I love mini-tennis. It offers so many advantages and benefits for learning and playing good tennis, that I am surprised more people don't play it regularly. When teaching beginners, I try to introduce them to mini-tennis by the end of the first or second lesson. It's remarkable how quickly the rest of their game begins to improve once they start playing mini-tennis regularly.

What exactly is mini-tennis? It's similar to regular tennis but you only use the service boxes for boundaries. If you are playing with just one other player, use the two boxes directly across the court from each other. Put the ball in play with a drop feed and then hit the ball back and forth with your opponent, keeping your shot out of the net and within the boundaries of the reduced court. You can hit both groundstrokes and volleys. Play games to 11 or 15. Ping Pong scoring is best, where each player serves for 5 points and then the serve rotates. Don't count faults, as the server must put the ball in play. Also, you don't need to be behind the service line to serve.

The emphasis is on control, not power. Hit the ball too hard and it will go out of bounds. Gentle, soft shots, with some side or back spin work best. Play the angles and try to maneuver your opponent out of position, setting up a winning placement or a forced error.

You can also play mini-doubles. In this case, each of the four players generally occupy a service box to begin the point. You can serve to anyone on the opposite side of the net. Score as described above for mini-singles. You can even play mini-doubles with 6 people if you are pressed for court space; simply expand the boundaries to include the allies.

You can also vary the rules to make mini-tennis more interesting or to emphasize learning certain skills. In order to keep the rallies longer, I like to enforce the rule that the ball has to bounce (i.e., no volleys). You can also make it a rule that the ball has to bounce twice, forcing all players to hit only drop shots. For singles, you can use the two services boxes on the diagonal, making the shot range slightly longer.

OK, so now you know how to play mini-tennis. What are the benefits in playing this game?

First, mini-tennis is a great warm-up exercise. Rather than go out on the court and hit from baseline to baseline (and waste time picking up sprayed balls), get warmed-up playing a quick session of mini-tennis. You don't even have to keep score, just hit the ball back and forth with your opponent until you both feel comfortable with your strokes and then move back to the baseline. You'll find your groundstrokes from the backcourt have much more control after a few minutes of mini-tennis. Playing doubles but can't get your opponents to participate in mini-doubles on the warm-up? Forget about them. Warm up with your partner for a few minutes before you begin hitting from the baseline with your opponents.

There is no better way to develop feel for the tennis ball on your racquet strings than mini-tennis. Because of the reduced pace, the ball tends to dwell on the strings longer. You quickly develop a sense of how your racquet should be positioned at the point of contact and how to direct the ball. Additionally, given that you need to hit the ball softly to control it, mini-tennis teaches (forces) you to simplify your strokes. Too big of a back swing or too much wrist will lead to errors in mini-tennis, just as they do in full-court tennis.

As mentioned earlier, mini-tennis is best played with slice or backspin on the ball. The spin facilitates control. You put slice on the ball by hitting down on the ball (i.e., from above the level of the ball) with a slightly open racquet face. Don't chop at the ball or use your wrist to impart the spin. Use a smooth downward swing and hit through the ball, with a slight upward lift at the end of the follow through. The swing should resemble a saucer or a bow (high-to-low-to-high)

Learning to use slice in mini-tennis builds the foundation for several other major strokes in tennis: the volley, the approach shot, and the drop shot. All these shots involve putting slice or back spin on the ball. The Volley can be thought of as a mini-tennis shot where the ball is taken out of the air. The slice approach shot is just a larger version of the slice used in mini-tennis; but you strike the ball harder and with a longer stroke and let your forward momentum carry you into volleying position close to the net. A drop shot is a mini-tennis shot where you reduce your racquet speed just before ball contact in order to take the pace off the ball and just clear the net; drop shots indeed are a key feature of mini-tennis. Practice mini-tennis and you'll soon have these all these slice shots under your control.

Mini-doubles mirrors many of the same movements found in full-court doubles. You and your partner both move together side-to-side with the ball as it lands in your opponents' court. Like regular doubles, you try to set up your partner for a put away by hitting the ball cross court. Your partner then moves in closer to the net anticipating the weak response from your opponents. Also, because the rallies generally last longer in mini-doubles, you learn to be patient and work the point rather than trying to end it early with a winner.

Further, even hard-hitting doubles teams occasionally face the short ball that is almost ready to bounce twice before you reach it. Try to hit these with your regular ground stroke and you'll usually make an error. These balls are best handled with a soft angled slice shot. How better to learn and practice hitting these balls delicately back over the net than by playing mini-doubles?

If you don't have a partner, one of the best ways to practice mini-tennis slice shots is to hit softly against a wall. Hit every shot with slice or backspin. Start with your forehand. Don't hit the ball hard or you won't be able to control it. Shorten your backswing and keep your racquet and hitting arm out in front of the plane of your body. After you've become comfortable on the forehand side, hit all backhands. When you get the hang of it, alternate forehand to backhand. Because you are not hitting hard, you won't need much space or height. Conceivably, you can practice mini-tennis against your garage or basement wall.

Incidentally, you don't even need a tennis court for mini-tennis. Using chalk, mark out a rectangle 42 feet by 13 feet on your driveway. Tie a rope to two high back chairs to serve as the net dividing the longer side of the rectangle. The "net" should be 3 feet high. You might have to weight the chairs down with some books or other heavy objects to give them stability. You can also tie a couple of streamers or kite tails to the rope to aid in determining if balls clear the net or pass under. Get a couple of racquets and some balls and you're ready to go. I can't think of a better way to teach your kids, spouse, or others the game of tennis.

Randy Cummings
Match Point Racquet Sports
www.racquetgear.com