Doubles Only Tennis Podcast

5 Things You Can Learn Watching Pro Doubles

• Will Boucek • Episode 180

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0:00 | 19:19

Watching pro doubles can 100% help you improve your own game, regardless of your skill level. Here are 5 things to look for when watching ATP or WTA doubles live or on TV.

  1. In between the points.
  2. Formations and variety.
  3. Net position, movement, court coverage, & shot selection.
  4. Baseline...
  5. When they MISS!

If you're not currently watching pro doubles, you can do so with Tennis Channel Plus and TennisTV in the US.

READ: I Surveyed 1,292 Tennis Fans

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Learning From Professional Doubles Matches

Speaker 1

Today I'm gonna cover five things you can learn by watching professional doubles. So these are five things to look for when you're watching on TV or you're watching in a tournament that you can use to learn from them and then implement into your own game. So, obviously, atp, wta doubles players are significantly better than us at tennis, but there's still principles that apply to their doubles matches that also apply to ours, and I've talked about some of this in the past, but I've never dedicated a full podcast episode to it. So I wanted to do that here today in honor of the publication of the survey results that I published yesterday, which I'll link to in the show notes. So several episodes ago I mentioned the survey. A lot of you filled it out. Thank you for that. We had 1,292 people fill out the survey all tennis fans and my goal with it was to help figure out what fans want from pro doubles, what would make them watch more pro doubles, if anything and the results were really, really helpful and I published them yesterday on the blog. So again, I'll link to that in the show notes. But today we're going to talk about things that you can look for when you do watch professional doubles.

Speaker 1

So, uh, first I wanted to start with how can you actually watch professional doubles? So in the U? S there's two main subscriptions that you can pay for, so tennis channel plus is one of them. You can go to tennis channelcom to sign up. I pay for it, uh, at $99 a year. I think there's also a monthly option. That's a little bit more than that. Maybe it's 12 or 15 a month.

Speaker 1

So Tennis Channel Plus is a good one. It works best for me, either on my phone or streaming on my computer. The app on my Amazon Fire Stick, which is hooked up to my I think it's an LG TV, freezes a lot. I have a lot of issues with it, so it makes it kind of difficult, but I can stream it on my computer pretty easily as well as my phone. That works pretty well. It works a little bit better on my Samsung Smart TV, which is in my bedroom, and it does freeze a little bit as well, but not as much as it does through the fire stick. So none of these solutions are optimal.

Speaker 1

There's not a lot of great streaming options in tennis, unfortunately, but that is one that is worth paying for and you can watch pro doubles matches on the ATP and WCA Tour at most events throughout the year. If you're not familiar with professional tennis and you're just a player, there's tournaments almost every week. So you can literally almost every day of the week go to Tennis Channel Plus and watch a professional doubles match. So it's a really great way to learn. Also, in the US, tennis TV is another good option. It's $135 per year, so it's a little more expensive, and it is ATP only, so it's only the men's matches. You do get singles and doubles with both of these subscriptions, but the doubles is what I mostly watch. Obviously, tennis TV I've had a better experience with it so far. I only purchased it maybe six months ago. It seems to be a little bit better streaming quality, a little bit clearer picture and it doesn't freeze quite as much. So it is a little better. But you don't get the WTA matches. You don't get the women's side with that. So it is a little better, but you don't get the WTA matches. You don't get the women's side with that During some of the Grand Slams. Espn Plus and ESPN 3 are great options to watch as well, so hopefully that gives you a place to start to start watching more professional doubles Now, once you are watching, whether you're at a tournament or watching on TV.

Speaker 1

What should we be looking for? How can we learn from the pros? So there's five different things that I feel like you can take away from pro doubles and implement into your own game. So number one is in between the points. So we can't mimic their serve. We can't mimic the pace or the spin they have on their forehand. We can't mimic their speed that they have running from side to side or getting forward for a drop shot. But in between points we can basically mimic them exactly when they're jumping around and raising their energy level, when they're communicating with their partner, when they're giving their partner a high five, when they come together between points and talk and strategize, when they use hand signals. We can do all these things. This doesn't take a crazy amount of talent. It doesn't take lots of practice. I think the communication improves over time with practice, but it's something you can start doing tomorrow.

