Competition-Based Tennis Games & Drills

with Kris Kwinta,
University of California Berkeley Head Men's Coach;
University of Southern California Associate Head Men's Tennis Coach from 2014 to 2021;
2x ITA Southwest Region Assistant Coach of the Year;
All-American player at UCLA;
former member of the Polish National Team;
represented Poland at the Davis Cup in doubles

At USC, a key component of tennis practice is having drills that are competitive in nature. When drills are competitive and pressure situations are created, tennis players will be more serious and more intense in their approach.

In this video, Coach Kris Kwinta shows his favorite drills for tennis practice. You'll get 16 competitive warm-up, fed, and live ball drills that will add variety to your practices while building skills within a highly competitive structure.

Warm-Up Drills with Competitive Focus

Coach Kwinta guides USC players through a series of unique games and drills that emphasize balance, footwork and touch - all with a competitive angle - that will have your players laughing and sweating at the same time. These drills require the honing of tennis-specific movements out of context, which engages and motivates players. Kwinta includes several non-traditional methods, such as:

• Utilizing medicine balls in competitive games, which simulates good stroke production
• A soccer-style game on the court that emphasizes control, balance, movement, and getting behind the ball

By using these drills, players develop good footwork, movement and touch.

Tennis Practice Drills

Coach Kwinta introduces a series of drills using cones and targets to improve accuracy with the ball. Again, all drills are competitive and will keep your players engaged while providing specific objectives. Drills include:

• Short court drills that develop movement
• Full court drills for both two and four players that focus on movement and maintaining high intensity
• Cross-court and down the line cone drills to train court positioning and contact points
• Game-play drills that simulate pressure situations in a real match
• Serve and return of serve drills that are fun and competitive

Additionally, Kwinta provides you with different end-of practice set and game scenarios in which players will be placed under pressure and required to use and develop decision-making skills while fatigued.

Coach Kwinta will help you install a competitive focus in your tennis drills. This video is sure to help your players be more focused when the match is on the line.

81 minutes. 2017.