Now that I understand Doubles, it's insanely fun!

G

GN-001

Semi-Pro
Doubles get alot of hate, alot of people say they hate doubles. I was one of those people, at least I was someone that would always choose to play singles over doubles. I've been playing tennis for 22 years, and in 21 of those years (excluding when I was a beginner), I considered myself a singles specialist and didn't see the appeal of doubles that much. My singles is probably a 4.5 and my doubles is still ranked at like a 3.5 as I hardly played it.

2 years ago, I was playing a tournament and entered in doubles with a good friend of mine, and I missed so many shots at the net because either I was reacting to shots (instead of proactive) or poaching too late which led to a lot of volley errors that my friend got so annoyed and frustrated with me and I felt terrible. However, this didn't push me to get better at doubles...

This year, due to multiple injuries, I've started playing more doubles, maybe once every two weeks (injured but itching to play) and started learning and reading everything I could find on doubles and putting it into practice. In the last few months I found myself steadily getting better at positioning, reading the opponents, volleys and poaching.

Tonight I played doubles at the 4.5 level and I couldn't believe how well I was reading the doubles game and how proactive I moved around at the net. I'm now so comfortable reading the opponents shots and when to poach that my opponents thought I could read their minds. With this new power of anticipation, I now poach anywhere at the net, punch through volleys and also hit so many drop volleys that dip just over the net that I feel I've got hands like Johnny Mac! Just because I can get there so early and quickly. It's super satisfying to do a successful poach and do fakes to influence their shot selections like they are a puppet. Also the different formations can really mess with the returner! It's so fun.

For those that struggle with doubles, give it more chances and really learn how to play better doubles. I literally did a 180 on doubles, from not liking it to loving it.

The two youtube/instagram channels that I really recommend are Tennis Tribe and StokkeTennis, and also 2minutetennis (singles and doubles). They give such awesome doubles advice for free.


Here are some of the things that I've learnt that can really supercharge your doubles!
  • Learn which is the inside and outside stroke, inside strokes tend to pull towards the tram lines so be careful poaching, outside strokes tend to go crosscourt so it's good to poach.
  • Mix it up, don't let your opponent read your movements. Sometimes poach, sometimes fake, throw some lobs, chip and charge, serve and volley, etc.
  • Dont worry about the tram lines too much, let them pass you down the line. I’d rather win 10 points in the middle and get passed 2 times down the line.
  • If your backhand sucks, Australian formation on the ad side (if you're right handed) so that your partner is there if your opponent hits towards your backhand and you can run to your forehand side if your opponent goes down the line
  • Communicate with your partner either with hand signals or verbally before the serve so you guys are on the same page
  • Communicate to your partner your opponent's style of play at the net. For example, if you see that the net player is super aggressive and tight to the net or the server likes to serve and volley, tell your partner you’ll do both back position and feed them some lobs over their heads.
There's lots more I can say but I recommend to just watch their videos. They talk about all of these. I'm not sponsored by them in any way, their videos have really transformed my doubles in the last few months.

I can't believe I'm saying this but I now find doubles more fun than singles.. especially if you have partners that know what they are doing too

Also, not sure why but I find 18x20 better for doubles? I used the Angell TC95 18x20 and I played so well. Perhaps it's less springy unlike 16x19 so my volleys seem to be better and low and drop volleys seems to be much easier to control.

Edit: corrected some grammar, tried to word it a bit better so there’s less confusion of what I mean.
 
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Terminetters said:
I've never understood why doubles gets so much "hate". Glad you enjoyed your matches and I hope you keep playing!
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I don’t like serving less often. I don’t like not being in action watching others hit. I don’t hate it but never enjoy it as much as I enjoy singles. It gets less audience, it gets paid much less. No one cares who’s top 10 or 100 in doubles. No one remembers who won the last grand slam etc. Why?
 
