Doubles Situations

1. The receiving team must lob the return of serve and try to take the net at least twice in each game. This is especially effective when the serving team is serving into the sun.
2. The serving team must play out of the “I” formation or Australian formation.  Get use to using the formations so you will have confidence to use them in a match as well as experiencing how to return against the formations.
3. The receiving team starts with both players back. This takes the pressure off the receiver to make a great return to avoid getting their partner killed by the poaching player of fast charging net player
4. The serving team starts both players on the baseline. This formation helps when the receiver is killing the net player because they cannot volley or the serves are too weak.

Singles Situations

1. Players must serve, return and rally 6 balls cross court before the point can begin.  Serve to the deuce court and rally deuce court then serve to the ad court and rally ad court cross court.  Keep score like in a regular match.
2. Player serves and rally out the point.  If the ball lands inside the service line the striker loses the point.  You can also play that the short ball requires the receiver of the short ball to go to the net to play out the point.
3. “3 to win a major” – (with 3 players) one player will serve 3 points.  If the server or receiver wins all 3 points they win a “major point”.  If they win 2 of the 3 points they stay on the court and a third player comes on to replace the person who lost the 1 point and a new game is played. If they win 1 of the 3 they are the one replaced by the third player who will now play 3 points against the player who stayed on the court.  This stresses the difficulty in winning 3 points in a row.  (*when the score is 30-love there is an 80% chance the person with the lead will lose the next point and 65% chance they will lose the 4^th point as well).
4. “3 to win a major” – (with 2 players) one player serves and tries to win 3 points in a row to win a game.  If the receiver wins the point, they become the server and have 1 point while the former server loses all their points and starts at zero again.  Players keep games won and play out a set.

Situational scoring and match play can help to focus on specific skills necessary to improve ones tactical and mental approach to the game.  They also make great coaching opportunities. The shortened scoring and sets make great challenge match format that can be completed in a short period of time.

This form of altered play helps to make practice exciting and more challenging so players stay focused and do not experience “mindless” practice.  They get use to specific situations and proper responses to the score or situation so they play with a “been there before” confidence in actual match play.

Photo Credits: 1

• Little Known Facts That Influence Your Tennis Game /caption] The average length of a point in a match is about 4 seconds. The tennis court is 3.5 feet longer cross court than it is down the line – safer shot with more court space and less movement to recover-to the middle of “possible returns”. The tennis ball travels......
• Hit for Haiti - A Hit - Almost [/caption] Friday night is date night for Karen and I.  Kameron is spending the night with his friend Jordon. I had gotten home first from the club and started to string 1 of the 4 racquets for the night.  I turned on the TV and went to the Tennis Channel......
• Present Yourself for the Win - Posture and Attitude Whenever we enter into a competition, our greatest opponent can be ourselves. We will misguide ourselves into thinking we are doing something we aren't. For many, when faced with the realization that this is happening, will bridge the gap and improve greatly as an athlete and player. The one thing......
• Ball Machines – Using them for Singles Practice Ball machines are great for practicing your singles shots – if positioned correctly. 5 things NOT to do when using a ball machine: Do not place the ball machine only on the baseline in the center of the court Do not have the ball machine oscillate only from deuce court......
• Congratulations to San Jose Junior Tennis /caption] For the 5th straight year, the juniors at San Jose Swim & Racquet Club in San Jose, California have dominated the summer South Bay League play. With outstanding performances by the boy's 12's, 15's and 18's, SJSRC has captured the best records in league play. There are also divisions......

• Top Tennis Tips from the Pros in Tennis The first thing that you are going to want to understand is that pro players are on a completely different level of playing in comparison to amateur players. Still, this is absolutely no reason for you not to look at pro players and take advice from them on how they......
• UConn wins 56th straight with rout of Notre Dame [/caption] STORRS, Conn. —Connecticut got off to a near-perfect start, showing there is a chasm between it and the rest of women’s basketball. Tina Charles scored 23 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to help the top-ranked Huskies rout No. 3 Notre Dame 70-46 on Saturday night for its 56th straight......
• Tennis Scoring A game of tennis starts with the service and ends when a player has scored 4 points, as long as they are also 2 points ahead of their opponent. Games are generally part of a set, which is a series of games played until one player has reached six wins,......
• More Tennis Tips pt 3 ... Continued from More Tennis Tips pt 2. This is part three in our weekly tennis tips series. Here are some more invaluable tips that will help you improve all aspects of your tennis game. You should swing your racket back until the point where the tip is barely......
• Tennis Glossary Lawn Tennis - This is the original name used to describe modern tennis, based primarily on the fact that it is played on the grass, which was intended to distinguish it from tennis played on a court. Left Court - Left court and advantage court are the same thing. Let......