Contents
The traffic light: defend, build, finish
The red-yellow-green principle is set out in the 2005 booklet (p. 10) and taken up for doubles in the 2009 booklet (p. 10):
| Colour | Situation | What you play |
|---|---|---|
| Red | Defend | Send the ball back slowly and high, to gain time. |
| Yellow | Build | Long, fast and/or placed balls, angles. |
| Green | Finish | The winner, or force the error. |
In Paak, the drill “Red – yellow – green” (u13 to sen, four players) puts it into play: the teacher feeds to place a team in one of the three situations, and the players call the colour out loud before hitting. In the progression, a match to seven points in which the teacher creates a different situation each time.
The sentence to keep in mind comes from the doubles booklet (p. 11): in a match, what counts is not the technical execution of the stroke but its result. Efficiency before aesthetics.
Consistency and depth
Depth is built cooperatively before it is played competitively.
| Drill | Band | How it runs |
|---|---|---|
| “The accordion” | u9, u13 | In pairs, a metre from the net; after each shot both players step back one pace up to a mark, then come back towards the net. In the progression, a hoop in front of each player moves back a metre once both have landed a ball in it; in duel form, who reaches the baseline first? |
| “Newspaper target” | u9, u13 | Precision duel: an open double page of newspaper in front of each player; each hit on the opponent’s newspaper folds it in half. |
Crosscourt, down the line, change
Two drills from the 2005 booklet (p. 9), at the “advanced” level, work on direction:
| Drill | Band | How it runs |
|---|---|---|
| “The fan” | u13, u17 | Crosscourt only: start in the middle of the court, shift outward little by little to open the angle up to the sideline, then come back to the centre to close the fan. In the progression, a points game: a rally won crosscourt scores two. |
| “Figure of eight” | u17, sen | Player A always plays crosscourt, player B always down the line; both run and change direction, then the roles swap. In the progression, every shot sliced, or every shot topspin. |
Why down the line needs more margin: it crosses where the net is higher, near the posts (1.07 m) rather than at the centre (0.914 m), under Rule 1 of the ITF Rules of Tennis 2026.
Variety to break the rhythm
The last aim of the baseline situation is variety, which breaks the opponent’s rhythm. The 2005 booklet works on it through slice / topspin variation and a placement constraint:
- “No-go zone” (u17, sen): a rectangle is drawn in the middle of one half court; the player facing it must never return the ball into it. In the progression, a rectangle in each half.
- “Figure of eight” in its progression: every shot sliced, or every shot topspin.
The progression by band
The baseline drills in Paak’s library, from the youngest to the most advanced. The 2005 booklet itself files them by level: the accordion with “beginners”, the fan and the figure of eight with “advanced”, the no-go zone with “experienced” players.
| Band | Drills |
|---|---|
| u9 | “The accordion” · “Newspaper target” · “Wobbly balance tag” · “Indoor stations circuit” |
| u13 | “The accordion” · “Newspaper target” · “The fan” · “Wobbly balance tag” · “Indoor stations circuit” |
| u17 | “The fan” · “Figure of eight” · “No-go zone” |
| sen | “Figure of eight” · “No-go zone” |
“Wobbly balance tag” (a tag game with a ball balanced on the racket) and the “Indoor stations circuit” (14 stations) also belong to the physical theme: with the youngest players, ball control and footwork are trained together.
Frequently asked questions
Crosscourt or down the line: which first?
Should an inelegant but effective stroke be corrected?
Does baseline play change on clay?
Sources
- OFSPO/BASPO mobilesport, practical booklet no. 3 “Tennis” (April 2005), S. Bachmann, M. K. Meier, R. Hunziker (Swiss Tennis / J+S): pp. 8–10 and 14.
- OFSPO/BASPO mobilesport, practical booklet no. 55 “Tennis – Double” (mobile 4/09, 2009), S. Bachmann, M. Meier (J+S Tennis head of discipline): pp. 10–11.
- ITF, Rules of Tennis 2026 (Rule 1, court and net dimensions; Appendix I, court pace categories), as reproduced in “Rules of the Court 2026”, Tennis Canada.
- Paak tennis corpus, files 03 (technique, drills and pedagogy), 04 (tactics) and tennis-drills.json, verified September 2026.