Curious said:
I don’t like serving less often. I don’t like not being in action watching others hit. I don’t hate it but never enjoy it as much as I enjoy singles. It gets less audience, it gets paid much less. No one cares who’s top 10 or 100 in doubles. No one remembers who won the last grand slam etc. Why?
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I understand but I think people just don't learn doubles enough to find it interesting to watch. I didn't watch doubles before but now that I understand what they are doing, it's alot more entertaining to me now. In singles, it's very easy to understand, anyone can understand it and that's why it's popular. Plus it's true that alot of the guys that can't make it in singles play doubles.

"I don’t like not being in action watching others hit" this only applies if you are not proactive at the net and waiting for the ball to come to you. I was like this and when the ball gets drilled at me at the net, I was never prepared for it
 
Curious said:
I don’t like serving less often. I don’t like not being in action watching others hit. I don’t hate it but never enjoy it as much as I enjoy singles. It gets less audience, it gets paid much less. No one cares who’s top 10 or 100 in doubles. No one remembers who won the last grand slam etc. Why?
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Singles is 100% more established and dramatic show. But playing good doubles is great and full of action, frequently much more dynamic than singles moonball fests :-D
 
Dragy said:
Singles is 100% more established and dramatic show. But playing good doubles is great and full of action, frequently much more dynamic than singles moonball fests :-D
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I always prefer playing singles if I have the choice.
 
Actually dubs is more popular than singles, and more promoted at clubs to maximize court revenue. Not sure where it is hated, but at least I haven't seen it or even heard of it. Now personally I enjoy singles much more myself, and I do have a group of players with the same preference, but we all play dubs too.
 
ChaelAZ said:
Actually dubs is more popular than singles, and more promoted at clubs to maximize court revenue. Not sure where it is hated, but at least I haven't seen it or even heard of it. Now personally I enjoy singles much more myself, and I do have a group of players with the same preference, but we all play dubs too.
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Have seen the hate quite often on TT
 
Roforot said:
good tips. You can get a good workout in dubs if you’re moving, faking, poaching. Theres more up and down movements which is easier on the hips.
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Yes there is a lot of movement in dubs and I think that too takes time for singles players to get. Often you see the singles players when they are at the net just look back and do not do that little triangle move when the ball is hit behind them to defend the cross/gap and then move back in and over when the ball is back in front of them and past the opponent net man.

Do that for a good 10 shot rally and you will be sucking some air after the point.
 
Curious said:
I don’t like serving less often. I don’t like not being in action watching others hit. I don’t hate it but never enjoy it as much as I enjoy singles. It gets less audience, it gets paid much less. No one cares who’s top 10 or 100 in doubles. No one remembers who won the last grand slam etc. Why?
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If you are inactive all the time when others are hitting, you are doing it wrong. Many rec players play the game too statically (especially when they’re at the net). You should be executing a split step nearly every time your opponents hit the ball — whether you play the next shot or not. A majority of the time you should be making position adjustments — even when your partner is playing the ball.
 
SystemicAnomaly said:
If you are inactive all the time when others are hitting, you are doing it wrong. Many rec players play the game too statically (especially when they’re at the net). You should be executing a split step by early every time your opponents hit the ball — whether you play the next shot or not. A majority of the time you should be making position adjustments — even when your partner is playing the ball.
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I just posted the same thing. I agree with you 100%
 
Glad you like doubles, but as a 4.5 singles person how can all the things you mentioned not be already just ingrained in your tennis body and mind , like all the reading and positioning should be second nature if you are that level at singles. Like if someone asked me how do you breathe , I wouldn't be able to make a list of steps, but it would be the same with doubles, it just comes naturally after that many years on a court.
 
tennis3 said:
Singles players always hate doubles because they get beat by "worse" players and never get to play their favorite shots. A good doubles players can easily neutralize the skillset of a singles player playing doubles.
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When I played High school tennis our 1 and 2 singles would double bagel my dubs partner and me at singles (We played 1 dubs).

When we played them in dubs we would double bagel them. It is a different game.
 
