simply set up various cones around the court, hit volleys around them and repeat. As more time is put into practicing the drill, the better you’ll become at quickly reacting and hitting volleys from various positions on the court.
To perform the cone drill, start by standing three feet back from one of the net service lines on one side. Next, ask your partner to feed three quick volleys before moving closer and inching closer each time. Additionally, focus on ground strokes and lobs. This drill can help improve reaction speed, footwork and also help create more comfort at the net.
Serve and Volley is another tennis drill designed to improve your net game, best used with a partner. To conduct it, have them stand at one baseline on one side of the court before hitting crosscourt volleys to you; when hit back you should rush towards the net to hit an unforced volley winner! Repeat this drill regularly while striving to hit one for every return your partner makes!
King of the Court is another fantastic net game tennis drill that provides fun competition to help improve your ability to win points and maintain consistency. Simply have your players compete against one another on one court; the one who earns more points at the end of this drill will emerge victorious! Not only will this help develop teamwork skills amongst all involved players but will also improve net game tennis itself!
2. Cone Drill with Partner
In order to play an effective net game, players must be able to move quickly and be prepared for any shot that comes their way – a key part of tennis footwork, agility and hand speed. This drill provides the opportunity for two people to work on developing these skills together in order to close the net when playing defensive tennis.
To perform the drill, one player should stand behind the baseline while another stands on the service line on the opposite side. Once feeding crosscourt from one to another player, they should hurriedly prepare a volley attempt by rushing in behind him or her and hitting hard volley returns as quickly as possible; after switching roles and repeating this drill.
A fantastic tennis net and volley drill, the ladder run is an effective and straightforward way to develop footwork, agility, and the speed with which a player moves around the court. Setup takes only minutes; only a few cones need be set up – players take turns running through this ladder using verbal cues from their coach as direction on which cones they must reach first.
An effective net game is essential to any tennis player, as it gives them an edge against their opponent and helps them score more points. Have volleys that are both comfortable and confident can also help players enhance their overall game by giving them the courage to approach the net more frequently. Net and volley drills can help players enhance their footwork, coordination and reaction time as they become more dominant at the net. With strong net play comes an elevated tennis experience – for more tips on improving it check out this episode of Essential Tennis Podcast where Ian shares four cooperative and three competitive drills that can help players master volleys.
3. The Three-Zone Drill
Strong, well-controlled volleys are an invaluable weapon when attacking at all levels of the game. Achieve maximum effect without making yourself overpowerful by practicing volley drills designed to build wrist, forearm and shoulder strength – here are a few excellent net game drills that can get you going.
One of our most beloved volley drills is the Three Zone Drill. Perfect for both beginning and advanced players alike, this exercise entails setting up two areas with nets between them and placing players at each corner of a square court. When both have successfully completed this drill, players should swap roles and repeat. This drill helps develop your ability to move in open space as well as effectively communicating with teammates.
The Four-Zone Drill is another effective volley drill to practice. This advanced practice helps improve your ability to close in on opponents from behind. To start this drill, have two defensive players and two offensive players lined up against each other in the center court and two defensive zones; your defenders’ job will be to close space down, mark and intercept while attackers seek scoring opportunities against their defenders.
For this drill, have a coach toss balls into Zone 2. When the coach yells “front” or “back”, the setter must set either in front of her for outside hitter or back set it for either middle side hitter or right side hitter based on which direction the coach indicated – first setter to complete 30 sets correctly will win one point!
4. Overhead Drill
Utilizing the volley and overhead shots effectively in tennis is an essential skill, as they can quickly put pressure on your opponent and help win points by forcing mistakes on them. Unfortunately, mastering them requires practice and dedication – but fortunately there are numerous group tennis drills which can help improve them.
One of the best ways to strengthen your volley and overhead game is using a lob volley drill. This drill focuses on footwork, accuracy and directional movement – as well as helping develop communication and teamwork among its participants.
Cross-court lob drill is another effective lob volley drill to work on basic skills of volleying and hitting overheads, as it requires players to hit back-and-forth across the court while avoiding hitting into the net. Although tiring for players, this exercise provides great opportunity to develop consistency while honing overall footwork.
The Defender-Overhead Drill (DODR) is another lob volley drill used to improve players’ abilities to defend against lobs. To perform this drill, players need to hit a lob to their partner before moving forward and hitting an overhead defensive shot – or they can switch sides of the court and repeat this process!
When practicing overheads, it is essential that you always return to an athletic ready stance after every shot. This will ensure the most balanced stance possible when hitting the ball and can increase both accuracy and power. In addition, using legs when moving into position for an overhead will allow for quicker positioning while decreasing chances of injury due to tripping over yourself or falling.
Coaches can implement various group tennis drills with their teams. From Dink and Drop Drill, Groundstroke Rally Drill or King of Court Drill – these drills can help players improve their volley and overhead game as well as develop other aspects such as footwork and strategy.