The baseline

Recognising whether the situation is in your favour or not.

A tennis ball's trajectory is governed by: 
- the speed of the ball
- the direction the ball is travelling in
- the spin on the ball
- the zone
- the height of the ball

To help you practise, we're going to focus on just one aspect: the zone.

Throw the ball into the services boxes in the half court.

When the player catches the ball, they have to stand still and throw the ball back before they can move again.

Play to 10 points.

Step 1: 

The coach hits the ball to the player. The player must catch the ball. The player must say NO (bad ball) if it bounces in zone 1, and YES (good ball) if it bounces in zone 2.

Step 2: 

Taking things further: Do the same exercise, but the player has to play cross-court when they say NO and down the line when they say YES.

Step 3: 

Mix the 2 shots: Make the player do forehands and backhands during the same exercise. They should keep saying YES or NO.

Two players take it in turns to do the different roles. 

The receiving player must play their shot based on the ball they receive, then the point can be played as normal. Both players will carrying on saying YES or NO. 

Variant: a player approaching the service box line must go to the net after their shot.

This time, the player no longer says YES or NO, but must carry on playing the correct shot based on the ball they receive.

Match: Play a match to 7 points.