The essential doubles strategy guide – part one
by Doug Browne
Doug Browne and old junior star, Troy Rush - New Smyrna Beach.
As a tennis coach, one of my primary duties is to either coach or view doubles competition several times each week. Over the course of the last few months, I have seen numerous CTA – USTA adult doubles and mixed doubles matches along with several national junior doubles events.
In our new world, the most stunning change in doubles is the emergence of the groundstroke; there is a rise of the one up, one back formation in today’s doubles game. In no way am I saying this trend is what I prefer but it is worth noting as it is so radically different from the early years of the doubles era.
The good news for traditionalists is the best doubles team in the world, the Bryan twins from California prefer the old style; serve and volley and return and try to move in to intimidate their opponents. However, in the modern game it is essential to move into the net with a lethal approach shot or look out!
As noted in earlier articles, the new rackets and strings enable players to hit wicked groundstrokes which may prohibit the net rusher from dominating up close. The key question is: What is the best way to play doubles if the players are at the 2.5, 3.0 or 3.5 levels?
First, let’s examine a few different strategies that teams should explore before hitting the court when they compete on a soft tennis court or a clay court:
- One up/one back formation
- Serve and volley style
- Return and move into the net
- Australian –serving formation
- Serving team plays back/no net play (French Open style)
- Returning team stays back (French Open style)
Tad Connerton 'old school' moving in.
The only way one is able to truly understand which style to pursue is for the player to fully understand their ability level. If I had to pinpoint the real deal-breaker, it is the idea that the player actually understands their exact playing level. In other words, most of our tennis playing population plays at the 3.0 area but unfortunately, most players would rate their ability at the 3.5 or 4.0 levels. Therefore, it may be virtually impossible to know which style to adopt.
The best place to start is with the one up/one back formation as it is easier to adjust to overall. The serving team needs to focus in on hitting a high percentage of first serves – it eliminates most of the pressure. Furthermore, the serving team should avoid the A serve or the alley serve. The bottom line for the server is to hit the ball in areas that may enhance your partner to volley. When the server hits alley placement serves, the net partner must shift to the sidelines to cover the return.
Finally, the serving team, who plays one up, one back is not pressed to run into the net to volley. On the returning side of the tennis court, it is wise to hit most returns crosscourt. Furthermore, the returning team must implement the use of the return lob; it is designed to confuse the serving team and is a high percentage shot for most players. Now, in order to understand the best style for you and your new partner, one must be able to fully grasp two ideas – The team must grasp their strengths and two, must understand and know how to cope with their weaknesses.
For example, if a player understands that she is impatient, it is intelligent to return serve and move into the net. Conversely, if the player is a backcourt star, it is prudent to return and stay near the baseline or no-man’s land region.
As we delve into whether a team is capable of the Australian or French Open formations, we must continue to examine of overall capabilities. As we continue to explore what is best for you, please give me your best shot – be truthful about your on-court skills. On a daily basis, I work with some of the most talented coaches in the game and if our students are completely accurate with their game assessments, they will undoubtedly improve quickly. I guarantee it! The essential doubles strategy guide part two – next time. Good luck.
When will Serena come to the circle?
My old tennis psychologist friend, Dr. Jim Loer, first described the circle of responsible to me almost 25 years ago in New York City at a tennis party featuring Patty McGuire Connors. In simple terms, he wanted all of his athletes to be fully engaged in their matches and be prepared to stand in the box and take 100% responsibility for their efforts.
As Dr. Loehr broke the circle down, he would explain it this way: If Jim Courier (one of his students at the time) is standing right in the middle of the box, feet inside the boundaries, would describe a hypothetical match in the following terms: I played my heart out today. I moved well, served and returned well but my opponent was just too good on the big points. Congratulations to John Smith and wish him the best for the rest of the tournament.
However, if Jim stands in the box with ONE foot outside the circle, he may describe his loss differently, “I played well today but I thought the opponent got all the breaks today. If he didn’t get those two let cord winners, I clearly would have prevailed. Furthermore, if the player has both feet OUTSIDE the circle or box, he would offer the following in defeat, “Even though I played reasonably well today, I knew that I would lose because I did not sleep well. Moreover, the sun always seemed to shine in my face when I was serving and it was not possible to hold serve.
