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Hey everyone, welcome to the show.
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This week I had an interview lined up and it kind of fell through.
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So I am recording this strategy episode for you to honor my word from last week and stay consistent or stay more consistent with the podcast and try to continue to release these weekly episodes.
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So what I've done is I've put together some of my favorite questions that I've had recently from a tennis tribe members and then B a clinic I did a couple of weeks ago with a USTA team that is headed to nationals.
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So we're going to talk about four different topics.
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Number one is how to choose return sides.
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Number two is how do you avoid hitting your partner in the back of the head when you are the server or during a rally?
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And then three and four are my two favorites.
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During a match, how do you focus on your opponents when you're so worried about your own game and watching the ball?
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And then number four is when is it time to change strategies on the doubles court during a match?
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So these are going to be really fun topics.
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I think you're going to learn a lot from this episode.
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And like I said, I wanted to uh get this out to you before the weekend.
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So before I get to topic number one, which is return sides, uh, quick announcements and updates on the doubles camps and rally trips.
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So the Dallas Fort Worth Doubles camp, October 24th and 25th, it only has eight spots available, and only three of those are left.
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So this is a very personalized camp.
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You're going to spend eight hours on the court with me.
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We're going to do a strategy presentation.
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Lunch is included.
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There's some really cool player gifts that you're going to get as well.
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And it's very personalized.
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So I'm going to be filming your play on the court.
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We're going to be analyzing some of your strokes.
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And by the end of it, I'm going to be able to share with you some of the best tactics and strategies you can use once you go back home and start playing in your league again.
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And then also drills you can use when you go back home to continue to improve your game.
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So this is going to be very different than any clinic or camp that you've done before.
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Also, I have a camp coming up in Miami, November 14th and 15th.
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I've talked about that as well.
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We've got a morning group with only two spots remaining.
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And then the afternoon group is a little more open.
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We've had, I think, four or five people sign up so far.
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So we've got maybe 10 to 12 spots left.
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I will link to all of this in the show notes, which includes a detailed agenda of each camp and then also recommended hotels if you are traveling from out of town.
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And then the rally trips.
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We've partnered with the Dallas Open actually to create four different options for you.
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So three of those options are one night, two-day trips, and then there is a weekend option that is three days and three nights.
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And you're going to do some tennis drills with me.
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I'll do a strategy presentation, and then we go to the Dallas Open.
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And this is different than anything we've done before because we've partnered with the tournament itself.
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We're going to be sitting in a VIP suite that is all-inclusive, food and beverage, including alcohol, on center court.
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So this is going to be a really cool trip.
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And the hotel is walking distance from the tournament.
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And it's a fun area with uh restaurants and shopping and all that sort of stuff, um, all within walking distance.
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So I'm going to link to that in the show notes as well.
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If you want to do a shorter two-day, one-night stay, that's great.
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If you want the more extended rally trip, that is an option as well.
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So I'm going to link to all that in the show notes.
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I hope that some of you can join me.
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Um, these in-person events have become, like I've said in the past, a big part of what Tennis Tribe does.
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And honestly, I get a ton of joy out of them because I love spending time.
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Um, I love spending time behind the microphone talking to all of you, but I also love meeting you in person and interacting uh in person and um getting to work with you kind of hands-on so that we can um continue to improve your doubles game and have fun watching the best doubles teams and tennis players in the world.
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So let's dive in.
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Return sides.
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This is a really big topic.
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It's something I've covered in the past, but um, you know, with all of my lessons, I'm constantly kind of
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tweaking my language and changing my mind on stuff.
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So um it's been a while since I've covered this and I wanted to talk about it again.
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So recently I was working with a USTA team that is headed to nationals.
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Some of the teams were asking me, you know, we're not sure which side we should return on.
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So sometimes the return side you choose doesn't make a huge difference.
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If both of you are solid from both sides, you don't have any glaring weaknesses in terms of forehands and backhands, uh, whether that's at the net or ground strokes, then it may not matter a whole lot which side you return from.
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But that's typically not the case in club level doubles.
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So one of the things that I think is underrated or underconsidered perhaps is the volley.
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So we're talking about return sides, and you wouldn't think, okay, why does the volley matter?
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We're talking about returns, right?
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The reason the volley matters is during the point, if you are at the net and you have your weak volley in the middle of the court, your partner has to win the point by themselves.
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So if you're the returner's partner and you're not getting involved in the point on a consistent basis, then you need to change something and you need to uh probably switch return sides to get your stronger volley in the middle of the court.
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So, what does that look like?
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For these teams, I try to divide them up into a baseline player with a net player.
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Um, one of the best WA teams to study who does this really well is Paulini and Arani.
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Sarah, Arani, Jasmine, Paulini.