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SystemicAnomaly said:
If you are inactive all the time when others are hitting, you are doing it wrong. Many rec players play the game too statically (especially when they’re at the net). You should be executing a split step nearly every time your opponents hit the ball — whether you play the next shot or not. A majority of the time you should be making position adjustments — even when your partner is playing the ball.
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Pretty good advice if the people or opponents are really good, but since I've played for so many more years (since I was like 5 years old) than the adult rec opponents I face and I am 6'4" with a 6'6" wingspan and great reaction time, I am not stressed just loafing around in rec doubles , I can wing it with very minimal split stepping and movement. Actually, not moving can sometimes put opponents asleep lol.
 
FuzzyYellowBalls said:
Pretty good advice if the people or opponents are really good, but since I've played for so many more years (since I was like 5 years old) than the adult rec opponents I face and I am 6'4" with a 6'6" wingspan and great reaction time, I am not stressed just loafing around in rec doubles , I can wing it with very minimal split stepping and movement. Actually, not moving can sometimes put opponents asleep lol.
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The danger in doing something differently than in your youth due to laziness is that ultimately your new way of doing becomes how you do it, and the old way kind of fades away. It’s still there, but accessing it gets harder.
 
For those that don’t move at the net in doubles and just watch their partner hitting the ball, maybe these tips will help.

socallefty said:
I like to keep this a virtual community only, but happy to offer tips online. Even if it doesn’t help you, maybe it will give some food for thought for others. When I’m at the net, I focus on three things.

1. I first focus on the opposing net player to see if he is reacting as if he will intercept the ball hit by my partner. If so, I have to be alert to react to the net player‘s shot with my racquet up and it will have to be an instinctive response. But I might take a step to the middle after split-stepping if my partner‘s ball is somewhat low and not an easy put away for the opponent.
2. If my partner’s ball passes the opposing net guy, then I observe the quality and direction of my partner’s ball as it crosses the net and gets into my field of view. If it is a high caliber shot that is deep, wide, heavy and/or low where the opponent is going to struggle to hit a quality shot, I will take a step forward after split-stepping - this is very important to not be caught flat-footed at the net and gives me a chance to poach. If my partner’s shot is weak in any way (slow, mistimed, suicide depth etc.), then I split-step and take a step back so that I can react better to a lob or a hard shot hit at me or at my alley. The same applies for my partner’s serves - step forward on good/average serves, step back on very weak serves
3. Just when the opponent is about to hit his shot, I will move laterally also following the direction of my partner’s shot - wide if wide and to the middle if to the middle or to the opposing net player‘s side/alley. I won’t move early laterally as it gives the opponent time to change his shot easily. There are exceptions like when my partner hits a great shot wide and here I might move to the middle to get a likely poach and take the risk of being passed DTL with the bet that the opponent will likely miss if he tries to change the angle of a great shot.

If both opponents are at the net along with you, the gap between the front/back step and lateral step is almost zero and you move more diagonally rather than taking two steps separately as you don’t have much time to react. In all cases, feet have to be active on toes, body weight has to be forward and racquet has to be up in volley alert stance with both hands gripping the racquet (offhand on throat) allowing me to turn sideways quickly to either wing or do a reflex volley if hit at me. If you follow this 3-step approach, then you might time net shots better.

Key for a net player is to have the attitude that every ball is his when moving his feet, but actually hit only the volleys where he can hit an advantageous shot. When you move forward, you can typically hit an advantageous volley, but if you can move only laterally to hit a low volley, you won’t get much on it and better to let it go. Similarly let go the volleys you have to hit on the stretch down the middle if close to or below net level as your partner might be able to deal with it better. Most of my aggressive volleys at the net are done with feet/body moving forward quickly so that I typically make contact within 2-3 feet of the net - the better my partner is, the more it happens. I make volleys 10-15 feet from the net only when I am approaching after a serve, return or good baseline shot.

