3 Tennis Drills to Improve Your On-Court Footwork
March 31st, 2016 by Do It Tennis
Good footwork in tennis is nearly as important as consistent groundstrokes and an accurate serve for tennis match play. You can do several tennis drills with a tennis partner or as practice with your tennis league team. Here are three tennis footwork drills courtesy of USPTR certified Micah Groom, Co-director of Player Development for the North County Tennis Academy in San Diego County in California.
1) The Shuffle Cone Tennis Drill
The goal for this tennis drill is to never stop moving your feet. Set a plastic cone just to the side of the baseline center hash mark. Start this drill with a tennis partner hand tossing tennis balls or feeding tennis balls off their tennis racquet to you. Have your partner feed a variety of balls--both where you have to run towards the sideline (forehand side or backhand side) based on which side you set the cone. Hit your shot and then shuffle your feet around the cone right away. You should shuffle in front of the cone first when you shuffle around. This will force you to move forward through your shot. Do this for 10-20 balls or as many as you can handle. Your feet should never stop moving. Run to the ball, shuffle around, run to the next ball and shuffle again. Keep repeating. This should be done with either only forehands or backhands. You can progress with this drill by rallying with someone while shuffling around the cone. The new K-Swiss HyperCourt and BigShot tennis shoe line for men, women and juniors gives you the grip and support needed for this tennis drill. K-Swiss tennis shoe lines are built with high tech mid-foot support structure anchoring the arch area that helps improve your stability for the rapid back and forth movement you need for this tennis drill.2) The Eleven Ball Tennis Drill
The goal for this tennis drill is to quickly recover for the next tennis ball coming to you. Have a partner feed you 11 balls off their tennis racquet wherever they want on the tennis court. The person feeding should be standing at the T in the middle of the court. He can feed forehand backhands, drop shots and lobs. The next ball should be fed right after the hitter contacts the previous ball so that they must recover right away and not just stand and watch their shot. If done correctly the player will barely be able to get to every ball. The focus is using quick tennis footwork to get every ball fed, not how well you hit the ball. Count how many balls you can get in out of the 11 tennis balls fed to you. Move aggressively around the tennis court like Novak Djokovic with the Adidas Barricade Novak Pro tennis shoes now available. This update to the modern legend provides all the durability, cushioning and support hardcore hard court players need and have come to expect from Barricade with the new custom Djokovic design.3) High Lob Practice
The goal for this tennis drill is to improve your approach. Have a partner hit you lobs. The first requirement is to get your tennis racquet back right away. Next try to focus on turning your body sideways to the tennis ball. For each lob, really run to position with your tennis racquet back and body (in particular your shoulders) turned. You should get back far enough so that you can hit it shoulder height or lower and loop back with heavy topspin. Get back to the center of the court and repeat as much as you want until you can make consistent returns. Get the newest and most technically advanced tennis shoes from Yonex, Babolat, Wilson, Asics and others to make your tennis drill sessions more productive or get that needed edge for your next tennis match.Want More Tennis Drills for Improving Your On-Court Footwork?
For more tennis footwork drills or to get professional on-court tennis instruction in the San Diego, CA area you can contact Micah Groom at micgroom@gmail.comWhat’s your view?
What are some of your favorite footwork drills? Give these three tennis footwork drills a try, then let us know how it goes.
