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The Two Best Levels Tennis Drills for Intermediates

Return of Serve Levels

By Jeff Cooper, About.com

This is one of the more difficult drills for the instructor, both in terms of skill and endurance. You will be hitting serves at seven different levels of difficulty, and the players, starting from Level One, will take turns trying to return two out of three to move up to the next level. Have the players alternate the side (deuce or ad) from which they take each turn of hitting three returns.

  1. Level One is the dinkiest serve you can get in, a total pitty-pat.
  2. Level Two is also quite soft and flat, but it lands fairly deep in the service box.
  3. Level Three is still flat, but it has more speed, around 45 mph.
  4. Level Four has a mixture of topspin and slice and travels at around 60 mph.
  5. Level Five is like Level Four, but placed near the sideline or centerline at a speed of around 75 mph.
  6. Level Six has unpredictable spins, including heavy slice or kick, and is placed in the corners of the service boxes at 85-90 mph.
  7. Level Seven is like Level Six, but with as much power and/or spin as you can produce.
Group or Individual: The third return doesn't matter if a player misses or returns both of your first two serves, but give her a third serve at the same level just for practice. Although maintaining distinct sets of three serves isn't strictly necessary with just one participant, the structure helps to keep the challenge consistent.

Difficulties: Accurately producing serves at different levels becomes more difficult when you have to switch between levels from one player to the next after players have advanced at different rates. If you goof and hit too difficult a serve for the intended level, let the player count the return if it was successful, but give her another if she missed.

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