Keep Things Simple For Doubles Success

Not only is playing doubles fun but it is also a great way to ensure that your singles game will improve. However, the improvement will be limited if you and your partner keep exiting the draw sooner than you should. Because of the dimensions and characteristics of the game, doubles require a different approach than singles. It is not so much about beauty or protracted tactics but about aggressivess and subtle strategy. Think: percentages. 

Here are some tips to help you and your partner win more matches (remember: the more doubles matches you win, the better of a player - doubles AND singles - you will become): 

1. OUTSIDE/OUTSIDE; INSIDE/INSIDE ("OO-II"): This generally means that the net player should cover the spot that is hit by his partner. For example, if the partner hits the ball towards the outside of the court (e.g., into the doubles alley), the netman should cover the line. If the partner hits the ball into the center of the court, the netman should move to cover more of the middle. OO-II will reduce the possibility that the opponent will hit the ball "BY" you. In other words, by covering the line (outside) or center (inside), the opponent will be forced to hit a shot that crosses in front of the netman - giving him the opportunity to pick away some volleys. If the netman's partner hits the ball "outside" and the netman covers the middle (inside), the opponent has a clear target down the line where he could hit the passing shot. In the same vein, limit the number of times you cross on your partner's out-wide serve. If, on the deuce side, your partner slices the serve out wide and the netman crosses, the returner will be able to burn a down the line return without an obstacle in the way. If the netman holds his ground on the outwide serve, the returner will be forced to take that serve in the middle of the court - hard to do with a netman in the way who is ready to cherry-pick any timid replies. 

2. THUMP-HIGH; STICK-NET; DROP-LOW: Inexperienced players tend to overcomplicate the volleys. Sometimes, I see players trying to drop-volley balls on top of the net or hammer balls below the net. Then these players get frustrated when their shot selection doesn't pan out. The great doubles players keep things extremely simple. The pace of the game is too quick to experiment with elaborate plays. So, when faced with a volley, remember the following: A) Balls that are "on top" of the net (2 feet or more) should be hammered down - preferably at an angle. Try to drop volley these, and the gravity will make the ball bounce high thereby enabling the opponents to get to the ball. Take away this possibility and just thump the ball out of your opponents' reach; B) Stick deep volleys that are net level (net level - approx. 2 feet). Balls that are net-height are more difficult to be angled away or drop-volleyed. Therefore, stick them deep and look for the opportunity on the next shot. Treat these balls as set-up shots. C) Drop-volley balls that are below the net. If you're close to the net and the opponent's shot has dipped below the net, try to drop volley the ball. A good drop volley will cause the opponent to pop up a response which you and your partner should put away. If you're farther away from the net, stick these volleys deep and transition your way to the net, however, from close up, the angle over the net is far too steep to do anything but try to drop volley the shot. 

3. GIVE YOURSELF A LIMIT: Too many times, players tend to rally cross-court from the baseline without rhyme or reason. Doubles is about percentages. The first team to get to the net usually wins the point. Therefore, if you're a singles player who uses the same strategy (consistency) in doubles force yourself to become more aggressive; take some chances. Tell yourself (and your partner) that on the 3rd (or 4th, or 5th...) shot you're coming in "come hell or high water". This mentality will assist you in becoming a more proactive doubles player. If you KNOW that you have to be in on the 4th shot, your 1st, 2nd and 3rd shots will be more and more aggressive. In other words, instead of passively waiting for something to happen, you will start making things happen. In the beginning, you will struggle with this mentality...it's something new. You certainly wouldn't come in off some of these shots in singles. However, the psychological implications of doubles (quciker pace; your partner assisting you) as well as the court characteristics make it very attractive to come in even on balls that would be considered high-risk in singles. Once you become proficient at coming in off a variety of balls, covering the ground and making shoelace level pick-ups, your singles game will improve along with your doubles game.

