I just dont get it....

R

randomname

Professional
for some reason, no matter what I do, I always play horribly in singles and great in doubles, I'd probably say I play like a strong 4.0 in doubles and a mediocre 3.5 in singles. and its not that I'm better suited to doubles, I literally am just hitting better shots. when I play doubles, everything has alot pace, spin, and good depth, im confident, hit good volleys and move well. I play singles and my footwork is sloppy, my technique is off, I shank/ dump alot of balls into the net. also on returns, in doubles I take huge cuts at the ball and more often than not get them in, in singles I cant help but just stick my racquet out and try to block it back which has about a 60% success rate and isnt even a good shot when it does go in. my serve isnt much different but I double fault alot more in singles. so anyway, can anyone reccomend me a cure to my singles-phobia? any advice is appreciated
 
Man I wish I could be like me for 10 months or so and you for the other two (that way I wouldn't suck on my school team, where I play doubles).
 
randomname said:
for some reason, no matter what I do, I always play horribly in singles and great in doubles, I'd probably say I play like a strong 4.0 in doubles and a mediocre 3.5 in singles. and its not that I'm better suited to doubles, I literally am just hitting better shots. when I play doubles, everything has alot pace, spin, and good depth, im confident, hit good volleys and move well. I play singles and my footwork is sloppy, my technique is off, I shank/ dump alot of balls into the net. also on returns, in doubles I take huge cuts at the ball and more often than not get them in, in singles I cant help but just stick my racquet out and try to block it back which has about a 60% success rate and isnt even a good shot when it does go in. my serve isnt much different but I double fault alot more in singles. so anyway, can anyone reccomend me a cure to my singles-phobia? any advice is appreciated
Click to expand...

Footwork is much more important in singles than in doubles. If your footwork is sloppy than everything else will suffer.
 
I wouldnt mind it because I like doubles alot more than I like singles, but there are two problems. one, Im 19 and all the USTA teams just want me to play singles, and two, I play collegiate club tennis, and we do our ladder by singles, so I need to improve my singles if I want to move up the ladder
 
yes, I would say it's your footwork and anticapation.
in doubles you only have to worry about half the court, so you have less to worry about and thus react a little faster. Getting to the ball in time and having good prep. in singles, you have to cover the whole court, so you don't react as fast and tend to get there late or not have enough time to prep
 
Try doing different hitting drills with a partner instead of warming up and playing sets - say hit crosscourt forehands/bkhnds, down the line, hit short balls to each other and try putaway shots etc.. it will bear fruit.
 
bluegrasser said:
Try doing different hitting drills with a partner instead of warming up and playing sets - say hit crosscourt forehands/bkhnds, down the line, hit short balls to each other and try putaway shots etc.. it will bear fruit.
Click to expand...
Bingo!!!

SEARCH in this sub-forum for the many drills which have been posted.

Practice Singles drills with developing Singles abilities in mind.

And ... play lots of challenge matches on your Ladder. The more you play Singles, the better you (should) get at it.

- KK
 
in doubles, points are pretty short and quick. Serve- Return- Volley over
in singles, points are won by consistency, and they are much longer so you need to concentrate harder. You also have to move a lot more since you are covering the whole court.
 
randomname said:
for some reason, no matter what I do, I always play horribly in singles and great in doubles...
Click to expand...

What's the mystery? They are almost completely seperate games, or at least they are very different.

I play way much more doubles than singles and am much better at it than singles. Luckily, I have a very good idea of what I want to do in singles, it is just a question of doing it. At this point it is a Mental Game thing for me. I'm working on it...
 
randomname said:
Im not talking about winning im talking about how in doubles I hit the ball better, move better, volley better etc.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I wasn't getting that.

That's interesting. Usually folks have trouble with those sort of things when they don't know if they are going to hit the next ball or not (because it is going to their partner). The on again, off again aspect of doubles throws them off.

