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Ultimate drill games drills for developing touch part5

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Drills for Developing Touch:Part 5

Dave Hagler

Here are the last 3 drills in the series. In the next article I will show how to use touch to hit the drop shot two ways - including bouncing it back over the net to yourself.

Back to Self

Bump the ball up on either forehand or backhand, have it land slightly in front of you and bounce back to you. Repeat. To do this you need "forehandy" grips for backhands, and vice-versa.

Figure from Ultimate drill games drills for developing touch part5

Racket Ball Catch

This drill is a good indicator of great touch. Maybe you have seen pro players do this. Catch a stray ball and have it stay on the strings without any bounce. Toss the ball to the player from the opposite service line. The secret is to let the hand stay soft and give with the incoming ball.

Figure from Ultimate drill games drills for developing touch part5

Slice Wars

Slice wars start with a drop feed from the baseline. Great for developing the ability to hit slice anywhere on the court. All shots must be sliced or you lose the point. Play to 5 or 11 or even 21 points.

Figure from Ultimate drill games drills for developing touch part5

Remember that one of the best things about touch, is not all points are psychologically equal in the minds of most opponents. Some who shrug their shoulders and move on after an opponent hits a big groundstroke winner go ballistic when they lose a point as a result of a dropshot.

As I said at the start of this series, developing touch is fun and it can help you win matches. Why not develop as many useful skills and have as many weapons in your toolbox as possible?

Figure from Ultimate drill games drills for developing touch part5

Dave Hagler is a Tennis Professional based in Los Angeles, California. He works with players of all ages, but he has a special passion for junior development. He has coached numerous sectionally and nationally ranked junior players and several national champions. Dave is a USPTA Master Professional and National Tester, a PTR Master of Tennis – Performance, and was one of the first 100 coaches to complete the USTA's High Performance Coaching Program. He has been the USPTA California Division Pro of the Year and one of 5 National Recipients of the “Pro of the Year” award from Head and the PTR.

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Source: tennisplayer.net archive — Ultimate Drill Games -Drills for Developing Touch-Part5.docx (John Yandell teaching library, 2002-2022). Extracted and rendered as HTML for Tennis Future Lab.