The Perfect Practice Partner: A Guide to Wall Hitting

Many current and former pros have learned their tennis fundamentals on a tennis wall. The wall is a fantastic way to help improve your footwork, consistency, power, and more. A practice wall, also known as a backboard, can be found almost anywhere– against the side of a school gym, a handball court, you name it!

Top 3 Advantages of Using a Wall as Your Tennis Partner:

1. Improving muscle memory with a wall: having dedicated practice time without a partner allows you to focus and work on perfecting a specific shot. For example, practicing your one-handed backhand slice only for 15 minutes repeatedly helps your muscles memorize the precise movements and form required for that particular shot.

2. Consistency and control: consistency drills play an essential role in improving your tennis game, and doing these drills with a partner can be a challenge– so what better way to practice with someone (or something) that never misses?

3. Play whenever you want, wherever you want: with the freedom to create your practice schedule and the countless places available nearby to hit against, it’s never been so easy to train and get better at the sport.

If you’re training on a tennis wall for the first time, the video below explains a few simple yet effective drills to start with:

You can even get a hit in with a partner if no open courts are nearby. By training against the wall with another person, you can match the real on-court timing of the groundstrokes better than playing solo. Below is a video on some drills you can do with a partner:

Whether you want to improve your skills, get some reps in, or just go out and be active, playing tennis against a wall is a beneficial way.