Training Regimen

One of the most common questions we receive from parents is what kind of commitment is needed to get to a specific level. Below we have defined some general guidelines for what it usually takes to get to various levels of tennis competency. Please note that these are not guarantees to reach a certain level, rather are to be used as guidelines in determining your practice regimens, some players may need more others a little less.

Local Ranked Player: These players typically drill 1-2 times a week and may or may not take a weekly private lesson. They play between 5-10 USTA tournaments a year and rarely play any practice sets on their own. Most do not have any off-court training program nor do they practice their serves on their own. These players usually take drills year round and play 2-3 days per week.

Sectional Ranked Player: These players typically drill 2-3 times per week and take 1-2 private or hitting private lessons per week. They play roughly 10-12 USTA tournaments per year and play 2-4 practice set per week. About 50% of these players are on an off-court-training program and practice their serves on their own. These players usually take drills year round and play 3-5 days per week.

Nationally Ranked Player: These players typically drill 3-4 times per week and take 1-2 private or hitting private lessons per week. They play about 15 USTA/ITF tournaments a year and also play 6-8 practice sets per week. About 90% of these players are on an extensive off-court-training program that includes weight training as well as speed and agility training. They almost all practice their serves on their own and play about 5-6 days per week.

There are 2 important issues that can be learned from this page:

1. It is important that the parents have the same goals for the player that the player has. Many times frustration sets in when the parent has higher expectations than those of the player.

2. The player must be aware of the above information and avoid the trap of having a certain level as a goal while doing the workload of a lesser goal. It is not uncommon to see players that say they want to be nationally ranked while going through their entire career doing the workload of only a sectionally ranked player.