4. KEEP THE NET-PERSON HONEST: Once a game (at least), you and your partner should decide to take a return down the line towards the net person. Before the game starts, talk to your partner and decide which one of you will - even if the opening isn't really there - take the return right towards the net-persons head. Sow the seeds of doubt by making the net person volley even if she's not looking to volley on that particular play. Keep her honest and send the message that you're not afraid to go down the line. By picking a target in advance, you will hit a much more solid return than you would had you tried to change direction after the net-person signals that she's moving. Chances are that a good down the line return will cause the net player to miss eliciting "I'm sorry" or "my bad" apologies. Do this enough times, and it's likely that the player will retreat to her shell not wanting to touch any more volleys out of fear of letting down her partner. This is exactly what you want: one player (preferably both) to completely disengage from the game. When your opponents are split by doubt and communication breaks down, your chances of success in doubles will improve dramatically.

Steal This Drill: Confusing The Feet

One of my goals as a coach is to confuse the feet and make it unpredictable like it were match.  One way of accomplishing that is to feed the ball in a way (bounce ball) that makes them feel uncomfortable.  Just like in a match, you don't know what is coming.  Nobody knows, so you gotta be on alert.  This drill forces you to be quick, ready to dance, ready to pounce on an unpredictable ball to the open court.  The bounce ball off a live ball creates a heavy ball, one that is bouncing away from the player OR into the player- this requires impeccable footwork to hit a penetrating ball into the open court.  In this drill I am rather tame, but you can ratchet up the intensity by feeding the first ball deep after she was short in the court, forcing her to move up and back more visciously.  She must let the first ball drop.  

A good way to know if you are training a softie (one who needs things to be perfect) is to whip out this drill. The softie wants to be fed out of the basket, talk about the technical ins and outs of the forehand follow through, as if that were the main issue.  The tough cookies get up to the challenge, try to manhandle the ball before the spin takes a hold of them.  Tennis is extremely unpredictable!  The ball is never where you want it or expect it, so from a mental standpoint, this is a great drill.  Different strokes for different folks, so the goal is to work on your footwork and be accurate with the ball, however that works for you.  Coordination is a very personal thing.  

This variation is called "One To Me, One Away."  Be creative, you can have a player hit 10 balls in a row to you where you mix up bounce balls or regular volleys.  Again, the theme is to confuse their feet, see if they can be speedy around the court, like a CountryWide Mortgage Officer closing a deal on a 26 year old with bad credit.  

4 Practice Tricks For A Better Serve

Although the serve has many moving parts leading to a breakdown of the serve during the match, the mistake can usually be attributed to one of three components: (a) TOSS; (b) BALANCE; and (c) LEG DRIVE. Besides practicing inordinate amounts of serve, here are four tricks that you can use to solidify your grasp of these concepts.

1. Use a half-filled water bottle to practice tosses. Unless you have a calm toss, the water inside the bottle will cause it to wobble and move around. Instead of "tossing" the ball/bottle, practice putting it up in the air so that you can catch it in the same spot where you release it. 

2. Toss the ball against the fence and "catch" it between the racket and the fence. For training the proper contact point and proper arm extension, stand facing the back fence (about 2 feet away) and toss the ball slightly forward into the fence. Swing the racket towards the ball and see if you can trap the ball between the string bed and fence at full arm extension. 

 

3. Use "leg-cuffs" for teaching your hind foot to lock in position alongside the front foot. A lot of players who bring their back-foot forward (as opposed to serving off both feet - e.g. Federer) tend to overshoot the stopping point causing their hind foot to go in front of the front foot. This causes the hips (and, consequently, the chest) to rotate prematurely. Train your hind foot to "lock" into the proper position by using elastic/rubber leg-cuffs (generally used for speed work) which pull the feet close together without allowing the hind foot to swing forward out of control. 

EXAMPLE: Elena Bovina demonstrates the bottle toss and leg-cuff practice. 

