Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced Tennis Drills

Fun, challenging drills can greatly accelerate a player's improvement. Here are the best tennis drills for beginners, intermediates, and advanced players. They can be used by individuals or groups.

Beginner Drills

Aiming Drills
These drills give beginners a fun way to focus on aiming volleys and forehand and backhand groundstrokes. Of the five main attributes, tennis players want to develop in their shots―consistency, depth, power, direction, and spin―direction probably brings the biggest sense of accomplishment per difficulty. For a beginner especially, it's fun to see the ball go more or less where you intended.

Levels Drills
Many beginners never want to stop working on these two drills, as they get caught up in the challenge of working through increasingly difficult levels. One drill improves quickness and builds skill at hitting on the run, while the other improves one of the most under-practiced shots in tennis: the return of serve.

Consistency Drills
Here's how to run the two best beginner tennis drills that work on consistency of forehand and backhand volleys and groundstrokes. Both include a levels element that makes them especially fun, and the second is a great way to get beginners over that essential threshold of really playing tennis: the ability to sustain a rally.

Intermediate Drills

Once a player can handle the beginner drills fairly well, these intermediate drills will offer challenges that will keep them engaged almost indefinitely, as these drills remain fun and interesting at the advanced level too.

Net Drills
Here are three favorites of intermediate players for working on volleys and overheads. Two of them are exceptionally good for keeping a larger group moving and hitting with engaging frequency, and the third gives two players at a time an intense workout from which they'll want to recover while another two take a turn.

Contest Drills
The popularity of these three drills, a lob contest and two types of overhead smash contest, probably stems from their resemblance to games.

Levels Drills
Working through increasingly difficult levels seems to be addictive―in the best possible way. These are more difficult versions of the two drills focused on chasing balls and returning serves that appear in the beginner drills above.

Scored Drills
Players enjoy tracking their improvement through the scores these two drills produce. The first drill excels at building power, depth, and consistency on groundstrokes, and the second practices six different strokes.

Advanced Drills

Serve and Return Drills
Advanced players are well challenged in these two drills that work on aiming and spinning serves and returning the full range of spin serves.

Contest Drills
This drop volley contest, side pocket contest, and drop shot contest give advanced players a chance to cultivate finesse.