Also, you might want to use poach/stay signals a lot and do mostly intentional signaled poaches until you get your net footwork timing right. Here the trick is to play closer to the middle and go for the poach as late as possible as part of the net player’s job is to clog up the middle especially when your partner is serving. We even call poaches on Return + 1 shots to keep the serving team guessing especially if the server stays back. The more athletic you are, the closer you can play to the middle at the net and adjust to move to one side late. Also the optimal distance to stand from the net varies depending on the level and how athletic you are. All the best in singles and doubles!
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socallefty said:
For those that don’t move at the net in doubles and just watch their partner hitting the ball, maybe these tips will help.
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What was it that Vic Braden would say about that in one of his videos?

It was hilarious!

He would talk about the lady at the net with her partner rallying cross court.... "Stick with it Alice"..... "You're doing great". Or something like that as she just stood there at the net.
 
i wonder if one's tendency to like doubles or not, has to do with where you live...
eg. if south, where courts are plentiful, of course more fun to play singles... maximize # of balls hit per hour
eg. if north+city, courts are $$$, cheaper to split amongst 4... so naturally tend to play more dubs over time...
 
GN-001 said:
I understand but I think people just don't learn doubles enough to find it interesting to watch. I didn't watch doubles before but now that I understand what they are doing, it's alot more entertaining to me now. In singles, it's very easy to understand, anyone can understand it and that's why it's popular. Plus it's true that alot of the guys that can't make it in singles play doubles.

"I don’t like not being in action watching others hit" this only applies if you are not proactive at the net and waiting for the ball to come to you. I was like this and when the ball gets drilled at me at the net, I was never prepared for it
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Yep. I love doubles because I get net play. Its so much fun to poach. And the cat and mouse game with the returner is quite fun. Spot on about not waiting for the ball to come to you. Its the people who don’t understand the net that hate dubs. And you really need a good overhead. And the angles…
 
nyta2 said:
i wonder if one's tendency to like doubles or not, has to do with where you live...
eg. if south, where courts are plentiful, of course more fun to play singles... maximize # of balls hit per hour
eg. if north+city, courts are $$$, cheaper to split amongst 4... so naturally tend to play more dubs over time...
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Perhaps. Some places incentivize by giving double more court time. But even in texas a lot preferred doubles. Partly because its too hot to run around.

Theres a social aspect. Also in singles you only have you and no one to blame or uplift. My best memories in doubles is helping my partner come back from a shaky start.
 
nyta2 said:
i wonder if one's tendency to like doubles or not, has to do with where you live...
eg. if south, where courts are plentiful, of course more fun to play singles... maximize # of balls hit per hour
eg. if north+city, courts are $$$, cheaper to split amongst 4... so naturally tend to play more dubs over time...
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I think it correlates more to age and age-weight related movement issues. Older players play more doubles and don’t want to run around covering the entire court for two hours. I started playing doubles in my forties and was happy to only play singles before that - now I enjoy both. If I played only singles I could probably play tennis only 3-4 times a week due to greater fitness required and trouble finding like-level singles players every day of the week but by playing a mix, I can play everyday.
 
Shroud said:
Yep. I love doubles because I get net play. Its so much fun to poach. And the cat and mouse game with the returner is quite fun. Spot on about not waiting for the ball to come to you. Its the people who don’t understand the net that hate dubs. And you really need a good overhead. And the angles…
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Great point on angles. My son was in an ITA event this weekend playing dubs and he had a million opportunities to just hit an angled ball at the net and wouldn't do it.

He is a very good singles player (plays 1 singles) but even as a senior now still doesn't get dubs. He thinks too much at dubs instead of naturally reacting to what is happening and hitting the right shot.
 
LOBALOT said:
Great point on angles. My son was in an ITA event this weekend playing dubs and he had a million opportunities to just hit an angled ball at the net and wouldn't do it.

