Best Tennis Training Aids | 2022 Guide and Review
Before you invest in tennis training aids, make sure you have thoroughly considered the benefits of each type of aid and what tennis skills you are looking to develop. While the majority of training aids are designed to help you perfect specific techniques and skills, the best available models will incorporate some degree of fitness training. If you are new to tennis and unsure of what to look for when shopping for training aids, our useful guide has some essential pointers to help ensure you make a good investment.
What Are You Looking to Improve?
This is arguably the key thing you should be thinking about prior to selecting a suitable tennis training aid. Different types of training aid will help you fine-tune certain tennis skills, or help overcome improve weak areas of performance, or simply help ease over certain parts of the game.
Need to speed up collecting tennis balls after a practice session? A tennis ball hopper would be a great investment. Need to provide some support for your elbow? A good elbow brace would be perfect. If you need to protect your eyes as you play tennis outside you’ll definitely be wanting some sports sunglasses. Even if you simply want to increase your grip strength, learning how to re-grip your tennis racket properly can work wonders.
It is tempting to purchase more general training aids that promise to help target multiple areas of discipline, but the effectiveness of such training aids is questionable. If you are particularly struggling with a specific skill, a less focused training aid will result in negligible improvements when it comes to your performance. It always advisable to spend your money on a tennis training aid targeted toward one specific skill. These aids will come loaded with specialized features to help you hone your ability and see the best return on your investment.
Tennis Training Aid Varieties
The best tennis training aids are designed to focus on a specific area of play. These aids will focus squarely on the area of skill you are looking to improve and master. There are several key types of training aid to consider, with the most common varieties including conventional rebounders, topspin aids and tennis ball machines.
Rebounders are are a good option for those looking to master a wide variety of shots. Used correctly, rebounders can also help the player visualize the ball when it is in flight. This will significantly improve overall ball control. As you become more comfortable with ball control, you can then begin to improve your reaction speed and master your footwork.
A ball machine is also something to think about when investing in training aids for tennis. A reliable ball machine can help you become accustomed to changing direction during play, while also helping you determine when you need to change your stroke. There is a great variety of ball machines available, accommodating players of varying proficiency. Some ball machines are very effective at helping players improve their overall playing speed, enhance their ball control and hasten their reaction times.
Topspin aids are also incredibly popular with those looking to improve their proficiency on the ball court. As the name would suggest, these aids are intended to help players develop their topspin ability. Topspin is an essential skill that needs to be developed by anyone serious about excelling at tennis. A good topspin aid will help you familiarize yourself with the technique itself, while also helping you develop effective muscle memory that can be further applied to other tennis techniques.
While these are the main types of tennis training aid available, they are by no means the only option on the market. Court targets are another common training aid that can help you perfect ball trajectories. Need to work on your cardio and ensure you are fit enough to endure a long game? Athleticism aids are definitely something you should be thinking about. Aiming to improve your serve speed? A quality tennis sensor is definitely something to consider.
Durability
When selecting a suitable training aid, you should never overlook how important durable materials and a quality build are. If certain skill areas need substantial work, any training aid you invest in will need to be used regularly. Therefore, you should never cut corners when it comes to material composition and overall build quality. Make sure the aids you pick are made from hard-wearing materials that ensure maximum durability. Training aids should also be versatile enough so they can be used on a wide variety of courts with various surface types.
If you want your training aids to be portable, material composition is particularly important. Lightweight materials will ensure your training aids can be transported from home to the court with minimal effort. However, be careful when selecting training aid models advertised as lightweight as less bulky materials tend to sustain damage more easily. Coated finishes can be very effective in ensuring your training aids last for as long as possible, even when rolled out for regular use.
Versatile Design
We have talked about how the best training aids are geared towards specific techniques and skill areas, but these does not mean that they need to be too limited in application. Premium tennis training aids include additional features that allow them to be used to improve other areas in addition to the key skills they are designed to target. A decent training aid will not only allow you to master a specific tennis technique, but also help you improve your overall playing speed and reaction time. Most training aids will also significantly contribute to your overall fitness levels. You will struggle to find anything like an all-in-one training aid, but if you are prepared to spend substantially more on a purchase, you will benefit from more versatile application.