Speaker 1

And when I go out and watch a club level doubles match, an adult league match or tournament match, and then I go and watch a professional match at Indian Wells or the Miami Open or Roland Garros next week, the in-between points is one of the biggest areas where you see a difference, because at the club level, with most adult players they'll lose a point. They'll maybe kind of look down and then they'll walk to the other side and then they'll start the next point. There's no physical contact, there's no high fives, there's no fist pumps, there's no jumping up on their feet trying to get their energy up None of that. So I would really encourage you to watch the professional doubles and learn what they do in between points, kind of absorb some of that energy, some of that communication that they show us and then implement it onto the court. It's going to improve your focus throughout the match, your energy throughout the match, your team chemistry, all of these different things. So a lot of intangibles there that you can learn from the pro players.

Studying and Learning From Pro Players

Speaker 1

Number two is using different formations and using a variety of formations. So, again, the big difference here is when I go and watch an adult league match, almost everybody's running regular formation. They serve, they play the point out, they go to the other side without any communication in between points, without any communication as to where they're going to serve, what formation they want to use, what plays they're going to be calling, whereas the pros are constantly using different formations to try to kind of pick apart their opponent and make them feel uncomfortable and not allow them to see the same thing every time and get into a rhythm. So you'll see eye formation on one point, they'll go to the left. The next point you'll see regular and they'll poach. The next point you'll see eye formation and they'll go to the right. They're using tons of variety, not only with the movement out of the formations but also with the serve location, speed, spin, different things like that. So if you can study what they're doing in terms of formations, you can come up with ideas to implement with your partner as well. A lot of times you'll see them make adjustments during the match. So if you really study them closely, you might notice you know they ran regular formation most of that first set but they lost at 6-3. Second set they started to run more I formation and they held serve every single time and they won the set 7-5. That was a good adjustment, whereas at the club level most adult players don't make any of these adjustments throughout the match. You might notice that certain return teams play two back against I formation, but as soon as the first serve is missed, the serve team goes into regular formation and then the returner's partner moves forward into a regular return formation. So noticing all of these adjustments and formations during the match will help you learn things you can do to implement into your own game and work with your partner on Number three net movement positioning and court coverage.

Speaker 1

So this is a huge one. It's hard to follow if you don't know what to look for, and one of the keys with it is to not watch the ball while you're watching the point. So if you've ever been to a pro doubles match or singles match, it's really hard not to keep your eyes on the ball the whole time. If you're sitting on the sideline, you've got your head kind of going back and forth at the baseline. You're kind of looking up and down following the ball throughout the point.

Speaker 1

What I want you to do instead to study these net players is to only watch the net players. So I've recently shown you a few videos related to the last podcast episode I did on where your eyes should be at the net, and during the videos I'm solely focused on the net player. So you can actually take out your phone if you're at a pro match and film just the net player and save that and look at it later and you can study, kind of what they're doing and what they're looking for and where their eyes are. If you can't do that, or if you're watching at home, just watch the net player, watch their movement based on the position of the ball. Tennis Channel Plus just released a feature where you can pause the video and rewind it so you can go back 10 seconds, rewatch a point and figure out okay, the ball was a little bit outside, they're hitting from behind the baseline.

Speaker 1

The opposing net player is really pressing forward here. Maybe that's something I need to implement. Or if they missed a particular shot, could they have been in a better position there? So the key is again to not follow the ball and to watch just that net player throughout the point and figure out, uh, how they're moving and see what you can mimic. So, uh, the other thing to look at from the net players is where do they hit their volleys? So, are they hitting the volley at the net player or the opposing baseline player? Um, based on a particular type of volley, are they trying to angle it off? Are they going through the middle of the court? Are they hitting a short volley? Are they hitting a deep volley? Are they able to force errors from the other baseline player? How are they doing that with their positioning? How often are they getting beat down the line, and are they still able to be a force at the net even though they are getting beat down the line? And are they still able to be a force at the net even though they are getting beat down the line? Typically the answer is yes.

