Coaching tips
Four ways to play better rallies
Playing more and longer rallies will give you the most fun experience on court… but it’s not always that easy.
Whether you’re just starting out or you’re looking to improve your consistency in rallies, LTA expert coach Matt Smith gives you his four top tips for playing better rallies.
Start closer and work back
A common misconception when you start playing tennis is that you have to start playing from the back of the court straight away.
Actually, the best way to get into hitting plenty of rallies is to start playing on a shorter court – rallying in the service boxes.
This brings you closer together, takes the net away as a big barrier, and makes you focus a bit more on the control over the net. You don’t need to hit with as much power and instead you just need to place the ball to be more consistent.
As you gain confidence, you can then start to move back to the mid-court and then to the back, only needing to increase your swing path slightly each time, it’s not all about power and speed.
Get in position
If you want to play longer rallies or stay in more points then your positioning before, during and after every shot is key.
When the ball is on the other side of the court stay on the balls of your feet with the racket in front of you, ready to react to your opponent’s shot.
When the opponent hits the ball you need to move into position, ideally before the ball bounces on your side of the court. This position is a comfortable distance from the ball to make contact on your forehand or backhand side, often standing side-ways on.
Once you’ve played your shot you want to jump straight back into that ready position back at the middle of the baseline (or between the angles you opponent could hit) with the racket out in front.
Getting your positioning right for every shot will mean that you’re prepared for each ball to give you the best chance of playing your most effective shot, and will help you build more consistency in your rallies.
Net clearance
It can be very tempting to try and hit the ball as hard as you can – just clearing the top of the net. That’s what the pros do right?
Actually, that’s not quite the case. In fact, as a general rule you should try to clear the net by double the height to give plenty of clearance.
Having this as a target will help you avoid making more mistakes by hitting the net and will also give you more depth on your groundstrokes, which is great for when you start playing points to put your opponent under pressure.
Count your rallies
It might sound a bit strange, but counting your rallies out loud is a great way to make you focus on getting the ball back and in so you try and beat your highest score, and will help you exhale on contact.
Alternatively, you can also say ‘bounce and hit’ in time with the balls bounce and contact on the racket strings as well. This will help you time the ball better and keep your technique consistent during rallies.