Doubles Strategies

Lately at Seminole High Performance we've been working on a lot of doubles skills, and it amazing many of us coaches how simple the game of doubles is when you're off the court. If I knew that doubles was so easy when I was actually playing, I would be undefeated! But seriously, there are things that may seem very easy for coaches to note that isn't so easy to accomplish when you're actually playing.

Take, for example, the poach. Poaching is a.) when you boil an cracked egg in water and b.) when move across the court as a volley to hit a shot on the other side of the court. You may remember me saying this in a previous blog, but the word poaching also can mean stalking your prey. This translates nicely to poaching in doubles; the idea is to be stealthy and unseen by your, if you will, "prey" (or opponent). Poaching requires a few things, one of which is guts. It's scary, I admit it. But, if you wait to the moment when your opponent is contacting the ball, and you notice that this said ball is traveling up and not straight, take advantage of this moment and commit to the poach, 100%. I found when I was playing that if I told my partner that I would poach it made me feel obligated and thus more likely to actually move. It also helps to practice poaching. The most important thing to remember is to cut the ball off moving forward, not sideways. You'll want to aim either short to the side where the opponent is on the baseline or straight through the middle. If you hit it at the volleyer, and they are ready for it, you should be expected an equally hard shot back at you, so be ready.

Now let's talk serve. There's a rumor going around the tennis world that we need to stop. You DO NOT need a huge serve to win a doubles match. While it would be great if you were above 6 feet tall and had a bomb serve, it's not necessary to win. At times, if you're serving against a good returner, you might even want to avoid a hard flat serve. By serving hard and flat, especially to a returner who knows how to counter-punch, the return can be equally as hard. If you kick your serve in, you have the chance to both a.) get a more defensive shot back as a kick serve is not easy to be aggressive off of (granted, if you know how to kick a serve in) and b.) get to the net. Speaking of which...

Doubles, the majority of the time, is a game of aggression. This is in the sense that whoever is most aggressive will win. This aggression is in the sense of getting your butts to the net. The people at the net more often are putting themselves in a more aggressive position, thus being more likely to win. Very simple. Just act as if you are semi-permanately glued to your partner, so if they shuttle to the net, you better be going with them. :)

More strategy stuff to come!!