He is a very good singles player (plays 1 singles) but even as a senior now still doesn't get dubs. He thinks too much at dubs instead of naturally reacting to what is happening and hitting the right shot.
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Awesome. They stuck me at doubles in hs. So I had to learn it. But yeah its a different mindset at the net. Good news is he has the talent to adjust. Well done
 
I started playing competitive usta junior tennis in high school, 5-10 years later than all the other kids. So I was behind in singles. In order to make up the difference and compete, I had to develop a different playstyle than the kids who grew up training groundies with lessons. I built my game around S&V and aggressive net play. I looked up to Edberg as my model for how to move strategically around the court in singles. These skills made me a naturally better doubles player than singles.
 
travlerajm said:
I started playing competitive usta junior tennis in high school, 5-10 years later than all the other kids. So I was behind in singles. In order to make up the difference and compete, I had to develop a different playstyle than the kids who grew up training groundies with lessons. I built my game around S&V and aggressive net play. I looked up to Edberg as my model for how to move strategically around the court in singles. These skills made me a naturally better doubles player than singles.
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Yeah. There was a day when pros played singles AND doubles in tournaments. But they played mostly s&v on fast courts.
 
Terminetters said:
I've never understood why doubles gets so much "hate". Glad you enjoyed your matches and I hope you keep playing!
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good singles players with full skill set think they are good at tennis for good reasons, but some of them don't realize singles and doubles are two different sports. if you count mixed-doubles, that would be three different sports. When the performance doesn't match expectation, some people naturally hate it.
 
johnmccabe said:
good singles players with full skill set think they are good at tennis for good reasons, but some of them don't realize singles and doubles are two different sports. if you count mixed-doubles, that would be three different sports. When the performance doesn't match expectation, some people naturally hate it.
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Good point about mixed being yet a third sport, especially when the skill gap between partners is large.

I know guys who are great doubles players in men’s doubles, but they suck at mixed. Totally different skill set required.
 
nyta2 said:
i wonder if one's tendency to like doubles or not, has to do with where you live...
eg. if south, where courts are plentiful, of course more fun to play singles... maximize # of balls hit per hour
eg. if north+city, courts are $$$, cheaper to split amongst 4... so naturally tend to play more dubs over time...
Click to expand...
Nah, people are fat and lazy all over, harder to get anyone adult wise to play singles tournaments in the summer no matter where you live. Most non-Atlanta southern tourneys skip singles alltogether, just load up on mixed and regular dubs. Not an issue in Texas/Cali/Florida though, millions of people live there so can fill all categories. There's only like 12 US states that have more people living in them than the Dallas area.
 
SystemicAnomaly said:
You should be executing a split step nearly every time your opponents hit the ball — whether you play the next shot or not. A majority of the time you should be making position adjustments — even when your partner is playing the ball.
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I know and I do that. Still prefer to play the ball every time, hence singles only for me.
 
Yep, doubles becomes a lot more fun when you get more understanding of how it should be played. Meaning, developing the right movement patterns, anticipation/instincts and shot selection, requires some knowledge. This is different to singles which I find is more intuitive and easier to figure out through just playing a lot. In singles, you'll figure out effective shot selections and movement patterns as you win/lose points, games and matches. Whereas in doubles, you might know that you suck because you're not involved much and spend a lot of time watching the play happen rather than imposing yourself on it, but it's not self-explanatory what you need to do to fix those things.

I found I became a more effective doubs player after reading some of the knowledge here and watching some YT vids ... here's a useful one from 2 Minute Tennis:

 
Curious said:
I know and I do that. Still prefer to play the ball every time, hence singles only for me.
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I get that. I play singles for that reason too. But setting up your partner for an easy put away or hitting that poach volley that is angled so well it almost travels parallel to the net, you don’t get that in singles usually. I especially like planned plays and signals.
 
Shroud said:
I get that. I play singles for that reason too. But setting up your partner for an easy put away or hitting that poach volley that is angled so well it almost travels parallel to the net, you don’t get that in singles usually. I especially like planned plays and signals.
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Sure. It’s tennis in the end and we love it. It’s just my preference. Btw I also find doubles too crowded and noisy, too much chatting, laughing etc. You can imagine I hate it if people play doubles in the adjacent court when I’m playing a singles match.
 
Curious said:
Sure. It’s tennis in the end and we love it. It’s just my preference. Btw I also find doubles too crowded and noisy, too much chatting, laughing etc. You can imagine I hate it if people play doubles in the adjacent court when I’m playing a singles match.
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Wow. This is sad man. Sad.
 