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Um, Paulini hasn't been playing as much doubles recently, but I've done a lot of lessons on them.
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And Arani is the role of the net player for this team.
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And then Paulini is the role of the baseline player for their team.
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And they do a really good job of using different formations and setting up through their just return sides to get into their ideal positions, which is Arani at the net in the ad court with her forehand volley in the middle, and Paulini at the baseline in the deuce court rallying with her forehand to set up Arani.
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So that is how I try to set up a lot of my club level doubles teams.
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I figure out, okay, who's my baseline player?
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I'm gonna put you on the deuce side, and then who's my net player?
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I'm gonna put you on the ad side so that you have your forehand volley in the middle, and you can clean up any weak balls from the opposing baseline player.
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Now, there's exceptions to this, right?
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What if you have a lefty on the court?
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What if you like your backhand volley more than your forehand volley?
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In that case, you want to maybe play the deuce side.
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So the key with this is to just consider what volley you have in the middle.
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If one of you has a volley that you absolutely hate, I would try to make sure that that's not in the middle.
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Now, having said all that, prioritize making returns, right?
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If you are trying to get your stronger volley in the middle, so you're going to play the ad side, but you just can't make a return from the ad side, then it doesn't help, right?
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Because you're losing all your return points.
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So we are still going to prioritize making returns, but at the club level, I find most of us, unless you're getting to a higher and higher level, probably four or five plus, most of us can return from both sides.
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If you hate your backhand return, you can still return from the add side.
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Just shift it a little bit to your left and hit more forehands, right?
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If you want to hit more backhands, you can hit return from the due side by shifting to your right.
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So adjusting your court position will allow you to hit more of your favorite shot.
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But again, I want to consider that volley because I want you winning these return points as a team.
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The baseline player shouldn't be winning these points on their own.
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That's not a very good double strategy.
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We want to win these points as a team.
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And that net player needs to be involved.
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So think about that when you're talking about um or trying to figure out return sides uh with your next doubles partner.
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So, next question: when the server's partner is moving more towards the center of the court while at the net, how do you avoid hitting him in the back of the head or his back on serve?
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So this is uh a little bit of a different question.
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Um, it sounds like the server is having trouble um getting the ball past their uh partner at the net, right?
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So this doesn't seem like a movement thing, it seems more like a positioning thing to me.
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Um the server's partner should not start moving towards the middle before the ball
crosses the net, right?
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Um so if you think about it, I toss the ball, I hit my serve, the ball crosses the net.
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When the ball crosses the net, then the server's partner will start their movement either towards the middle or towards the double sally, um, depending on which play was called.
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Hopefully you're moving towards the middle a bit more.
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But what about if their position is closer to the middle of the court?
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This actually happened a couple weeks ago with that same USTA team.
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One of the players was worried about getting hit, so she stood way over by the double sally.
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And there's two things I would say.
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Number one is duck.
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Um, pretty simple.
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But if you need to get down on a knee or in a crouched position or kind of into a squat to duck and avoid your partner uh hitting you in the back of the head, do that.
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You'll see the pros do it when they use eye formation, right?
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They try to stay really low.
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Um, the second thing is sometimes you just get hit in the back.
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And how important is this match to you?
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Is it more important that you don't get hit in the back of the head or is it more important that you win the match?
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And that's something I asked um this lady that was headed to nationals.
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I said, is it more important that you win nationals or that you avoid getting hit in the back?
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And it's an honest question.
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If she just doesn't want to get hit in the back and it's not worth it, then continue that tactic of staying closer to the sideline, and you're going to be less likely to win nationals, right?
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You're going to be less likely to win that match because you're positioning yourself out of the play.
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To poach from there, you have to move so early that you're going to leave the line open and not disguise your poach, which I've talked about in the past.
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So the other thing you have to think about is timing with this, right?
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So the timing of the movement of the net player is the crucial thing here.
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So they've got to time it with the opponent's swing, not with anything else, right?
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With the opponent's movement, body language, and swing.
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That's how you're timing your poach.
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So based on their swing, you shouldn't be moving before your partner hits.
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And if you are moving towards the middle and the ball's behind you, again, you need a duck.
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So a little bit of a different question.
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Hopefully that answers the question.
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Um, for uh, this was from a tennis tribe member, I believe.
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Um, but if you have more questions about that, definitely reach out to me.
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So, next, these are the last two, and I I love these questions.
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Um, the first one, during a match, I find it hard to think about how my opponents are playing as I'm focusing on my own game and watching the ball.
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Do you have any tips for this?
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Okay, so the first thing you can do is start to study doubles teams from the sidelines.
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So if you show up to your match early and you're stretching on the side and getting warmed up, watch one of the doubles matches.
