How do you assemble doubles teams?

[gameboy]

Our season is about to begin and my 3.5 team is facing the same problem we had last year - the lack of output from our doubles teams.

We had a pretty good year with our singles, but our doubles teams had hard time winning. The problem is our team is made of mostly singles players who like to camp out at baseline and bang away hitting big topspin shots.

These guys are okay at the net if they are there already, but are terrible in transition and never serve and volley so the vast majority of the doubles are played with 1 up and 1 back.

We have tried doing some drills and strategy sessions to encourage 2 up formation, but I don't think it matters as when we play practice matches, they are right back to 1 up and 1 back.

These singles players also make the mistake of trying too much with service returns (singles players get really nervous with a player at the net and believe they need to blast the ball back) and make frequent unforced errors, which makes it very difficult to break serves. Then they make just enough service errors to give opponents a break and there goes the match.

So, what are some advise on creating better doubles teams? Should we just pair up big hitting singles players and hope that they have a hot day? Should we mix up some doubles guys with baseline guys? How do we get guys to take less chances and player more high percentage tennis?

 

[SweetH2O]

I prefer to have offsetting skill sets if possible. A guy good at the baseline with a guy that's good at the net. Or an aggressive hard hitting player with a steady pusher.

I find that this leads to the players setting each other up. The baseline guy can induce a floating return that the net guy is able to put away. Or the steady guy keeps a point going long enough to open up the court for the hard hitter to put the ball away.

 

[OrangePower]

As primarily a singles player, I can identify with the challenges your guys have when playing doubles. I don't think there's any silver bullet, but a few thoughts:

1. Play as many practice matches as possible. Drills are great and all that, but when actually faced with opponents in a match situation, people revert to what they are most comfortable with, as you have discovered. So really you need to get these guys more comfortable playing dubs. The more sets they play the more comfortable they will become.

2. Let's say you have two seasoned dubs players and two mostly singles guys. You're better off pairing a seasoned dubs player with each singles guy, rather than putting the singles players together. This gives the singles guy someone to key off of in terms of positioning and strategy. The dubs player will add consitency to the team while the singles guy adds the firepower from the baseline. Also, this combination helps in holding serve - when the singles guy serves, he has an active net player to help him hold, and when the dubes player serves, he is presumably used to following his serve up to the net so you get 2-up. And then when you're holding serve routinely, it makes it easier to break the opponents, because you feel under less pressure to break so you can focus on playing a high-percentage game rather than feeling you have to hit winners on returns.

3. When you do drill, have your singles guys practice hitting a shot from the baseline, moving forwards, split-stepping on the service line, hitting a volley from there, and then closing into the net. Many singles guys are fine at the net once there, but as you said don't transition well. One of the reasons for that is that they feel like they need to rush to the net as fast as possible, so they keep moving forward after the baseline shot, and end up closer to the net but off-balance for the volley, when you're better off stopping short and having time to regain balance for the first volley. This is something easy to work on in drills.

 

[Cindysphinx]

I dunno.

I tend to put my singles players together. If they don't know what the sam hill they are doing (and often they do not), they will mess up the game of a true doubles player. Better to lose one court with the two singles players than to lose two courts.

That said, if you practice there are some things you can do to help the singles players improve. One idea is to play "Finish Two Up" doubles. At the end of each point, all players should freeze. If the players who won the point are 1-up, 1-back, they do not win the point. Play no-ad.

Another thing that has helped us is the Varied Return drill. As you say, some players hit the same crosscourt return the entire match. They will miss when they get pinched a bit and will try to blast everything. In this drill, you play regular dubs, but no returner can hit the same return two times in a row. Say I hit my first return crosscourt drive. My next return must be either lob, slice, drop shot, DTL or blast at the net player. Next return must then be different (going back to crosscourt is fine).

Good luck. Playing with singles players is tremendously frustrating for me. I will often have a partner who can't volley, who alley camps, who can't keep the ball from the net player, who is easily distracted, who wants to bounce everything, who gets trapped in the back corner. It can be a long day at the office.

 

[OrangePower]

I dunno.

I tend to put my singles players together. If they don't know what the sam hill they are doing (and often they do not), they will mess up the game of a true doubles player. Better to lose one court with the two singles players than to lose two courts.

That's a short term view, and fine if you are just short dubs players for one match and need to use singles players to temporarily fill in. But it sounds like this is going to be a season-long issue for the OP and so the question is what will do the most to improve the dubs skills of the singles players over the course of the season, rather than what gives the best chance of victory for one match.

 

[burlesonsallstar]

I like to put identical people together epically if you have two aggressive players. let them impose there will on the other team. paly fast and play quick.

 

[Cindysphinx]

That's a short term view, and fine if you are just short dubs players for one match and need to use singles players to temporarily fill in. But it sounds like this is going to be a season-long issue for the OP and so the question is what will do the most to improve the dubs skills of the singles players over the course of the season, rather than what gives the best chance of victory for one match.

It depends on what OP means by "creating better doubles teams."

The first task is to practice and drill for doubles.

The second task is to do winning line ups.

 

[Fuji]

Just get someone who can serve and volley well in singles, and let them play doubles! :lol:

The above drills are good however. I'm a fan of letting the 1 D / 1 S player per team, as the doubles guy can give support to the singles player IF they can think on the same page, without any ego. If they can't, then doubles is a moot place for them to be in the first place.

