Return Simulator
Why this drill
Move the machine close and fast, and it serves at you — the only way to practice returns without a server. The compact block return built here is the same one that neutralizes the club bomber on Saturday.
Setup
Machine placed at the opposite service line, high pace, flat trajectory, feeding to alternating sides if possible. You at the return position, split-stepping at each release. Deep middle target zone.
The drill
Twenty returns per side: shoulder turn instead of backswing, meet the ball out front, drive it deep middle off the machine's pace. Count deep returns out of each twenty. When fifteen land consistently, step a meter inside the baseline and take everything earlier.
One thought to take on court
Turn, don't swing — the return is a shoulder turn and a firm face; the server supplies everything else.