Techniques: Rising Above

Want to step up from an intermediate to an advanced level? Developing these five aspects of the game will take you there.

By Dennis Van der Meer

Photos by Chris Trotman/Getty Images

Excerpted from the September 2003 issue of TENNIS Magazine

By far, the majority of recreational players I teach are at the intermediate level. They have nice strokes and hit most of their shots reasonably well, but they lack some important elements in their match-play arsenals. Whether these players can't put away an overhead or they crumble every time they're faced with a passing shot, something is holding their progress back. There are five primary areas that I see intermediates struggling to master. Below are drills that you can do, most with a partner, that will help you develop these skills. It takes time, but if you devote the effort you'll be ready not just for a nice hit, but for a match.

Learn the slice

Adding variety to your serve will keep your opponents off-balance. Even if you're one of the lucky players to have what I call a "hot arm" and can whip your racquet at high speeds, a bullet serve can be unreliable. You need to complement it with a steady delivery that will keep your opponents guessing. Topspin is good, but if you don't have a fast racquet, trying to hit a kick serve can leave you with a floating, ineffective shot. Try the slice, which is a simple serve to learn.

Hold your racquet with a Continental grip. Toss the ball a little farther to your right (or to your left if you're left-handed) than you would for a flat serve and hit the outside edge with a glancing blow that causes the ball to spin forward and clockwise. Practice pulling your opponent out wide in the deuce court (ad court for lefty servers) to open up the court for the next ball.

To get better at hitting a sharp angle, start near the service line and gradually move back to the baseline. On the ad side (deuce for lefties) a slice serve is still effective because it will handcuff your opponent with a shot into the body.

Quicken your racquet on returns of serve

While your partner is practicing the slice, you can work on returning wide serves. As the server tosses the ball, immediately move forward and perform a split-step. When your opponent is slicing a serve out wide, it's important to move diagonally to cut off the angle on the ball, and not sideways. Otherwise you'll give up too much territory for your opponent's return shot.

Have your partner also hit flat and topspin serves so you can practice returns off of those as well. He or she should move up to the service line and serve at a slightly reduced speed from there so you can quicken your reaction time. Your practice partner should even intentionally serve the ball into the net. In this situation, your job is to have your shoulder turned as the ball hits the net. Then complete an imaginary stroke as if the ball has cleared the net. This is good practice for your reaction time on fast balls.

Get your body behind the ball on overheads

Short lobs and pop-ups must be smashed away for winners. At any level, this is a key shot to improve. Have your partner send up a high lob that you let bounce between the service line and the baseline. Remember to get your body sideways when you see a lob and then go forward and smash the ball away to either side. Try to get some angle on the shot as well as pace.

After that, begin taking the ball out of the air. Still get sideways and move behind the ball before you step into the shot. Keep your head and eyes up at the point of contact, even after the hit. If you and your partner do this exercise 25 times during each practice, your overheads will dramatically improve.

Be steady with your forehand

To become a good player, you must have a reliable and consistent forehand. Here are some fun drills and practice exercises that are competitive and will improve the consistency, depth, and overall performance of your forehand.

You and your partner should try to rally 10 times over the net with crosscourt forehands, making sure the ball lands past the service line. If one of you is a lefty, work on your backhand and then switch. To make it more challenging, play against the court. The two of you have to keep 10 shots in play crosscourt, past the service line and in front of the baseline, with the alleys out of play. If you get to 10, you win the point. If not, it's one for the court. Then play the same game against each other. The first player to miss the target area loses the point. To ensure consistency, don't count the point unless the ball has cleared the net five straight times.

Change it around and practice some down the line and inside-out forehands. You can add a putaway element to the exercises: The point doesn't end if one of your shots lands inside the service line; instead, you're allowed to rip the next shot into the open court for a winner. This will help improve your ability to put away short balls.

Make your opponent volley

Never miss a passing shot into the net. It's a common mistake for recreational players to go for too much when attempting to pass an opponent at net. Either they get nervous when someone is pressuring them, or they have poor shot selection. The bottom line is to make your opponent volley every time. No freebies. That's not to say that if you have a big opening you shouldn't take it. But don't force something that's not there. You'll be surprised how many points you'll win by simply making your opponent volley.

To practice this, have your partner come to net and start a rally ball. Instead of attempting a risky passing shot, hit the ball safely over the net and far from the singles sideline. Not a passive shot by any means, but one that will force your partner to hit a volley. Then track down the volley and try another passing shot, and so on until the point is finished. This is good for practicing the footwork and quick racquet preparation needed to hit several passing shots in a row, and it will give your partner an intense volley workout.