Contact Point Ladder
Why this drill
Court position is a skill separate from stroke production. Hitting the same feed from three depths — behind the baseline, on it, inside it — teaches your swing to compress as time shrinks, the difference between a 3.0 and a 4.0.
Setup
Machine feeding identical medium balls to one side. Three starting stations marked: two meters behind the baseline, on the baseline, two meters inside it.
The drill
Ten balls from each station, same target — deep crosscourt — moving one rung up the ladder each set. At the back, full swing after the drop; on the line, contact at the top of the bounce; inside, on the rise with a shortened backswing. Then the backhand ladder. Count deep balls per rung and find your weakest depth — that rung is next session's start.
One thought to take on court
As you move up the ladder, the backswing shrinks and the ball is met further in front — time you don't have must come out of the swing.