-Fuji

 

[vegasgt3]

Strong server with a quick netman. Big guy, small guy. Power and speed.

 

[g4driver]

I play a lot of singles and a lot of doubles. I hit heavy topspin in single's, but flatten out my swing in doubles. Heavy topspin is not for doubles, with a guy at the net.

My technique:

1) Pair players that compliment each other and who want to play together, and who can win together. If they don't want to play with each other, as a Captain, I certain don't want them playing together unless I don't expect much from them. Sometimes, that's the best choice for the team when a team is minimally manned for a match, and winning the match is the goal.

2) Don't ever put the strongest players with the weakest players. You are wasting your strongest players, as the weak link will be exposed and exploited. The weakest players struggle to win, even when paired with the strongest doubles player against a mid-level team. The avg doubles team will treat the weakest guy on the court like a wounded animal and attack relentlessly. The weakest player will get most of the action. I see this week after week. It is reality.

3) Pair the strong & fast aggressive guy (hitter) with a consistent player (setter). Put the hitter on the AD court and let him attack when he feels it. Most AD points will come on the AD side, therefore put the hitter there.

Singles players are generally IMO weaker at the net. When I play singles it is one of the first things I probe during a warmup. If the guy comes to the net during the warmup at all. He didn't last night. The vast majority of single's players will rarely come to the net. So I bring them to the net, and then drill them. If they can't volley, they are going to lose some points. So if you're singles players are weaker at the net, put them on the deuce side and let them play the role of the setter. Doubles players will see more volleys. In doubles, serve down the T , and let the net guy poach. If the guy serves wide, the net guy as to cover the ally.

I had to learn to play doubles as a single's guy. Why? Because there is no single's during Mixed and Combo, and I still wanted to play USTA tennis. Doubles takes a while to learn. How to move, where to stand, where to hit. You can get away with a lot of shots in singles that you can't in doubles. In singles, I can return the serve right back at the server with heavy topspin. I will never do this in doubles, as the return will be easily poached. In doubles, I hit flat and crosscourt.

Be patient with your singles players, but explaining some of the shots that work in singles should not be used in doubles will help them from being eaten alive.

hope this helps.

Vegasgt3, sometimes the small guy as all the speed and the power.

 

[dizzlmcwizzl]

^^^^
I hate the idea of pairing dissimilar styles with one another. To me that is a recipe for mediocrity and will ensure losing doubles teams.

Instead I like the idea of pairing complimenting styles with each other. On our team we have three effective doubles teams ...

Our best doubles team has both players play classic doubles and get to the net. Rarely does one player get left hanging at the net wondering when the best time to poach during a protracted baseline rally. This team is either finishing points at the net or hitting reaction volleys ...

Our next best doubles team is a squad that lands every return. They do not give the team any free points on the serve. Ideally I would like them to close the net more but they don't ... Their serves are serviceable but not weapons ... they simply avoid giving away points due to errors.

Our 3rd doubles team is a pairing of lighting quick guys. Nothing bounces twice ... there is nothing about their game I would want except their quickness and tenacity. They are often located in no mans land ... chasing down lobs and drop shots but it works for them. Other teams get frustrated with having to hit 2 or 3 shots that normally would be winners.

 

[spot]

I prefer to have offsetting skill sets if possible. A guy good at the baseline with a guy that's good at the net. Or an aggressive hard hitting player with a steady pusher.

I find that this leads to the players setting each other up. The baseline guy can induce a floating return that the net guy is able to put away. Or the steady guy keeps a point going long enough to open up the court for the hard hitter to put the ball away.

Personally I do the opposite and put similar players together. You have your situation where the good net player is up and the good baseliner is back and things work great but when thats flipped then its a DISASTER. I'd put the players that enjoy getting to the net together so that they can both move up. I'd put the baseliners together so that they can protect each other at the net with big groundstrokes so hopefully the volleys that they need to hit will be weaker volleys.

 

[g4driver]

My biggest input is complimentary doubles players who know have to adjust their game and win matches.

Every match is different, but the key is staying in the match long enough to win it or have the other team lose it.

My team uses a ladder challenge system. Any team can challenge another team. Mix and match your partners. Win and take the top spot for the next week. Our #1 doubles teams defended their position over 20 times last year against their teammates. Teams get close to beating them, but so far, no one has.

If you lose a set 6-0 or 6-1 and it wasnt close, make an adjustment.

 

[gameboy]

We tried putting similar guys together last year and that was not that successful. We may try to mix them up...

 

[g4driver]

Complimentary means: they take advantage of each others strengths minimize each other's weaknesses.

e.g., fast, aggressive guy who plays singles and doubles with a steady guy who can vollley, but not crush groundstrokes . The steady guy serves down the T at will for the aggressive guy to poach. The aggressive guy might lose his serve on occasion, but his partner holds, and they break opponents often.

Our team is stacked at doubles with very evenly matched guys just below our top notch team

 

[86golf]

Your league must be different than mine. I spend most of Monday sending emails trying to fill my last line, then on Tuesday I'm sending text messages and calling cell phones to fill the line up for a Tuesday night league. I'm most concernced with getting 5 lines on the court and not as much if people compliment each other. As long as everyone has fun and is playing their appropriate line (and shows up) all is good.

The only time I put a lot of strategy into it, was when I had a "playoff" level team that went to states. Which doesn't sound like is your case. Just have fun and if your doubles lines win, even better.