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Beginner Cardio Tennis Drills

Cardio tennis drills are important for everyone who hits the court. Learning drills is an important step when learning the basics of tennis, and also for the development of the right techniques. Cardio tennis drills focus on the fitness aspect of tennis. Practicing cardio tennis drills can develop your stamina needed to endure long tennis matches.

 

Many players are playing cardio tennis drills to improve their fitness. Here are a few cardio tennis drills that have proven helpful to many. Active Tennis coaching focuses on working on both cardio and skills for our adult group lessons.

Cardio Tennis Drills for Beginners

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Cardio Tennis Drill #1: Mirror

This drill only requires a partner.

  • Stand opposite your partner

  • Your partner shouts a direction and moves to that side.

  • One player calls out 'left' and shuffles left, the mirror player moves right. The goal is to move in the opposite direction of your partner until they shout a change.  

  • Each player has 60 seconds to call directions

 

Cardio Tennis Drill #2:  Baseline

  • Jog towards the net

  • Backpedal to baseline, then sidestep to your left towards the sideline

  • Jog back towards the net

  • Backpedal towards the baseline and then repeat by side stepping to the right.  

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This drill will improve your cardio and your reaction speed.

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Image source: Cardio Tennis Drills for Beginners and Advanced Tennis Players. (2020). Retrieved 9 March 2020, from https://www.optimumtennis.net/cardio-tennis-drills.htm

Baseline Drill

Cardio Tennis Drill #3: Up and Backs

This drill only requires two players, a feeder and runner.

  • Players start on service line and begins rallying

  • Every alternate shot, they must move toward the net and take the ball out of the air as a volley.

  • After the volley, sprint back to the service line.

  • At the same time, the partner moves forward on the other side of the net to take his volley.

  • Players will alternate hitting volleys and running to the service line.

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Cardio Tennis Drill #4: Side to Side 

This drill only requires two players, a feeder and runner.

  • The feeder hits a ball to his far left, within the singles lines, waits for the player to hit that ball

  • Feeder hits another ball down the middle of the court.

  • Runner hits the 2nd ball

  • After the runner hits the 2nd ball, the feeder hits a 3rd ball to his far right.

  • Feeder hits with another ball down the middle and a fifth ball to his left.

  • Repeat minimum 3 times to get maximum benefit.

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Cardio Tennis Drill #5: Ground Stroke/Volley Drill

This drill emphasises on ground strokes and volleys.

  • Stand at the baseline and your partner feeds you a ball

  • our with a ground stroke (focus your returns at a specific spot on the court).

  • Immediately run up the court and take a volley mid air

  • Sprint back to the baseline and take another ground stroke.

  • Repeat between ground stroke and volley until your partner hits an entire basket of balls your way.

 

You can also do a varied version of this drill by having your partner toss the balls anywhere on court. As soon as a ball is in the air, catch it on the first bounce. Use this as a build up to the ground stroke/volley drill.

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Image source: Cardio Tennis Drills for Beginners and Advanced Tennis Players. (2020). Retrieved 9 March 2020, from https://www.optimumtennis.net/cardio-tennis-drills.htm

Ground Stroke/Volley Drill

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