Tennis Training Tips: Train Like Wimbledon Pros with These Three Tennis Drills 

Wimbledon 2016 is the most famous tennis championship around, but many of us never have a chance to play tennis on a grass surface. Although it is the original tennis surface (remember its really called “lawn tennis”) less than 1% of courts in the United States are grass. If you ever are scheduled to play on a grass tennis court there are some tennis training tips for your tennis practice sessions. These tennis drills for grass court play courtesy of Micah Groom, Co-director of Player Development for the North County Tennis Academy in San Diego County in California and a USPTR certified professional.

Work on your 1-2 punch tactics

Grass a very fast tennis surface. It is very helpful to have a big serve followed by a big groundstroke-a 1-2 punch. If you are not a super fast server like American Johnny Isner or Novak Djokovic with a HEAD Graphene XT Speed Pro Tennis Racquet) use short cones on the tennis court to practice the precision on your serve. As long as you have decent pace and can hit your spots it will set up a put away groundstroke on the next ball. Repetition is the key here as it is easier to hit a winner in practice than in a match. The more repetition you get, the more comfortable and confident you will be to make these shots in the match.

Work on your net game

Although the serve and volley game is not as effective as it used to be, being able to finish points at the net is very important on grass tennis court play. Work on your net game so you are able to feel comfortable and confident finishing points at the net. One tennis training tip is to practice high put away volleys and short angle volleys. Having access to a ball machine would be great for this type of practice because you are not working on rallying shots.

Work on your return of serve

It is harder to break serve on grass than any other surface. Work on your return of serve. Victoria Azarenka (and her Wilson Ultra 97 Tennis Racquet) is a phenomenal return of serve WTA player. Think like Azarenak and dial in your returns to get early breaks of service. You will do yourself many favors. There tends to be more tiebreaks played on grass tennis courts because it is so hard to break serve. Whoever has the better return has a huge upper hand in tiebreak situations.

Find a hitting partner that has a big serve. Set up and practice a more compact stroke (less take back) because you will have even less time to react on the quick service of a grass tennis court.

Want More Grass Court Tennis Drills?

Even if you don’t know a member of West Side Tennis Club at Forest Hills in Queens, N.Y or Merion Cricket Club in Philadelphia, PA, you can play on public grass courts in the United States. You can get personal attention and professional on-court tennis instruction in the San Diego, CA area with Micah Groom at micgroom@gmail.com.

What’s your view?

What is your tennis training tip for playing on grass tennis courts? Any memorable moments of playing on a grass tennis court?