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Doug · Posted: Aug Fri 25, 2006 11:59 am Post subject: Practicing by yourself...

I just finished reading "Professional Advice" by Lynne Rolley in Tennis magazine about practicing alone.

She recommends spending a few minutes developing your racquet control by bouncing the ball on your strings in different ways; Bump it into the air as many times as you can while focusing on hitting the center of the string bed without failing, then alternate the sides of the racquet with the same objective of hitting the center, followed by repeating the above but dribble the ball, and finally, when you feel you are ready, try to dribble the ball off the side of your racquet.

If you have a hopper/basket of balls; the normal serve practice is always a must during self practice, but be sure to practice your first serve with variation e.g. spin, power, direction, etc..., and especially work on your second serve (it's your last chance to stay in the point, so you better have a solid one or enjoy losing to double faults). Okay that part was just my suggestion, she did not mention the serve practice, but so many people fail to practice their serve and there really is no excuse to have a weak serve considering you do not need a partner to work that area of your game.

Okay, back to Lynne’s suggestions, you can always drop the ball and work your forehand ground stroke, though you can really mix it up with these tips;
Stand on the service line at the T, toss the ball in front of you, and hit drives off the high soft ball, also toss lower and practice approach shots and drop shots, and finally work your overhead by throwing or bumping the ball very high and hitting off the bounce.

I added this variation to her suggestion, as you will likely do as well (please share your idea under this topic!), I tossed the ball just enough to where it was moving slightly away toward a side line and practiced my wide shots from the baseline, the trick here is to bounce it high and wide enough to allow yourself time to split step and prepare for a solid shot…watch your form! Try to hit down the lines and cross courts. Do not allow yourself to be sloppy, perfect practice makes perfect play. I’ve been trying to develop my two handed backhand, and my semi-western forehand…the last tip worked out great for both of those and didn't need a partner! So, I was able to do an impromptu practice that was actually very close to a normal drill session.

Finally, use these drills to practice keeping your eye on the ball, and breathing out with every shot.