Running The Lines To Warmup
Before Or After Tennis
Running The Lines To Warmup Before Or After Tennis
If you’re new to tennis, learning how to run the lines is a fantastic way to begin using the tennis court to warm up your body before practice, dial in your footwork skills, or cool down after playing.
In this brief article, I’ll review the simple steps involved in running the lines of a tennis court.
Warming Up
Running the lines can be a great way to warm up. It’s important to be deliberate about how you run the lines when warming up, but jogging at a slow pace will be perfectly sufficient.
The Running Pattern
While there are several different ways to run the lines, the following is a common approach that many tennis instructors and coaches use and is my favorite.
Start facing the net at the far right net post with one hand on the net.
- Backpedal to the baseline down the doubles sideline.
- Sidestep to your left to the singles sideline.
- Jog to and touch the net.
- Backpedal to the service line.
- Sidestep to your left to the center service line.
- Jog to and touch the net.
- Backpedal to the service line again.
- Sidestep to your left to the far singles sideline.
- Jog to and touch the net.
- Backpedal back to the baseline.
- Sidestep to your left to the doubles sideline.
- Jog back to the net.
Pretty simple, right? Of course, as with most drills, what you get out of it will be what you choose to put into it.
Let’s examine how this simple drill can be used to improve a player’s speed and footwork.
While you're here, I wanted to let you know I recently published a gentle 10-minute dynamic tennis warmup that I think you'd enjoy. It's perfect for priming your body before playing to reduce injury and enhance your performance on the court.
You can check out the videos here. If it's not your thing, I totally get it, but my readers have asked me for it, so I thought you'd enjoy it, too.
Enjoy the rest of the article!
Improving Speed & Footwork
Running the lines can be a useful warm-up and a great drill for improving your speed and footwork. Here are a few ideas to up the ante and make this tennis drill more challenging.
- Run at a faster pace.
- Bend your knees and get low.
- Challenge yourself against another player and see who finishes first.
- Touch the bottom of the net instead of the top of the net.
As with most drills on a tennis court, running the lines can be a fantastic drill when appropriately practiced. It helps mimic the type of stress your body will experience in a tennis match—quick bursts of speed, back-and-forth, and quick side-to-side movements.
5-Point Friday
A brief recap of the five most interesting things I’m enjoying or thinking about in tennis.
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Love Running the lines, plan to start using it myself and when teaching. Thanks!
Happened to spot an extra letter in your last bullet (“next” instead of “net”)
Thanks again!
Hi Steve,
Thanks for stopping by – glad you enjoy the drill.
Running the lines always brings me back to playing in high school and college – it was a staple warm-up drill and something I still use with my students to this day.
I appreciate you pointing out the spelling mistake. I went ahead and fixed that :)
All the best,
Jon