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Even if it's people you don't know, it doesn't matter who it is, watch one of the doubles matches and study one of the teams and ask yourself, how would I beat them?
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How would I serve that player?
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How would I try to return to avoid that net player?
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Um, what are they doing well?
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What are their weaknesses?
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And as you start to work that muscle from the sidelines, because it is a lot easier to do this from the sideline or from behind the fence, then you'll be able to implement it on the court a bit easier.
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So I would start there.
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And then once you're on the court, one of the things that that you asked or you mentioned is I'm focusing on my game and watching the ball.
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So too many of us, and we talked about this last week, too many of us watch the ball too much.
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When you're off the ball, and that is when your partner is hitting, you should not be watching the ball.
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You should be watching the opponents, right?
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So this is one of the big things about playing at the net.
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But even if you're at the baseline and your partner is hitting, you shouldn't be watching the ball.
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Your partner's got it.
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Watch the opponents, and that is going to give you a lot of information as to where they like to move based on what's going on during the point, right?
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And that'll give you everything you need to know about your movement and your shot selection and what you should be doing.
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And you can communicate that with your partner.
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So don't watch the ball too often.
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You're only watching it when it's coming at you.
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Okay, when it comes off the opponent's rackets and it's your ball, it's coming at you.
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And then the last thing I would say, again, when we're out on the doubles court, we are so focused on ourselves.
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We really want to play well, we don't want to let our partner down, we want to win the match.
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And ironically, having that mentality makes you less likely to win.
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Because if you're going to be a good doubles player, if you're going to be a successful doubles player strategically, you have to realize that you're the fourth most important player on the court.
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The two most important players are the opponents.
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You've got to focus on them and getting them to play bad.
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And then focus on your partner and help them play good, get them in the right positions, get them on the right return side, like we talked about earlier.
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And then if you do that, do those things right, you'll probably play a little better, anyways, and you'll probably win the match.
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And even if you don't, you'll still probably win the match because you got three out of the four things right.
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So our top priority by far is to get our opponents to play bad.
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So we've got to quit focusing on our own game.
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We've got to quit watching the ball when we're not uh the ones that that are hitting or when the ball's not coming at us, and we've got to have our eyes on the opponents and focus on them and analyze their game throughout the match.
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You know your own game, you know your capabilities, you're not gonna learn anything new during this match, right?
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So you're the fourth most important player on the court.
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We have to remember that.
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Last thing, when, last question here, when is it time to change strategies?
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It's nice to have a game plan going into a match, but when the match is not going well as you'd hoped, when is a good time to change to another strategy?
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Um, this is a really good question, and it's something that I have changed my mind progressively on over the years, and the answer is earlier than you think.
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Um, I think people wait way too long to change a strategy.
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So, what I like to do is experiment very early in the match and test out their forehand return, their backhand return, um, test out different types of returns for myself, um, test out, you
know, can they make this shot down the line?
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Can they make it cross-court?
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Um, how do they, what type of height and spin and pace do they hit with their forehand and backhand return?
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And that will dictate my strategy.
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But if we get into the match, and let's say we lose the first set 6'3 or 6'4 or even 7'5, a lot of teams will say, we're fine, we just need to play better.
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Now that's not a strategy.
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We just need to play better is not a strategy.
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How are you going to play better?
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Like if you say you're gonna raise your energy, okay, well, how are you gonna do that?
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Are you gonna jump around between every point?
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Are you gonna give your partner a high five between every point?
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There are intangibles to this, it's not all about strategy, but you have to have a plan to actually play better.
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Um, I think most players or most teams don't make any adjustments after they lose a set 6-3 and 6-4, and they think they just need to play better and they end up losing 6-3, 7-5, right?
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So I would consider which part of your game do you need to play better?
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So is it your serves or returns?
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And then whose serves specifically, whose return specifically?
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And if it's your returns, you can change return sides.
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If it's your serves, figure out okay, do we need to be poaching more?
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Do we need to play two back on a second serve?
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Do we need to use different serve formations?
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What is it about the serve?
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Is it to the deuce court?
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Is it to the ad court?
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You want to get really specific with this and make adjustments to the specific games and specific types of points that you're losing.
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And again, you should make these adjustments a lot earlier than you think you should.
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All right, so that's it for this episode.
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Hopefully, this was helpful.
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Um, I'm gonna try to do more of these kind of short uh QA episodes.
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I've, you know, most of you give me pretty good feedback on the strategy episodes, and they are the most downloaded generally.
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Um, so I want to, you know, give y'all more of what you want to listen to.
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Um so hopefully this was helpful.
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Reach out if you have any questions or any feedback.
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And I haven't in a while asked for this, but if you do enjoy the podcast, if you could leave a review on Apple Podcast or wherever you listen.
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So thank you for listening.
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I will talk to you all soon.