Speaker 1

So studying all of these things with the net player will really help you a lot. You can absorb it. You can even look at their technique, which is a little bit harder to do. But if you watch their technique, especially live in person just to illustrate a little bit of a story, when I went to Indian Wells and then followed it up with Miami in March, I obviously watched a ton of live pro doubles matches and I came back and played a match, having not played for two or three weeks, and I volleyed maybe the best I have in over a year because I think I had kind of absorbed a lot of the technical ability that the pro level players had. And my opponent actually noticed it and told me I've never seen you not miss this many volleys and I was hitting them really cleanly and I was so focused on my technique and it worked really well, so I think you can even absorb that.

Speaker 1

So again, number three is really just focusing on that net player, not following the ball and learning from their position, their court coverage, their shot selection, their movement. Number four is the same thing, but with the baseline players thing, but with the baseline players. So studying when they retreat versus when they press forward, how they decide to lob versus drive the ball. Where do they hit their approach shots? How often are they going down the line? When are they choosing to go down the line? How do they set up their partner at the net? So which types of shots are they able to set up their partner at the net best with? If you can ask yourself these questions and watch the matches, at the end of each point you'll be able to notice different things that they did that either were successful or unsuccessful, and learn from them. So really studying those baseline players and this is especially true of the women's game On the men's side, the serve and volley is a little bit more common.

Speaker 1

You can still study the return team, but most of the women's players do not serve in volley, with a few exceptions. So you can watch that and really see how often they're choosing to go down the line or choosing to lob, or what types of shots they're hitting, these lobs or driving the ball on, and really learn that and implement it into your own game. So again, even though they're playing with a much faster pace, it's the same type of shot. So if the opponent hits a really deep, heavy forehand, it may be coming at, you know, 85 miles an hour with tons of spin, and then the player at the baseline hits it off the short hop and lobs it down the line over the net player. Now you're going to have those same shots in your matches, except it's going to be against a 40 mile an hour forehand that has a lot less spin, but it's still, relative to your ability, the same type of shot. It's a ball that lands deep near the baseline that you need to pick up off at your feet and then lob it down the line in a defensive way. So, even though it's all happening faster, it's the same patterns and it's the same types of shots that we need to be looking for, learning from and hitting. So number five. This one's my favorite misses.

Speaker 1

So when the pros miss, which most points ended in error, ask yourself why did they miss? Was it just too good from the opponent? Were they out of position? Was it bad shot selection from them or their partner? Just because they're pros doesn't mean they get everything right. They still make mistakes.

Learning From Watching Professional Doubles

Speaker 1

I study plenty of players who are in the top 10 on the ATP and WTA tour. I've worked with some of these teams, I've scouted against some of them. They all make mistakes, even though they are the best players in the world. So when they miss, if you can ask yourself, you know she hit that volley from a little bit closer to the service line than the net. I think if she had been a step or two forward it would have been an easier volley and the opponents wouldn't have been able to react as quickly or she wouldn't have missed it in the net. Or all of these serves keep going in the net, all these first serves. She's not making an adjustment there, or maybe this guy is not returning well and he keeps trying to hit this forehand return down the line and it's just not landing in.

Speaker 1

So you should make an adjustment and go with a lob return, whatever it is, think about why did they miss and what adjustments would I have them make? And you can kind of simulate in your mind kind of being their coach and like what would you tell them if you could tell them to make an adjustment? And you might be dead wrong. But just going through this practice will help you start to notice some of these things and you can learn from watching these pro players and start to improve your kind of strategic thinking mindset over time and then when you're out on the court, it's going to help you start to ask those same questions about yourself, about your partner, so that you can continue to improve your own game and your own strategy and tactics throughout the match and throughout you know your tennis playing career, if you will. So hopefully this helped.

Speaker 1

Again, I you know it's really a passion of mine that people, more people, start watching professional doubles, and I really mean it when I say I think you can learn a lot by watching these players, regardless of your skill level. Even if you're a 3-0 USTA player, you can still learn from watching the best players in the world and it's also very entertaining to watch anyways. So again, if you have any questions on any of this, or if you need more information on how to watch professional doubles, you can always reach out to me and I'd be glad to help you out. I'll link to the survey results in the show notes, so check that out when you get a chance. And that is all for today. I will talk to you all next week.