How Much to Spend?
Compared to rackets and other tennis essentials, training aids can be very expensive. Although you find budget-friendly solutions on the market that offer limited training applications, the vast majority of available options come with a sizable price tag. Try to avoid the lure of a low asking price when investing in training aids as you will quickly find you have outpaced the usefulness of such systems. Additionally, a lower price tag will almost always mean a subpar build quality. The best advice is to spend as much as you can afford when shopping for suitable tennis training aids.
In Summary
If you already know what skill areas you need to work on, selecting a suitable tennis training aid should be simple enough. If you have a big enough budget, you should definitely think about investing in a tennis rebounder to help you gain skill with a wider variety of shots. Once you have gained more experience, you could also start thinking about a ball machine. Keen to improve basic techniques quickly? A topspin aid is an essential investment for anyone serious about doing well on the court.
GHB Pro Agility Ladder Agility Training Ladder Speed 12 Rung 20ft with Carrying Bag
The GHB Agility Ladder is a great training tool for tennis players looking to improve their general fitness and footwork speed. With this training ladder you will be running rings around your opposition on court!
The ladder itself comes with 12 durable rungs and is a solid 20 feet long in total. With this training aid tool you will have plenty of space and rungs to help work on your footwork and fitness meaning you will be in tip top shape on the tennis court.
The rungs are also adjustable meaning you can adjust the nylon straps to best suit your work-out and drill demands. You can easily change the difficulty of the drill you are working on meaning you can always keep it challenging as you progress.
The training ladder itself is very portable – you can easily fit the whole contraption into an easy-to-use carrying bag making it very convenient and easy to train anywhere, be it a park, tennis court or even your own back-garden.
The training ladder will help you perform easy-to-do exercise that will help work on your speed, leg strength and balance. With this piece of training equipment you will be able to take your tennis to the next level!
Bushnell Velocity Speed Gun
The Bushnell Velocity Speed Gun is an amazing easy to use tool that will help you measure your serve and shot speed. With this gun you will be able to make those all-important little tweaks to your serve and general game with a precise reading on how much you are improving!
The speed gun is super precise. It can track the speed of a ball up to a solid 10 feet away and can measure speeds of up to 110 MPH! The reading is also guaranteed to an accuracy of +/- 1.0 MPH – talk about quality.
The gun is really simple to use. You just point it at your target, pull the trigger and voila you have your reading – it is as easy as that. The reading appears on a large LCD screen, nice and easy to use.
The display will show the fastest time once the trigger has been released so you know you are getting the best reading with this machine.
On top of this, you will be getting a 2 year warranty with this machine – a great bonus.
All in all a great easy to use machine that will help you measure how fast you are hitting your shots – great for improving your serve speed!
TopspinPro – Tennis Training Aid, Learn Topspin in 2 Minutes a Day
The TopspinPro is a great tennis aid designed to teach beginner and some intermediate players how to hit a topspin shot just like the pros.
When professional players hit perfect topspin shots, they keep their tennis racket at the same tilted forwards angle whilst they play their shots. The TopspinPro is specially designed to help guide you to strike the ball the same way, helping you play the perfect topspin shot. The specially designed mesh screen is made to help you find this perfect angle to hit the ball at.
When you play a topspin shot you stroke the ball as opposed to hitting through it. The topspin pro is mounted on a spring-loaded spindle to help you develop the feeling on how to strike the ball in this way to play the perfect shot.
The TopspinPro also has an adjustable height meaning it is perfect for players of all ages and sizes. A junior player can just as easily use this machine as a taller, more senior player.
This is a really cool tennis aid which can help ingrain the correct technique and stroke on how to play a topspin shot to muscle memory.
