You can improve your volleys and passing shots with this tough 2-on-1 drill.
Patience isn’t necessarily a quality one associates with doubles. There’s usually an urgency to go for your shots to try to make something positive happen. Yet when you’re playing against two opponents who cover the net well, it’s not wise to try for too much on your passing shots. You’re better off hitting with more placement and less pace to create a bigger opening in the court. Otherwise you’ll have to go for high-risk, low-percentage passes, which generally result in more errors than winners. Remember, two good shots accomplish the same thing as one great shot, but with much less risk. Practicing something I call the “Five Misses Drill” is a fun and competitive way to improve your passing shots in doubles matches.
The objective of the Five Misses Drill is for the baseliner to create an opening in the court so he can hit a clean winner past the net players.
Put one player on the baseline and two others at net on the opposing side (being short a fourth person means more exercise for everyone). One of the players at net feeds a ball to the baseliner and the point is played out. The baseliner scores one “miss” for each point that he loses. If the net players, who are both working on their volleys, miss a shot, it doesn’t count as anything. But if the baseliner hits a clean winner (a shot that neither net player can get a racquet on), his miss count resets to zero. Once the baseliner gets to five misses, the players rotate. This not only teaches the baseliner to stretch his opponents out to open up passing lanes, but also not to rush the point——or the errors will pile up quickly.