Mini tennis.
The thing you do as a beginner player and widely practiced by all playing levels (even extending to the pros) as a warm up before the baseline rally.
“Mini” because the area to play on is narrowed down to the service boxes which is half the court length. But is it just a standard protocol to adhere to because your coach tells you to do it or most players do it? Or why even do mini tennis since it is not “real” tennis to begin with?
Well, one obvious benefit of it is that it makes tennis seem less intimidating with the smaller court size and that it is easier to hit the ball over the net using less strength. This gain alone not only boosts confidence in players (beginners or otherwise) but intentionally forces players not to overhit (lest the ball goes out of the hitting zone) which opens up opportunities to focus on certain key areas – and doubtless translating for good (or ill) to full court tennis after.
So what are they? I identify three:
1. Contact Point
The slower paced ball one normally receives in mini tennis should be fully taken advantage of to find your sweet spot, that is your ideal contact point for your groundstrokes. You would know that you have found your sweet spot when the contact feels plushed and body movements fluid with no awkwardness or tension in the stroke. Explicably, that happens when we meet the ball in front with hip rotation.
2. Feel
Feel might be underrated and often overlooked and overshadowed by her other bigger cousin, Power. Thus, a common mistake that players commit is to over hit even in mini tennis to the detriment of feel. Oftentimes, they will hit a good power shot or two but would not be able to string together a series of clean power shots.
On the contrary, many shots would be hit awkwardly and with poor contact (the shanking of balls – i.e. balls hitting the frame of the racket head – is one common example). Honing in on feel with little power first would prevent mishits and flukes which would result in greater control of the ball and increased consistency of clean shots.
To get “feel” is to have the ball contacting the racket string bed for longer in your sweet spot and to be aware of how it feels like and to repeat such a contact (see above). Do also extend “feel” to all your groundstrokes – forehand, backhand, slices, and volleys – during the mini tennis phase. So be sure to hit a variety of shots during mini tennis and get a good feel and contact for each stroke.
3. Rhythm
Making full use of mini tennis to get a good rhythm is also a must. Resist the urge to hit shots that make it difficult for your partner and yourself to gain a good rally rhythm such as high top spin shots, erratic slices or hard shots early in the rally (you and your partner can do that afterwards once you get a nice rally rhythm). Instead, aim for at least 10 consecutive rally balls before mixing things up.
I have offered some tips to get in rhythm with the ball here but if I may, here is another tip which might prove helpful and effective for you: keep your feet light, watch the ball carefully, rotate shoulders early, and say aloud or in your head once the ball bounces with these words, “Bounce-Drop-Hit”.
“Bounce” refers to the ball bouncing off the court; “Drop” signals for you to drop your racket to get under the ball and “Hit” is when you contact the ball (not before your hip turn of course – see my how-to articles here and here for more clarity).
The verbal-mental acknowledgement of each step from the ball bounce trains your body to sync up with the ball’s rhythm to find good timing when hitting the ball. You might need a few attempts to get a good rhythm so do not worry if you hit a few unclean shots. Simply try again.
Little by little does the trick.
~ Aseop
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