Sportneer Wrist Strengthener Forearm Exerciser Hand Developer Strength Trainer for Athletes, Fitness Enthusiasts, Professionals
The Sportneer Wrist Strengthener is a great tool for all tennis players, whether you are a beginner coming to grips with the game or you are a more advanced player. Increased wrist strength helps with control of the tennis racket, increased grip strength and reduces the chance of injury.
The wrist exerciser is great for strengthening muscles. The apparatus is specially designed to increase strength, power and speed in your wrists, fingers and forearms heping you have that extra edge in your game.
To note, the minimum tension is 8kg and we recommend using this tension to start off with at first to test the system and avoid injury and ease into the exercise.
The design is adjustable meaning you can do regular and reverse curls with the pad and it is built for quality and comfort. The strengthener is made from sturdy carbon and steel and steel springs so you know it is going to last. There is also a 10mm foam stabiliser provided which helps cushion your hands as you perform the exercise making sure you’re at the most comfortable when performing the exercises.
The strengthener is very portable and you can take it anywhere you like to perform the exercises. It will easily fit in a gym or tennis bag.
All in all, this is a great tool to help take your tennis game to the next level, helping you have that extra edge on court!
SKLZ Recoil 360 Dynamic Resistance Training Belt
The SKLZ Recoil 360 Dynamic Resistance Training Belt is a great tool for a tennis player looking to work on their power, dynamism and athleticism for that extra edge on court.
The training belt helps you improve your strength, speed and power in your movement, definitely helping you develop your tennis game to the next level. The adjustable belt has a unique design with a free-motion ring meaning you can perform resistance training at all angles which is a great way to imitate movement on a tennis court in all directions.
The belt is very versatile, you can run your own drills or work with a coach or fellow player. The training belt and elastic material is very durable and touch meaning you definitely will be buying something to last.
Then apparatus are designed to increase in resistance as you stretch and push yourself further ranging from 8 pounds of resistance up until 50 pounds. The belt has a difficulty level for everyone helping athletes of all levels achieve their goals and push themselves to the next level.
All in all, a great training aid for a serious tennis player looking to progress to the next level.
20ft Agility Ladder & Speed Cones Training Set – Exercise Workout Equipment To Boost Fitness & Increase Quick Footwork – With Carry Bag & Drill Charts
The agility ladder and training cones are a great work-out tool for tennis players looking to get fit and develop an extra competitive advantage on the tennis court.
The training ladder and cones will help you set up drills and exercises to develop your muscles and help provide that extra dynamism and speed on court.
The ladder comes with 2 heavy duty 19,6 feet nylon straps parallel to each with 12 adjustable rungs attached to them. You can change the distance between the rungs to make the drills easier or harder for yourself depending on your skill level helping you return to the tennis court in prime condition.
The ladder comes with a wall chart which will help showing you different drills you can perform for all skill levels which is a great bonus for beginners looking for some guidance on how to progress.
The agility ladder and speed cones are a great exercise and work-out equipment for tennis players of all levels as you work on your foot-work and speed whilst performing a great work-out in the process.
Flybomb Portable Tennis Trainer 2.05LB Weight Heavy Iron Base Tennis Training Tool Exercise Tennis Ball Sports Self-Study Rebound Ball Baseboard Sparring Device
The Flybomb portable tennis trainer is a fun to use tennis training exercise tool to help beginners get an eye for the ball and more advanced players get a feel for hitting a tennis ball as a warm up exercise or light practice.
The apparatus weighs 2.05 LB and is really easy and convenient to use straight out of the packet. You just have to make sure the string is attached to the weight and hey presto, you are good to go!
The whole apparatus is only slightly bigger than a tennis ball. It is super small and easy to carry and store making it very, very convenient to use. It is also light enough to carry around yet heavy enough to practice with.
The FLybomb also has a special anti-winding design which makes it great to use out in the open or on the tennis court.
To summarize, the Flybomb is a great and fun to use tool for beginners to help get an eye for the tennis ball and more advanced players to practice and get a feel for the game.
