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Written by John Debnam
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Sunday, 11 March 2007 06:27 |
Doubles is one of the most popular aspects of tennis, from the many recreational leagues in Europe to fast paced international competition.
This article covers three basic ideas that are a must for you all out there to achieve better doubles play
1. TOTAL TEAMWORK
Two players working as a doubles team will often beat two better singles players. Frequently, club doubles becomes, 'two singles players covering each half of the court'. Good teamwork requires three components:
Communication:
Every point must have a plan that both team members are working towards. That plan must be created, and adjusted by both players which requires good and frequent communication. Studies show a direct relationship between a teams' level of play and the frequency of positive communication.
Communication on Serve:
Club Players 14% (1.9 Sec.)
College 78% (3.6 Sec.)
Pros 98% (5.1 Sec.)
Communication on Return:
Club Players 17%
College 58%
Pros 71%
Positioning:
A doubles team cannot cover 100% of the court. A team must position to cover the most probable options in order to dominate on a majority of the points.
Movement:
To maintain dominant positioning and cover the space effectively, both players must move in harmony. The player not hitting the ball is more than just a spectator. Each player must move in constant relation to the other in order to...
2. MASTER THE MIDDLE
'Mastering the Middle' is based on the fact that the majority of balls cross through the centre of the court during a point. Therefore, a doubles team must control the centre of the court to dominate points.
Positioning in order to get balls that may go to less frequent areas (like down the line or lobs) is unproductive. Since a team cannot cover 100% of the court, positioning to cover low percentage areas makes a team less effective at covering the high percentage areas (like the centre of the court). It's not good positioning to never be passed down the line (saving a few shots) if the returner can hit through the middle of the court unpressured all day (setting up many points).
To 'Master the Middle', coming into the net is a required skill. Unlike traditional doubles wisdom however, this system doesn't tell players to blindly, "get to the net". Players and coaches need to know that coming in at the wrong time puts your team at a disadvantage, especially at the club level. When to come in is just as important as how.
By positioning to 'Master the Middle a team will be able to do all the things they hear about but never have success at, like serve & volley, and poaching.
This strategy remains true even when the dreaded lob is factored in. Constantly worrying about the lob puts players on their heels and unable to master the middle. Even the best lobbing teams don't get over 20% of their points from lobs. This system trains players to be deadly on the other 80% while identifying the appropriate times to cover the lob with a skill called...
3. PEG THEIR PATTERNS
Every player hits the ball in repeatable patterns. Every situation will produce certain predictable responses from an opponent. One goal of a doubles team is to 'see what is going on out there' on the court. They need to figure out where opponents are hitting shots and, just as important, where they are not hitting shots. With a few simple anticipation techniques players can find out when opponent's lob or not lob, go down the line or crosscourt, hit hard or go for angles, etc.
With these three steps a team can improve their doubles play tremendously. |
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