Build Tactics into Practices

As you begin your season, you should discuss with each of your players what style of play they will use (e.g., defensive baseliner, aggressive baseliner, net rusher, etc.), based on their current skills.

The article Individual Practice Plans provides more information on this subject.

In the first part of your three-part season, the preparation phase (see Planning the Season articles in the Articles Database), you should be working on any technique changes your players will need to make in order to help them use the shots and shot combinations that will be necessary to execute the tactics that go with the style of play they will be using.

As we have stressed many times, coaches should not work on technique in a vacuum. Stroke changes will be made much more quickly and long-term if they are made to solve a playing problem. With the forehand, for example, you will undoubtedly have players who have several technical problems (bad footwork, elbow out at contact, late preparation). Which change should you make first? Think about which of their problems is the key HITTING error that is preventing them from PLAYING better.

The following lesson plan will help you make your players stronger players by effectively integrating technical and tactical work.

Step #1 — Warm Up

Step #2 — Stretch with dynamic stretches.

Remember, a static stretch is not recommended for tennis players. Use dynamic stretching before the start of a practice. See the article Are Your Players Stretching Correctly?

Step #3 — Review the skills practiced/learned in the previous practice.

Step #4 — Review a singles or doubles tactic your players will see in their matches and have them practice it for five minutes to see how they currently handle this situation. In doubles, a common situation would be the one-up/one-back scenario, with two players rallying from the baseline, while two players watch on from their positions at the net. In singles, playing a short ball through the mid-court is a common occurrence.

Step #5 — After players have tried the drill for five or more minutes, playing actual points, discuss the solution to this situation. If you are unsure of the answer yourself, ask your team members to discuss these situations and come to a consensus. In the one-up/one-back situation, for example, deep balls often produce a weak response which the net person can pick off, or produces a short ball the baseliner can attack, or produces an outright error. A short ball forces a baseline player to run forward — if they have a two-handed backhand, this will produce a weak response. A third option in this situation is the lob.

Step #6 — Now that your players have some solutions to this situation, pick one and have them practice for another five minutes trying to effect this tactical solution.

Step #7 — Once your players have attempted this tactic, you may now work on technical changes that might help them get depth on their groundstrokes, help them hit short and crosscourt, or put lobs in play deep. This is where dead-ball drills are useful, if you set them up to mirror a tactical situation (in our doubles example, you might have players hit from the baseline, crosscourt and deep to realistic target areas). Make sure a player ALWAYS have the opportunity to hit THREE balls before going to the end of the line to make this type of drilling useful from a motor learning perspective and to promote better body balance and footwork.

Step #8 — Now that players have worked on their strokes specifically to help them with a particular playing situation, have them go back to the original drill, trying to solve it with their new-found tactical and technical skills.

Step #9 — As with any other lesson, a review of the day’s activities and preview of the next lesson should conclude the instructional part of your practice.

Step #10 — Run the conditioning component of your practice.

Step #11 — Always finish practice with a cooldown and static stretches.