Tennis Tip

Presented by Dominic Manilla, Camp Director

How the ‘X-Drill’ Can Improve Footwork

Improving your footwork while still getting strokes in is always a plus for a good workout. The ‘X-Drill’ helps with your footwork and reaction time while being able to hit short and deep forehands as well as short and deep backhands.

The setup is simple, make the origin point in the middle of the service line and the baseline. Have someone stand on the center service line with tennis balls and throw them to the points of contact. The diagram below shows the layout of the drill, each tennis ball marks the spot where you should be hitting.

Coach Dominic Manilla stresses the importance of this drill, “not only do players get to hit hand feeds, they also get to work on their body positioning and most importantly, footwork. After every shot, make sure to return to the origin point and then move on to the next spot.”

Footwork is a key component of a tennis player’s game. The ‘X-Drill’ is a great way to work on different strokes as well as footwork to get faster and improve on the movement after each shot.

Coach Manilla will be running two weeks of day camp at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. This camp offers a tournament training program that is geared towards players looking to improve their tournament results, learn winning strategies, and work on mental toughness.

For more great tennis tips go to our Coach's Corner page!