The defensive stroke should be played to a ball of good line and length.
Players stand in a relaxed and balanced stance, head and eyes level.
Back swing and step forward to meet the ball.
As they prepare to strike the ball the front shoulder dips and the front knee bends.
Shoulders rotate vertically and the bat decelerates on contact. The back heel should be raised to help get above the ball and players' bottom hand should be relaxed to avoid over hitting the ball.
A tiebreak is a short sprint where every point is worth the same as a break of serve. The players who win them are rarely the ones who hit hardest. Here is how to coach the patterns, habits and scoreboard thinking that win the big points.
Most club players practise the serve on its own and then have no idea what to do with the ball that comes back. Serve plus one is the pattern that turns a good serve into a won point.
Wimbledon has just crowned another champion, and if you watched closely you saw the same thing every year: the best returners quietly won the tournament. Here is how to coach a return that pressures the server rather than just surviving it.