If club players would put in just one more hour of focused practice for every ten hours of match play, they would improve. But very few do that. They simply trade ground strokes from baseline to baseline for five minutes, than serve it up. That’s not the way tennis is played; it is played all over the court. Take ten minutes to warm up before you play, starting by playing short shots back and forth in the forecourt., then backing up gradually as you rally in patterns; backhands to forehand volleys, forehands to backhand volleys, alternating forehand and backhand volleys, lobs and overheads and last, a rally of volleys with both of you up at the net. Structured practice, even in a limited dose like this, does your game a lot of good.
