Most players only practice in the 10-minute warm-up right before the match begins. Thus, whatever their weaknesses are they are not going to get any better. Typically, opponents will hit ground strokes for a majority of the warm-up time, then they will force themselves to hit a few volleys and very few if any overheads. With this type of practice you can see why some players never improve their mid-court and volley game.
What should you do to warm-up? During the 10-minute warm-up before your match try some of these:
- Hit the ball back to your opponent, remember the match has not started yet and you only have 2 or 3 balls. Do not spend all your time chasing them.
- Spend more time concentrating on watching the ball, finding your point of contact on each shot and breathing with each shot.
- Hit a few of all your shots, do not ignore your net game.
- Do not assume your opponent will play the same way in the match as they do in the warm-up.
- Do not assume you will play poorly if you receive a terrible warm-up and vice versa.
- Remember that the warm-up is to loosen you up for the match, not for practicing your shots.
- If you cannot feed the ball correctly, it is your job to practice that until you can. Players sometimes are weak at feeding their opponent a lob so they can hit a practice overhead.
- Do not hit angle shots in the warm-up, it just wastes your warm-up time.
- Do your practicing before the match, not in the 10-minute warm-up.
