Doubles Partners

[tstar7]

First of all, I am pretty new to tennis. I have only been playing about a year but I made the varsity team at my high school. My friend and I thought it would be a good idea to become doubles partners. After awhile though I quickly became better than him. He frustrated me soooo bad. He constantly whiffed at easy over head smashes. I'm feeling a little bad for doing this. Is it common for this to happen? I am just looking for confirmation. Thanks.

[kevhen]

Yeah, you want a doubles partner who you are close to being equals with. If one player keeps improving, it can be frustrating for both as one player will likely being making most of the errors while other gets to watch him. Either find another partner or work with your friend to improve his weaknesses like throw him lots of lobs, maybe have him point with his off hand and then hit lots of smashes until he is confident with his overhead and doesn't whiff anymore. I won a number of 3.5 tournaments with my 3.5 partner but he wasn't ready for 4.0 doubles so I moved on without him but we still play singles occasionally. He was about 50 years old and not going to improve much more so I went with a 25 year old kid who was about his same level but had room to grow and we made the semifinals of the 4.0 doubles tournament we played last year so it was much more fun and the kid is so much quicker at the net so it was good for me to move on and find another partner.

[Kaptain Karl]

Ah, Doubles! Our Conference has 3 Singles and 4 Doubles, so doubles is critical ... and where I spend more of my coaching time. IMO, the “ideal” pairing is a power player with a finesse/touch player. And only one of the two players can be the Leader of that doubles team. So you have several "dynamics" to consider: Quick/Slow, Power/Touch, Dominant/Supportive, etc.

All of these assume relative equality in prowess. If you have grown beyond your partner, gently bring it up during a practice day (Not a tournament.) and let them know you are going to try another partner. THEN (meaning afterwards) go see if you can recruit another partner. (If you start recruiting before you tell your partner, he'll surely find out before you tell him ... and that will only create "bad blood.")

Keep in mind ... many of your potential new partners may have seen how you treated your "fired" partner. Depending on what they think of that treatment, it may, or may not be easy to find another partner.

- KK

[Ken]

The best teams are usually opposites, as Karl said. I have an identical twin (which is fun as H*LL on the court), so we go to all the same lessons, same practices, and are pretty much equal in skill level. However, on the court I tend to become a little more analytical, submissive, and generally an introvert. Normally I'm the complete opposite. My twin, normally exactly what I change into, quickly becomes the leader.

The differences help a lot. An outgoing player can keep the more introverted player more in his game, cheering the other person up if anything happens. Often, the best teams even have lots of inside jokes or actions, which generally keep both players in their mental game, and ready to explode into the point.

He's more powerful, I'm more consistent. We're both allcourt players, which is great since we need both groundstrokes and volleys consistent in doubles. I tend to be quicker, especially at the net, which really helps when I can cover a large area of the court, also taking over my twin's backhand.

In other words, you generally want an even player with a game that's different than yours. You also want to set up teamwork and plan your shots. Another big part is setting up who usually starts on the deuce side, and who plays on the ad side. The deuce player almost always has a strong forehands, since the other player at net can cover most balls going to his backhand side. Ad players should have a consistent backhand, and usually should be a little better at net to cover the other guy's BH. If the deuce guy misses or avoids a backhand volley, it's not nearly as much of a problem since it's going to the other guy's FH.

Ah, I went offtopic. But...I'd definitely find a different partner. I'm not sure how to really break it to your friend, but as Karl said, definitely tell him you might want to change before you do anything. Try it in practice, when there's not as much tension and you can just try out other partners for fun. If a different combination works, just say something like "Awesome, maybe I'll try playing with you next time." Or make sure the coach is watching, and can make necessary adjustments if you and your new partner work a lot better together.

[tstar7]

Thanks guys. You have really helped. I will definitiely be taking this advice.