Solo Dink Touch
Why this drill
Dink touch is a dosage problem — the shot needs thousands of identical soft lifts, and a partner isn't always there. Self-fed dinks over a real net at kitchen targets deliver the volume with nobody to schedule.
Setup
A court with a net and a bucket of balls at the non-volley-zone line. A towel in the cross-court kitchen as the target; a second towel straight ahead if you have one.
The drill
Stand at the kitchen line, drop-feed a gentle bounce, and dink cross-court at the towel. Ten forehands, ten backhands, then ten alternating — reset your feet and posture between every ball, since without a rally there's no excuse for lazy setup. Count towel-zone hits: twelve of thirty to start, twenty when it's strong. Then move the target: ten dinks straight ahead, which is a shorter, riskier ball, and feel how the lift shortens. Collect, repeat. Every ball should peak on your side of the net — watch each apex, because that's the feedback a partner's paddle usually hides.
One thought to take on court
Same gentle lift every time — you're grooving one stroke, not auditioning ten.