Wide Ball Rescue
Why this drill
The full-stretch wide ball is where points are lost twice — once on the shot, once on the hopeless recovery. Training the emergency answers (slice floated deep, or the sharp counter-angle) turns defense into a skill instead of a prayer.
Setup
Machine feeding hard and wide to one corner — genuinely out of comfortable reach from the center hash, where every rep begins.
The drill
Sprint, stretch, and play the rescue ball: a high, deep slice back through the middle. Recover to the hash before the next feed. Eight-ball sets, four per side. Score a point per rescue landing beyond the service line. When six of eight land deep, add the second answer: alternate deep rescue and short counter-angle.
One thought to take on court
On the dead run, height is your friend — lift the rescue ball high and buy your legs the time back.