Should I Push For Singles Specialists?

[slewisoh]

Hi Cindy. We also field 3 courts of dbls and 2 singles. Every team I have played on has 2-3 singles players and maybe one person who has the skills to play both singles and doubles.

Odds are that a doubles specialist will not be terribly successful at singles without working on the skills and strategies that are specific to singles. If a player is reasonably athletic, has a consistent serve and reliable groundstrokes, then they can probably apply a few singles strategies and be successful.

Perhaps you can put together a few drills in which the pros work specifically on singles strategies. Things involving lateral baseline movement, approach shots, court coverage, etc. You and your team mates might be surprised who emerges as potential singles players.

You also might be able to form an informal singles ladder within your team to give people an opportunity to try singles. You don't have to play sets. You can perhaps have a few courts of singles and have each court play 6-8 games then switch.

It has always been most difficult for us to field singles courts, so it is in your best interest to encourage as many folks as possible to at least try singles.

[Hoss]

Originally Posted by Geezer Guy

Well, as a player I've played for captains who just seemed to throw out whoever was available on whatever court, with no seeming rhyme or reason.

I've had other captains that I could tell put some thought into the line-up's and court positioning.

I would MUCH rather play for the latter.

Geezer, I'm sure there is a happy medium between just throwing out people willy nilly, and TriCities totalitarian regime. I think that's where most of us team captains try to live.

Regards,

[cghipp]

I've had a couple of seasons recently where I never played with the same partner more than twice, if that. Makes for pretty bad tennis if you don't know your partner's game. I agree, there is a happy medium.

[North]

I played one season of USTA league tennis (zero fun - I quit due to the widespread sandbagging but that belongs in your bad league experiences thread) and exclusively played singles. The team captain was thrilled that I only wanted to play singles (no doubles) as no one else wanted to play singles at all and had to be drafted to take their turns at singles. They also did not particularly want to practice singles, had to be drafted to take turns practicing singles with me, and the practice was not that helpful.

When we would play matches it was clear which opponents were primarily singles players and which were doubles players doing their stint at singles (I would ask the opponents after we played). Unsurprisingly, the singles specialists were invariably better at singles than the doubles players. So, if you can get singles specialists, I think that's a good idea. Just my experience.

Good luck with your team!