How to Get Better at Tennis Without a Court

October 4, 2020 37 Comments

Unless you’re lucky enough to have your own tennis court at home, there will be times when you can’t train or practice your game with the use of a court. However, there are lots of ways to work on your training to get better at tennis when you don’t have access to a court. 

You can improve your tennis skills through exercise, diet, and drills at home. You can also upgrade your equipment to help you if you can afford to. Remember to invest in other equipment that you need to, like glasses intended for wear during sport if you wear glasses, (find lots of options here).

Start With Your Goals

If you don’t have a clearly defined goal for improving your tennis game, you will find it hard to get any changes that you will deliver results. 

A good way to start to get better at tennis is to write down three main goals that you’d like to achieve. Put the piece of paper with your goals written on somewhere where you will see them every day, like on the fridge or on the bathroom mirror. This will motivate you to work hard to become the kind of player that you want to be. 

I like to play doubles from time to time.

Improving Health And Fitness

Cardiovascular Fitness

Extra fitness activity will improve your tennis game. Tennis alone is not enough to get in the great shape you need to be in to be great at any sport. Tennis burns a small number of calories compared to more intensive sports and workouts, and won’t build the muscles you need to get more strength in your game. Lift weights and do pushups to build muscle and get stronger. 

Ms. Dwan Abantao teaches the attendees simple and effective exercise routines.

Getting into shape also improves your stamina and fitness levels. If you’re exhausted, you won’t be able to keep playing. This is why your physical condition is so important. Take up running or cycling to increase your fitness levels, speed and endurance. 

Sprints

Short sprints are good practice. Set up markers so you complete sprints that are the width and depth of the court. Add these in different directions and complete them in a circular routine. 

Strength

For good tennis, you need good strength to help you deliver fast serves and to return balls to the back of the court with pace. Work on your arm strength with weight training at the gym, or buy weights to use at home. 

Squatting

For optimal performance, squats are the best bodyweight exercise that you can do to strengthen your legs and core muscles. Squats can be done anywhere, at any time, with no need for extra equipment.

Practicing Tennis Without A Court

As well as your fitness, you also need to be able to improve your racquet ability. As well as investing in the best racquet that you can afford, you can also do this by improvising with your training environment with a mix of drills. 

Serving

A large flat area of either grass or concrete is ideal for practicing your serve. Measure out the relevant areas, and if you can, mark out the court with tape to help you practice. Ideally, you want to serve into an area that has a wall behind it so you can easily collect your tennis balls back in and start again. 

Ball kid trying to hit a tennis ball

Returning Against A Wall

If you have access to a large wall, use it to hit the ball against to work on improving your racquet skills. You can move closer to the wall to improve your short game, or further back to practice back of court shots. 

Swingball

You might have played swingball as a fun garden game as a child but it’s also a brilliant way to practice your forehand and backhand shots in a small space. 

If you’re not familiar with swingball, it’s essential a ball attached to a post that allows you to hit the ball so it spins around the post. You can practice hitting from one side to the other. It’s also a great way to get kids interested in tennis or to build their skills. 

Master The Art Of Split-Stepping

Like your serve, the split-step is a vital part of your game, so you should work on it constantly. You can do this at home, with your racquet, for added immersion and realism. 

Reduce Foot And Heel Tightness By Rolling Your Foot Over A Tennis Ball While Standing

Using a tennis ball for a foot massage not only feels fantastic, but it also relieves tension. Start with one foot at a time, rolling the ball all around the foot where you experience stiffness and pain. If you don’t find a tennis ball helps, then a foam roller can do the job to get at the hard to reach places of your feet. 

Online Courses

Taking advice from people with more experience than you, and applying that advice to your own game can be a very useful tool. There are lots of online courses that can help you to become a better tennis player. 

Watch Video Tutorials

Sometimes your game can see huge improvements with just a few small tweaks to your techniques. From understanding the most effective grip for each shot, to how to get topspin on the ball, a video tutorial can help you to develop your skills. 

