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Tennis: Rule Changes for Increasing Pressure During Practice

Dick Moss, Editor, PE Update.com

In competitive situations, players must be able to serve consistently when the pressure is on. Here are three rule changes you can use in practice to increase the pressure on the server.

One-Serve Tennis
Play regular tennis, but eliminate the second serve. The extra pressure comes from knowing that every missed serve costs a point.

Double Fault Loses the Game

Again, play regular rules except that any time a server double faults, they lose the game. This increases the stakes for bad second serves.

Handicap Serving
In matches between players of different abilities, try giving only a single serve to the better player, while allowing the regular two serves to the other player. The serving disadvantage and additional pressure on the better player will even the odds between the two opponents.

References:
1. Martin van Daalen, Teaching Tennis Volume 1: The Fundamentals of the Game, Xilbris Corporation, 2011.
2. U.S. Tennis Assn, Tennis Tactics, Human Kinetics Publishers, 1996.

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