H-Drill Test For Tennis | 4.14

A six-ring court agility test that combines baseline side-steps, split-steps, forward sprints, changes of direction, and a backward finish.

H-Drill 4.14: baseline-center start, baseline side contacts, service-T pair and service-line side contacts, then backpedal past baseline.
Illustrated route based on test 4.14 in the tennis book. Positions are schematic; follow the written setup when placing equipment.

Coaching Demonstration

Six-ring H-Drill explanation and athlete demonstration. Follow the written route, ring contacts and timing conditions below when administering test 4.14.

Equipment

Six rubber agility rings and a stopwatch.

How To Perform The Test

  1. Set two rings at the deuce and ad positions along the baseline, two paired rings at the Service T, and one at each service-line/singles-sideline intersection. Use the book diagram and consistent placement on every retest.
  2. Start at the center of the baseline facing the net. Split-step, side-step to the deuce ring, plant the right foot, then travel to the ad ring and plant the left foot.
  3. Return to the baseline center and split-step. Sprint to the paired rings at the Service T and split-step into them.
  4. Sprint to the deuce sideline ring and plant the left foot, cross to the ad sideline ring and plant the right foot, return to the central service-line rings, then backpedal past the baseline.
  5. Time the entire route. The Edition 2 standardized route is 43.89 m. Use consistent recovery between trials and record the protocol used.

Record And Interpret The Result

Record the complete-route time in seconds, the surface, ring spacing, and any missed ring or altered movement. Compare retests under the same setup; the book does not provide a universal pass/fail time.

Pre-Test Warm-Up

Use the book’s pre-test warm-up: High Knee Pulls with Dorsi Flexion, Buttocks Kicks, Straight Leg Kicks, SL RDL & Quad Stretch, and Bilateral Lunge. The Ball-Drop & React Test uses the shorter three-exercise warm-up listed in its book entry.

Related Training

Quick Carioca · Stride Length & Frequency Exercises. Choose training based on the specific movement limitation observed, then retest with the same protocol.

Book Reference

Original test 4.14 H-Drill Test, retained in Chapter 3 (Assessment) of the Second Edition of Advanced Concepts of Strength & Conditioning for Tennis. This illustration is a new schematic of the written protocol, not a recording of an athlete performing the test.

All Fitness Assessments · Advanced Concepts of Strength & Conditioning for Tennis