The Best Tennis Drills for Advanced Players Who Want the Game to Feel Loose Again

Bottom line: the best tennis drills for advanced players are not always the loudest, fastest, or most exhausting ones. They are the drills that help the player see how the swing looks, keep the arm loose, separate the hips from the shoulders, and protect the joy of the game so tennis does not turn into one long grind.

Start With The Picture

The advanced player walked onto the court already wanting more. More pace. More spin. More pressure. That was the usual trap. He thought the drill had to feel intense to be useful. But then the coach stopped him. Do not look at the intensity yet. Look at how it looks. That simple idea changed the whole lesson. The player watched his arm. Was it tight, stiff, and busy? Or did it release, the way a great player's arm seems to release after contact? He pictured Nadal. Not to copy every detail, but to borrow the image of a swing that could let go. So the first advanced drill is simple. Feed or rally at a calm speed. The player hits forehands while watching for one thing: does the arm look loose after contact? Not powerful. Not perfect. Loose. It feels almost too easy at first. But here is where it got interesting. The player began to see that advanced tennis was not always about adding more effort. Sometimes it was about removing the extra tightness that had been hiding inside the effort.

The Dead Arm Drill

Then came the drill that sounded strange until he felt it. Let the arm die. At first, he almost laughed. How could a dead arm help him hit a heavier ball? But the coach was not asking for a weak swing. He was asking for a loose finish. The strings could travel, the arm could flop, and the swing could stop fighting itself. The drill works like this. The player hits controlled forehands. After contact, he lets the hitting arm fall and release. He does not freeze the finish. He does not pose. He lets it flop away. Then the coach adds one more piece. Get the hips out earlier. Let the body start the motion, then let the arm follow. Now the player feels it. The ball still has weight, but the swing does not feel heavy. It is like cracking a towel. The power comes from the body and the timing, while the arm stays free enough to travel.

The Invisible Wall

Next, the player needed a boundary. Not a real wall. A pretend one. He imagined the strings going out toward a wall in front of him. The racquet could rise and travel toward that wall, but it would not crash through it. It would meet the space, then soften. The arm would extend, feel the recoil, and come back like a yo-yo. This drill is for the advanced player who swings big but loses shape. The goal is not to baby the ball. The goal is to feel the racquet travel out, meet the limit, and return without the arm getting stiff. At first, the wall lives in the player's mind. It gives him a place to send the strings. Later, as the feeling becomes natural, the wall can disappear. That is the quiet sign of progress. The drill is no longer something he is doing. It has become something he can feel.

Semi-Open Power

Then the coach moved his feet. Line up in a semi-open stance. The player set his outside leg, turned his hips, and felt his body get ready to rotate. But the coach was watching something else too: the shoulders. They could not simply spin with the hips too early. The shoulders had to stay separated from the hips long enough for the swing to load. This is the semi-open power drill. The player starts in a semi-open stance, receives a feed, turns, keeps the shoulders separated from the hips, and then drives through the ball. It is not an easy drill, even if it looks clean from the side. The body wants to rush. The shoulders want to leak open. The player wants to hit big before he has earned the shape. But when the timing lands, the ball jumps. He feels it right away. The shot is not just harder. It is cleaner.

The Joy Check

But advanced players need one drill that does not look like a drill at all. They need a joy check. The coach had seen what happens when young players chase tournament after tournament. Some become great for their age group, but they are optimizing for that stage, not always for college tennis or pro tennis. And when tennis becomes four to six hours a day, every day, with pressure packed around it, the joy can get sucked out. So the joy check is simple. After a hard drill block, the player plays points with one goal: play in a way that makes him want to come back tomorrow. Maybe that means hitting one creative angle. Maybe it means serving and volleying for a few points. Maybe it means competing hard but not turning every miss into a small trial in court. This is not soft. It is long-term thinking. Because the advanced player is not just training for today's session. He is building a game he can keep loving.

Put It Together

A strong advanced session can feel like a small hero's journey. First, the player sees the problem. His swing is strong, but tight. Then he gets a guide: look at how it looks. Let the arm release. Give the strings a wall. Separate the hips and shoulders. Protect the joy. Then come the tests. He misses. He rushes. He gets tight again. For a moment, the old frustration returns. But then one ball leaves the strings differently. The arm releases. The hips lead. The shoulders stay loaded. The finish does not feel forced. He smiles before he even knows he is smiling. That is the real purpose of advanced drills. Not to make tennis more complicated. To help the player find the simple feeling underneath the complicated skill.

Sources

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