YouTube is full of free videos that can help, including ones made by former ATP pros and coaches. Pick a skill that you want to improve and search YouTube for one of the most-watched videos on that skill to get a lesson without needing to leave the house. 

Improve Your Diet

Diet has a big influence on your performance. If you’re carrying too much weight, you will find it harder to move around the court, or your stamina may be lowered. 

One of the healthy food finds at Alter Ego

You should eat a healthy, balanced diet that provides a body shape that is best for tennis. Look at tennis pros. They have a lot of muscle, especially in the shoulders, arms, and thighs. However, you don’t want so much muscle that it slows you down. 

Adapt your diet to give you more stamina when you play. Some games last for hours, which is hard to maintain energy levels for without the right diet. This is why you often see tennis players eating bananas in the breaks between games to get a quick energy boost. 

37 thoughts on “How to Get Better at Tennis Without a Court”

  1. Good tips, the exercise part I liked coz thats what increases flexibility and strength. Do you play tennis often? I had tried before, not a great player but can manage.

  2. I love all of these tips–especially the writing of 3 goals and putting them on the fridge and practicing your serve in a large area with a ball to make retrieval easier. And that bowl looks so fresh and tasty!

  3. Great reminder that we can always work towards our goals even outside of the environment that we expect our goals to occur in.

  6. Hhhmmm…alright then. My biggest take-out is, “Reduce Foot And Heel Tightness By Rolling Your Foot Over A Tennis Ball While Standing”. I could try it. My feet occasionally get tight on me.

  8. These are really great ideas! Of course, being in better shape will help your game, but I never thought about how you could actually “play” tennis to a degree in these ways to improve your game.

  10. I would just think of practicing swings regularly as it is always important to be consistent with anything you want to get better on. However, this guide definitely covers the important parts that may be overlooked. This is awesome!

  12. These are all awesome ways to practice tennis without having a court! Luckily I have a court right next door to my neighborhood. I can walk to it in 5 minutes. haha

  13. These are all really great methods to improving your tennis game without having to physically go out and play tennis on a court. Thanks for sharing!

  15. I definitely think I need to improve my sprinting and squats! I never thought that this would help improve my technique.

  18. These are all good tips to do with tennis!
    I have tried to play this sport once. It was good in the beginning but then I had so many things need to focus on I skipped tennis. Perhaps I should get back to the game.

  20. Lot of great and helpful tips to follow. I will definitely save and share this with my niece who likes to play tennis a lot. Thank you!

  21. This is pretty cool and my husband and I do play occassionaly but I am nothing amazing at it in any way shape or form LOL. It is lots of fun though….. Definitely bookmarking here to take advantage of some of the tis so thank you!

  22. I love these ideas! I’ve got a wall so there are no excuses for NOT practicing. Luckily enough I do see that they’re building a court a few minutes walk from my house.

  25. I feel like this would help for almost any sport you want to improve on. I’m a golfer and can’t always make it to the course, but training at home looks a lot like training for tennis at home.

  26. Great tips I have been trying to improve my tennis and great to hear you don’t need to be down at a court to do so. Will definitely take note of the above.

  30. This is such a great article about how to get better at tennis without a court! I can definitely work on doing sprints, strength training, and squats! Espcially after having 2 kids…I need the exercise haha

    Emily | Good Mom Living

  32. These are some excellent tips for getting better at tennis! I haven’t played in years, but I’d love to start again. I’ll need to use your ideas because I’m not in the shape I used to be!!

  33. Thank you for these tips.. I honestly haven’t tried playing Tennis yet.. We do not have access to tennis courts here but i am glad that you can still practice tennis even without the court. Although i am not really a sport guy, i would love to explore tennis someday

  34. These are helpful tips. I agree with you that strength is very important to deliver fast serves. Will definitely work on that as well as do squats. Appreciate the tips.

  36. This is very timely. I just started playing tennis a few months ago and I really enjoy it. I wanna get better. I find your guide very helpful

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