I suspect by your description that your doubles play is your "normal" quality of play but that something is suffering in your singles play. Perhaps your understanding of the angles and geometry of the doubles game makes your shot selection sort of automatic, but the wide open court in singles gives you "too many options". If that is the case, then coming up with a gameplan for singles before you even walk on the court could give you back some of that "automatic" play that you probably enjoy on the doubles court.

Just a guess...
 
actually, I think you might have hit the nail on the head there, I was just talking to my old coach and he was saying that the reason I'm like that is probably because in doubles I like having just a few targets that I can hit to so I just make up my mind and hit it, while in singles I have the whole court to work with and over think it. unfortunetly I didnt get to talk to him much so I didnt get a solution, any ideas?
 
randomname said:
actually, I think you might have hit the nail on the head there, I was just talking to my old coach and he was saying that the reason I'm like that is probably because in doubles I like having just a few targets that I can hit to so I just make up my mind and hit it, while in singles I have the whole court to work with and over think it. unfortunetly I didnt get to talk to him much so I didnt get a solution, any ideas?
Click to expand...

Are you a S&V (since you play so much doubles)? Or a baseline basher?
 
Could it be that you are possessed by demons when you play singles?

No, seriously. Hear me out!

When I play singles, I have a little red devil guy on one shoulder and a little white angel guy on the other. The white angel guy is very helpful. He says things like "Be patient. Work the point. Move your feet. Be consistent. Hit deep."

The red devil guy? He will not shut up. He says things like "Ace her! Go on! You can do it!" Or he'll whisper "I dare you to go to net!" One time he said "Slice. Now's as good a time as any to work on your slice!" And he keeps chanting "Drop shot. Drop shot. Drop shot."

I don't have the patience or discipline to be good at singles. Could that be you too? :)
 
LuckyR said:
What's the mystery? They are almost completely seperate games, or at least they are very different.

I play way much more doubles than singles and am much better at it than singles. Luckily, I have a very good idea of what I want to do in singles, it is just a question of doing it. At this point it is a Mental Game thing for me. I'm working on it...
Click to expand...

I watched one of the Bryon bros play singles in ' Davis Cup' and his bkhnd was sort of a chop slice with little depth, he really lacked a consistent bkhnd singles type stroke IMO.
 
I play all court in doubles and baseline in singles, and for anyone interested, I played a singles match last night and told myself that on every shot im aiming deep into the furthest corner, and it worked fairly well, I wasnt playing quite as well as I do in doubles but it got alot closer then what it was like before and I think with some practice I can really do some damage in singles
 
randomname said:
I play all court in doubles and baseline in singles, and for anyone interested, I played a singles match last night and told myself that on every shot im aiming deep into the furthest corner, and it worked fairly well, I wasnt playing quite as well as I do in doubles but it got alot closer then what it was like before and I think with some practice I can really do some damage in singles
Click to expand...


Consider getting Pressure Tennis by Wardlaw
 
I definately do this too. I can hit shots in doubles a lot better than in singles.

For me its just because I tense up in singles for some reason. Sorry though I cant help because I dont know why either!
 
You sound like you're right about where I was about a year and a half ago and it sounds like you know where you want to go. I also needed to practice so that my strokes were more sound and I could stay in points at the baseline until I'd get an invitation to go to net - I'm an all courter, too.

The big mental hurdle was learning to stay patient for singles. My heavy doubles schedule conditioned me to be aggressive all the time, but that mindset led to me donating way too many points in a singles match. Keeping the ball deep and cross court, even when defensive, can seem boring compared to furious doubles, but it's an excellent tactic. A guy named Borg used it with some success.

I also had to change my concept of how to use my strokes. Instead of trying to hit a really big shot from the baseline for a winner (low percentage shot), I found that a mildly heavier shot could force my opponent to give up the short ball where I could flip on the aggression and rush the net. You're simply learning to better keep yourself out of trouble, run down those extra balls, and wait for your opportunities. Keep after those strokes, land that first serve, and don't worry about your return as long as you're keeping it deep in the area you choose.
 
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