The junior tennis skills checklist.

A tennis player is not one thing. They are seven things, working together — and a weakness in any one pillar shows up in matches whether the others are sharp or not. The seven pillars Forge uses:

• Serve — first and second, placement and pressure.
• Return — the opposite half of the rally that decides most points.
• Forehand — the engine groundstroke.
• Backhand — the side opponents test first.
• Movement — footwork, recovery, court coverage.
• Tactical — shot selection, point construction, scoreboard awareness.
• Mental — composure, routines, the player who shows up.

The skills below are the layer underneath the pillars — the actual things a junior can train, grade, and watch progress on. This is the list to keep in front of you while you plan a training block.

• First-serve placement — wide, body, T from both sides.
• First-serve weight — pace + spin in combination, not max pace.
• Second-serve depth — past the service line consistently.
• Second-serve spin — kick or slice; not a flat push.
• Toss — repeatable, located, holding up in wind.
• Serve +1 pattern — what you do with the next ball.

Mastery in the serve pillar is not "I can hit a big first serve." It is "my second serve is a weapon I can rely on every point" — because the second serve, not the first, is the one that decides whether the serve is an asset or a tax.

• First-serve return placement — deep middle as the safe default; cross-court angle on weaker first serves.
• Second-serve return aggression — stepping in, attacking the short ball.
• Return position — chosen for the server's pattern, not by habit.
• Return-and-one — what you do after a deep return that neutralizes.
• Reading the toss — picking up the spin and placement before the ball is struck.

Return points won is the single best predictor of who the better player is across a match. Most juniors train it least.

• Cross-court rally tolerance — twenty balls in the court without short ones.
• Inside-out forehand — running around the backhand to redirect.
• Forehand on the run — recovering after a wide ball.
• Short-ball putaway — the ball you stepped in for, not pushed back.
• Heavy topspin — high-shoulder finish, real net clearance.
• Forehand return — distinct from groundstroke; less swing, earlier contact.

• Two-handed (or one-handed) drive — clean contact, repeatable depth.
• Slice backhand — controlled, low, used purposefully not as a bail-out.
• Defensive backhand — high ball, deep ball, what you do under pressure.
• Backhand down the line — the shot that opens the court.
• Backhand return — block versus drive; situation-dependent.

Opponents will test the backhand first. If the slice is honest and the drive is reliable, the backhand stops being an exploitable side and starts being a tool.

• Split-step timing — every shot the opponent hits.
• First-step explosiveness — out of the split, in the right direction.
• Recovery — to the center of the angles, not the center of the court.
• Open-stance footwork — both wings, on the run.
• Defensive sliding — on hard courts and clay.
• Movement late in the third — what your legs look like when you are tired.

• Pattern selection — knowing two or three patterns you can run in any match.
• Shot selection under pressure — not always going for more.
• Reading the opponent — what they don't like.
• Scoreboard awareness — playing big points differently from small ones.
• Adjusting mid-match — when the plan is not working.

Tactical mastery is not a stroke; it is a habit of thought. Building it is mostly done in match notes, watching back, and coach conversations — not in repetition drills.

• Between-point routine — repeatable, calming, time-honest.
• Composure under pressure — voice, posture, breathing at 4-all in a third.
• Recovering from a bad game — the next point, not the last one.
• Closing — serving for the set or the match.
• Identity — the practice player showing up.

Three uses:

• Self-assess. Run down the list and grade each line: working, competent, sharp. Be honest. The ones that score low at the bottom of the pillar you most rely on are your live edges.
• Have the coach conversation. Take the list to your coach and ask which three lines they would prioritize for the next block.
• Build the plan. Translate the three priorities into the training block structure. Each priority becomes a drill cluster with measurable targets.

In Forge, this same list lives behind the Skills surface — you grade each skill inside the app, the gaps feed the training plan, and the plan walks you through drills sized for each. The list is the same either way. The advantage of the app is that the grading and the plan and the drills and the match results are all connected, so the picture stays current without you having to maintain it by hand.