4. Use a 2" x 4" piece of wood to train leg power. Place the piece of wood on top of the baseline and try jumping over it as ou serve. Proper knee bend and explosiveness will cause you to propel over the obstacle and land into the court. If you clip the obstacle with your toes it means your serve is lacking leg drive and, most likely, that you are "arming" the serve. Distribute power along all muscle groups from the ground up and your serve will maintain "pop" throughout the match. A lot of players start out the match ripping the serve with only their shoulder muscles. However, these muscles are normally very small and tire easily. Accordingly, the serve will invariably start breaking down as the match progresses. By recruiting more muscle groups for this stroke, you will be able to maintain a proper stroke for a longer period of time

Practice Aikido For Better Returning

From a purely theoretical point of view, the role of aggressor is saddled upon the server and the defender is on the returner. This, of course, is not always the case. Some players would certainly rather choose to return than serve. However, these players are few and far between. For the most part, moderate level to advanced players would like their chances if they were to serve the entire set rather than receive. Therefore, when it's your turn to receive, you will be better served by shifting the emphasis away from low percentage shots or focusing too much on your opponent's strengths to exploiting angles and creating a physical imbalance in your opponent's positioning.

In this regard, learn and implement the rules of Aikido or Jiu Jitsu. Aikido is a martial art that has been synthesized from various fighting techniques and which is focused on using the opponent's energy and movement to gain control of them. So, for example, rather than blocking a punch or merely dodging a kick, the Aikido master uses the aggressor's movement to dynamically throwing or spinning him out of control. These same lessons can be applied when returning a serve. Often times, the returner is so obsessed with avoiding the opponent's groundstroke weapon that she either tries to overhit the return or block the serve back towards the "weaker" wing of the server. However, this plays right into the server's hand. By overhitting - and presumably missing - you will have handed the opponent an easy point. By blocking the ball towards the opponent's weakness you are giving him a chance to execute an easy shot and, thereby, gain some confidence (something that will end up costing you in a crucial point down the road). In other words, avoid giving the opponent too much belief in herself by playing low-percentage shots.

From a practical point of view, take for example your "standard", right handed player. Her forehand groundstroke may be lights out. For this reason, you may be tempted - on the deuce side - to return towards her backhand. This could be a smart play if the serve comes to your backhand (I.e., down the T) where your return would be somewhat cross-court and, following the return, you will find yourself on the baseline T. However, if the serve comes to your forehand, a safer bet would be to aim cross-court (I.e., to her "weapon"). Hitting cross court will not only provide you with more court to hit (distance is longer) but the net is also lower. Furthermore, the opponent's momentum (which usually follows the trajectory of the ball, may prevent her from effectively stopping, loading up and unleashing off her weapon. Execute it correctly, and now you have her weaker side exposed. Conversely, if she serves down the T, her momentum usually goes forward and a backhand return down the line (I.e., to her backhand) may also prevent her from changing direction in time and hitting a pressing shot.

So, when in a tight spot while returning, think "balance and angles"; don't get obsessed by weapons. Weapons require time to set up. Take your opponent off-balance and knock him out with his own movement.

Steal This Drill: Russian Warm-Up Drill

Are you the type of player who jumps straight into baseline-to-baseline rallies only to find yourself searching for rhythm and feel 15 minutes into the workout? If so, look to warm up your arms, feet and eyes by first rallying up-close with your practice partner (i.e., service line to service line). You will see and feel the ball gradually and then you can back up to the baseline. However, before jumping straight into a baseline slugfest, see if you can master this following warm-up drill (we call it "The Russian Warm Drill" because it has been brought to our attention by Ms. Elena Bovina). 

In this drill, two players rally from their respective service lines. After a few strokes, one of the players backs up towards his or her baseline. The player who reaches the baseline first must still aim her shots inside of the practice partner's service line; conversely, the service line player must punch his groundstrokes from inside the service line to just inside of the opposing baseline. After a few strokes, the service line player starts retreating towards his own baseline while the initial baseline player proceeds to move forward. The key to this drill is to keep the distance between the players constant so that neither has to step too far and too fast backwards or forwards to retrieve the practice partner's shot. This drill is great for practicing touch, dipping shots and also punching half-volleys deep. 

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