Welcome to Slice of Tennis, an online blog about professional tennis, tennis news, coaching and theory.

Check out our reviews of major tournaments, matches and news. Along with articles on how to improve your game by watching the pros in 'What can we learn from...?', and drills to use as a coach or a player.

Mainly updated by me-a tennis coach working in Asia and Europe, we hope to have contributions from other coaches across the world! See our 'guest column' above. If you want to contribute, email me at info@representtennis, and let me know your ideas!

Follow us on Facebook for extra updates!

Hope you enjoy,

Paul

Friday 13 July 2012

Practice with Purpose: DTL to start the point



A quick practice game to practice changing direction in a groundstroke rally.

Player one (in blue) can only hit the ball cross-court. Player two (in orange) must hit the ball cross-cout for a minimum of two shots (not including the feed) and then has the choice to hit the ball cross-court or down the line.

When Player 2 hits the down the line- the point becomes active. Any winners or mistakes before this point do not count to the score. However if Player 2 misses the down the line, they lose the point. After Player 2 has gone DTL the court is open and point commences as a normal singles point (Fig.2). Play to 7 points per set, and change who is Player 1 and Player 2 per set.

Things to think about

Player 2 should look to change direction on a ball that is comfortable for his/her hitting zone. They don't have to win the point outright on the first down the line but instead can work their opponent out of position. Player 1 is looking to only be solid in the opening exchanges and then invariably will be defending and trying to push the point back to at least a neutral position after Player 2 changes direction.

Variations

Change to the backhand side. Change the amount of balls that Player 2 has to hit crosscourt before changing direction.

Purpose

To practice picking the correct ball to change direction on (Player 2), improve consistency in cross-court exchanges and court coverage (Player 1) to defend the DTL ball.