Drop ladder

Every drop has a second half: the steps you take in behind it. The ladder trains both at once, and the further in you get, the shorter the drop has to be.

Setup

• The feeder at the kitchen line, with a handful of balls.
• The dropper at the baseline on the other side, straight across.

How it works

1. The feeder hits a deep ball to the dropper.
2. The dropper hits a drop. If it lands in the feeder’s kitchen and low enough that they can’t attack it, the dropper climbs a rung: one step in.
3. A drop that floats, lands outside the kitchen, or goes into the net: back down a rung.
4. Reach the kitchen line and you’ve climbed the ladder. Swap.

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1. 1P2 feeds from the kitchen line. P1 drops from the baseline, straight across.
2. 2A deep feed to the baseline.
3. 3A good drop, into the kitchen: P1 climbs a rung and plays the next one from a step in.
4. 4The next feed.
5. 5Good again: up to the transition zone.
6. 6And the next.
7. 7This one floats: P1 goes back down a rung. Reach the kitchen line and swap.

Turn the dial

Easier: the feeder feeds softer and to the forehand.

Harder: the feeder attacks any drop that floats instead of catching it, so a bad drop costs you the point, not just a rung.