Machine Lobs
Why this drill
Nobody's partner wants to lob for twenty minutes — the machine will. High feed after high feed for the drop-step, the tracking run, and the controlled overhead, until the footwork is automatic instead of athletic.
Setup
Machine at the opposite non-volley-zone line, set to a high lofted feed landing between mid-court and your baseline, generous interval. You start at your kitchen line, as if mid-rally.
The drill
Each feed is a lob over your position: drop-step, turn sideways, and track back — never a square backpedal — then make the match choice out loud: "smash" on a reachable ball, hit the controlled overhead to a called half; "bounce" on a deep one, let it drop and send a high reset back. Recover to the kitchen line before the next feed arrives — the recovery is half the drill. Sets of ten; score overheads that would end a point and resets that would survive one. Three sets, moving the machine's aim (or your start) so lobs come over both shoulders.
One thought to take on court
First move sideways, every time — the overhead you miss backpedaling costs more than the point.