Drill library · Ball machine

Groove the Swing

Ball machineNTRP 2.0–2.515 minforehandbackhand

Why this drill

For a new player the machine's gift is sameness: the identical ball, thirty times, until the swing stops being a decision. This is where a reliable forehand is born.

Setup

Machine at slow speed, generous interval, feeding soft balls to a comfortable forehand strike zone. No oscillation. Stand where the ball comes to you.

The drill

Thirty forehands, thinking only about the swing shape: turn, drop, brush up, finish over the shoulder. No targets yet — the target is the finish position, held for a beat after every ball. Then thirty backhands the same way. Rest, repeat once.

One thought to take on court

Finish every swing in the same place — a repeatable finish builds a repeatable swing in reverse.