As our players become more proficient in their strokes, and at the end of the year tournament, we have them play points, games and matches on youth-sized tennis courts. Generally this means, court sizes of 36' x 18' for kids under 8 and 60' x 21' for kids over 9.
Sometimes the older or more advanced youth athletes dislike playing on such a small court. They want to move up to the adult-size court so they can really whack the ball around. But there is much to gain from practicing on a small court -- so much that even the pros do it!
Check out this short video of Novak Djokovic rallying with Dusan Vemic in 2011 on a small court. They get in 68 hits before stopping!