How to get a faster first step in tennis

Choose the start that gets you there.

Traced from real footage

See it, eight instants at a time.

Every frame is traced from real match footage, so you see the shape of the stroke, not a drawing of an idea.

Djokovic's return, instant 6 of 8 — Djokovic's return: eight instants traced from the footage, frame for frame. Hover or tap to flip; the dot marks contact.

Djokovic's return: eight instants traced from the footage, frame for frame. Hover or tap to flip; the dot marks contact.

Key facts

01
Vuong and colleagues tested four start patterns in 22 male competitive team- and racquet-sport athletes.
Vuong et al., Journal of Human Kinetics, 85, 13–22; DOI 10.2478/hukin-2022-0106
>5m
Counter steps were faster than gravity and pivot steps over 5 m in both directions. For shorter distances, the reported advantage was jab over gravity.
Vuong et al., results
03
The sprint comparison used planned starts. It did not measure anticipation or return-of-serve performance.
Vuong et al., task design
04
In the reviewed Murray practice move, the right shoe settles before the left at the split, followed by a right-foot gather and left-foot placement before the backhand. This is one observed sequence, not a universal starting pattern.
Court Level Tennis, Sinner–Murray practice, upload frames 15740–15900; visual event review, 3 October 2026
05
A separate close-up Djokovic return preserves a hop, visible settling of the feet, an outward placement and a backhand contact. It shows one movement sequence; the slowed upload does not establish real-time duration.
Love Tennis, 4wXKFZJ0WAM; adjacent-frame review recorded in djokovic-start-film.json
25cm
The study found no significant difference between starts at 25 cm. At 50 and 100 cm, jab was faster than gravity. Timing excluded reaction time: shorter endpoints measured centre-of-mass travel, while the 5 m endpoint used sprint timing gates.
Vuong et al., Tables 1–2 and Results, pp. 16 and 19

Why it works

The useful start depends on the direction, distance and stance. A foot can first move away while helping the body organise travel toward the ball.

Cover ground, then adjust your spacing for contact. Count the arrival you wanted, not a universal foot sequence.

A single-camera trace shows projected movement. It cannot measure ground force or real elapsed time without the source capture rate.

The line to say on court
“Judge the arrival, not one footprint.”

Drill: Point and go

12 min · with a partner

Warm up with comfortable lateral movements. Agree two manageable feed areas, one each side. Your partner points to a side while you are ready; move, settle and reset. The cue starts the movement: do not guess a foot sequence.
Complete ten valid ball feeds in an unannounced order: five to each side. Count an arrival when you have room for the intended swing and can recover under control. Keep late, crowded and missed arrivals in the ten; count ball-in results separately. Repeat only feeds outside the agreed areas.
Film the block from behind if possible. Review the start, spacing and recovery together without banning counter-steps. Count left and right subtotals; your score is their total out of ten. A partial block doesn't count toward the number to beat; use the same feeds and conditions next session.

Number to beat9 of 10 balanced arrivals from mixed feeds, five to each side

More drills like this: footwork

Faults and fixes

Judging one footprint

The first foot direction does not describe the whole start.

FixReview hip travel, push-off and arrival together.

Over-running the ball

The final steps do not adjust to the feed.

FixUse smaller adjustments near the chosen contact zone.

Only practising known routes

There is no decision to make about the next ball.

FixProgress from a pointed cue to a variable ball feed.

Questions players ask

Is a step away from the ball always a fault?

No. A counter-step can support an effective start. Judge the movement in context rather than banning its first direction.

Which foot should move first?

The useful sequence depends on the stance and destination. There is no universal instruction to use one pattern for every incoming ball.

How do I know if the drill is improving?

Use comparable feeds and count balanced arrivals with room to swing. This is an authored practice score, not a validated speed test.

What this doesn't cover

The study compared planned lateral sprints in a small mixed-sport male sample. It does not establish one best tennis start. Source event brackets are visual observations; capture timing and calibrated ground contact remain unresolved. The ten-feed arrival count is an authored practice score, not a speed test or a measurement of training benefit.

Sources

Move and reactWhat is a split step in tennis, and when to do itA split step is a small hop you make before every ball, timed so you land around the moment your opponent hits. Start it on their forward swing. The landing pre-stretches your leg muscles like a spring, so you push off harder toward the ball. Land too early and the spring goes slack. Land too late and you're still in the air.Move and reactWhere to recover after your shot in tennisUse the angle bisector as a recovery reference, then adjust for the opponent’s position, likely replies and the time available. The reference depends on which reply lines you include; it is not always toward the same side of the centre mark. Prepare for the next strike instead of chasing a fixed spot through contact.TrainHow to get faster on the tennis courtTrain movement that includes a cue, a stop and a balanced arrival. Young, Dawson and Henry’s 2015 review of invasion sports distinguishes reactive agility from executing a known change of direction. Use a planned test to time yourself, then add partner cues and live balls to practise the tennis decision.Serve and returnHow to return a fast serve: split, read, commitInspect the server before contact, coordinate your split with the strike, then keep reading the ball. In one hard-court study of 12 male experts, first-foot landing averaged 131 ms after contact, second-foot landing 156 ms, and lateral movement 177 ms. These are distinct events and sample means, not universal timing targets.