Players feed the ball in from hand and rally up and down the middle of the court.
At any time, player 1 can choose to hit a shot that will bring player 2 forward to the net. This shot must be hit inside the service box and can be a short slice or dropshot.
The point is then live from the next ball. Players play first to 7 before switching roles.
Player 2 will be forced to come to the net from the shorter ball or dropshot. It is also likely that they will have to play 'up' off this ball, so player 1 should be ready to attack the next ball after their response.
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.