Curious said:
Sure. It’s tennis in the end and we love it. It’s just my preference. Btw I also find doubles too crowded and noisy, too much chatting, laughing etc. You can imagine I hate it if people play doubles in the adjacent court when I’m playing a singles match.
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I don’t prefer to play doubles… but when I do… I prefer mixed doubles. Makes the scenery more interesting.
 
Clay lover said:
What is an inside stroke and outside stroke?
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If you have a slice-exclusive bh and are right-handed, you should play the deuce in order to have your sling wing on the inside. Your outside stroke needs to be able to hit with penetration and topspin in order to avoid getting poached.
 
McGradey said:
Yep, doubles becomes a lot more fun when you get more understanding of how it should be played. Meaning, developing the right movement patterns, anticipation/instincts and shot selection, requires some knowledge. This is different to singles which I find is more intuitive and easier to figure out through just playing a lot. In singles, you'll figure out effective shot selections and movement patterns as you win/lose points, games and matches. Whereas in doubles, you might know that you suck because you're not involved much and spend a lot of time watching the play happen rather than imposing yourself on it, but it's not self-explanatory what you need to do to fix those things.

I found I became a more effective doubs player after reading some of the knowledge here and watching some YT vids ... here's a useful one from 2 Minute Tennis:

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Good vid. Tip 9 is why t serves are a must for dubs.
 
travlerajm said:
If you have a slice-exclusive bh and are right-handed, you should play the deuce in order to have your sling wing on the inside. Your outside stroke needs to be able to hit with penetration and topspin in order to avoid getting poached.
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So if we apply this to his 1st advice, does that mean the poacher should anticipate a CC shot if opponent righty hits a forehand from his right side of the court (outside stroke), and anticipate a tram line shot if the righty hits from the middle of the court (inside stroke)?
 
McGradey said:
Yep, doubles becomes a lot more fun when you get more understanding of how it should be played. Meaning, developing the right movement patterns, anticipation/instincts and shot selection, requires some knowledge. This is different to singles which I find is more intuitive and easier to figure out through just playing a lot. In singles, you'll figure out effective shot selections and movement patterns as you win/lose points, games and matches. Whereas in doubles, you might know that you suck because you're not involved much and spend a lot of time watching the play happen rather than imposing yourself on it, but it's not self-explanatory what you need to do to fix those things.

I found I became a more effective doubs player after reading some of the knowledge here and watching some YT vids ... here's a useful one from 2 Minute Tennis:

Click to expand...
exactly, I played doubles occasionally and for 2 decades I was never good at it and only this year I started studying it and now I know what to do.
 
Shroud said:
I get that. I play singles for that reason too. But setting up your partner for an easy put away or hitting that poach volley that is angled so well it almost travels parallel to the net, you don’t get that in singles usually. I especially like planned plays and signals.
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Yes hitting that poach volley that is angled so well is soooo satisfying
 
I think one of the things that hinders many folks from developing into good doubles players is that it’s often taught in a way that stymies progression.

People are taught to divide the court left-right, but high-level doubles is often played with the court divided more front-back, with a “dunker” near the center net strap and “safety” backing him up, usually covering the DTL and the lob.
 
travlerajm said:
I think one of the things that hinders many folks from developing into good doubles players is that it’s often taught in a way that stymies progression.

People are taught to divide the court left-right, but high-level doubles is often played with the court divided more front-back, with a “dunker” near the center net strap and “safety” backing him up, usually covering the DTL and the lob.
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0sxoHR0.jpeg


Was told these (or something close to it) are the correct coverage zones by some coaches in Aus.
 
@GN-001 You seem to have been, a couple of years ago, where I am now. I haven't played much doubles in my life and now, if I play a doubles match at the level of my singles rating, it's overwhelming because I didn't learn doubles at a slower pace when I was lower rated. Hearing your story gives me hope that I can get there one day.
 
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