Other than that, he had more let cord winners than me so what can you expect?” Last, as Jim stood completely out of the circle, literally a hundred feet away, he spun quite a tale about his match exploits after the match, “Oh, my, I wondered why I even laced up my sneakers today as I had not practiced once the entire week leading up to the event. After a horrendous night’s sleep or should I say, two hours at best, I hurried to the match without eating one single morsel of food. Drained, exhausted and lacking any physical or mental energy, I half-way competed for an hour plus before defeat.
Anyone who knows me realizes that it wasn’t my fault and I am certain that I would be him under normal circumstances,” he opined in defeat. As I tuned into the 2010 Australian Open Grand Slam tournament, the announcers ‘teased’ me about their upcoming interview with American tennis star, Serena Williams. Let’s face it, I was all too curious to see if Serena was a changed person after her historic Grand Slam fine involving her meltdown against Kim Clijsters in the Semi-finals of the 2009 US Open. During her post-match news conference in Australian, the following exchange occurred between Serena and one of the tennis writers. “The last time we saw you in a Grand Slam there was that little incident in New York how’s your anger management coming along,” the journalist politely quizzed Serena. “I don’t think it was anger management – was it anger management, how’s your writing coming along,” Serena offered. “Just fine, thank you.” He answered. “Ditto, kiddo.” Serena responded.
Wow, when Serena Williams does not have a prepared statement and when she is basically shooting from the hip, she is rather flippant and disrespectful. Moments later, she sat down with ESPN tennis host Chris McKendry and discussed her incident and eventual fine.
Sadly, she said that felt she received more negative attention and perhaps a heftier fine because she is a woman athlete. Again, ladies and gentlemen, Serena Williams was unwilling to take responsibility for her actions and possible more disturbing she deflected her own accountability by shifting the blame due to her being a female athlete.
Ironically, on the day I am reporting this story, Australian Open viewers were treated to this old sad fact that occurred approximately twenty years ago – “On January 21, 1990, at the Australian Open in Melbourne, American tennis player John McEnroe becomes the first player since 1963 to be disqualified from a Grand Slam tournament for misconduct.”
With temperamental McEnroe literally forge
tting to know the exact default rules, he took his arguments one-step too far and was thrown out. With this old news about John McEnroe’s bad court behavior going too far and was actually defaulted, Serena Williams gender argument just rings shallow and I doubt any tennis fans are buying this weak view by her. Come on, Serena, you more than crossed the line with the lineswoman, learn to take your lumps, apologize and move in.However, when her handlers are involved, she offers the following: (brief sentence of two -"I just really wanted to apologize sincerely, because I'm a very prideful person and I'm a very intense person and a very emotional person,".
Like all of today’s athletes, when someone gets into hot water, they turn to their P.R. machine and try to spin it in a favorable way. When is the modern athlete going to learn that Americans are very forgiving people and only desire our stars to come clean?
Tennis aficionado Chuck Openchowski of Bethesda, Maryland suggested this explanation for Serena Williams, “In no way were my actions on court against Kim Clijsters acceptable. I lost my temper and acted inappropriately and can only blame myself. I have already learned a great deal through this adversity and I have grown tremendously. Please forgive me. Thank you for your kind consideration.”
To me, Mr. Openchowski, once a promising junior tennis star from beautiful Coronado, California and now a weekend warrior tennis nut, wants our athletes to come clean about their actions so we can restore our faith with our favorite players. And, when we see our favorite star tennis players acting without consequence, it clearly trickles down to our local tennis leagues.
As I viewed a recent junior doubles match, I overheard one of the competitors tell his friend, “my partner choked every big point. No wonder we lost the match. Heck, I played great,” the boastful player bragged to him friend in defeat. Darn it, unless people are going to stand up and finally take some responsibility for their performances and admit their own shortcomings, keep expecting more of this boorish behavior.
My dream for any athlete today is to adopt Dr. Jim Loehr’s Circle of Responsibility when they compete in the next tennis match. Whether it is a local CTA tennis player or USTA tournament competitor, I challenge you to have full accountability after the match. Will we see more people willing to stand right in the middle of the circle and telling us the truth? I hope so. I will be waiting.