Tennis is a very difficult sport. Most people cannot just walk out on the court and be good at it. Learning the fundamentals and working on repeating similar swings over and over again can be frustrating and complicated. Since there are many different things that contribute to being a good tennis player, there are no shortcuts.
Making the road to improvement a fun experience is extremely important. Games that can be played even before a player can consistently hit three or four balls in a row, can help build a love for the sport. One of my favorites for young players is tennis/hockey. Using a foam or red ball, two teams of players spread out on the singles sidelines of a tennis court facing each other. One player starts the ball in play by using a forehand swing to hit a ball from a stopped position with the idea of getting it past the opposing players and the doubles sideline. When this happens, the team who successfully “scores” gets one point and starts the next ball in play.
Once players are able to hit a tennis ball off of the bounce, tennis soccer is a fun progression to improve timing and hand eye coordination. Using cones or two ball hoppers, set up a goal. One player is the goalie and the other players try to hit the ball between the goal and past the goalie. If they are successful they take the goalies place and score one point. First player to five wins the game.
For adults, just keeping score in a rallying situation is a great way to introduce them to the competitive aspect of the sport. Once the serve and return of serve become more consistent, playing a lot of actual points against many different players builds the player’s game and helps them learn how to deal with all of the different types of shots that a player may hit. Games like 105, king or queen of the court, move up-move down, and tennis olympics add to the development of the player.
There are many other simple games that can be used to help players have fun as they improve. Since tennis is naturally a competitive sport, it makes sense to get players used to combining hitting and keeping score in their practices. Hitting the ball is only one of the aspects of being a good player. Strategy, dealing with adversity, and learning how to compete are all integral parts of improving. Introducing fun games at an early stage of a player’s development will help speed up the process and teach players how to execute the fundamentals in an actual playing situation. Try to balance the improvement and fun components of a player’s practice to help them develop a love for the game.
Steve Annacone, USPTA Elite Pro, is the Director of Annacone Tennis, www.annaconetennis.com and MyHamptonsPro, throughout the Hamptons, NY. Steve, and Gill Gross run the TOP (Tennis Optimization Players-Top Team) program at the Tucson Jewish Community Center (Tucson, AZ) for high level players ages 8-18. Please contact Steve at sannacone@tucsonjcc.org or 865-300-7323