Doubles Only Tennis Podcast

How to Support Your Doubles Partner

• Will Boucek • Episode 176

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0:00 | 18:01

Doubles is a TEAM sport. You have to not only worry about playing well yourself but also need to know how to get the most out of your partner.

This episode covers several things you can do to support your doubles partner so they play their best!

  • Three conversations to have with your partner before the match starts.
  • One thing that is proven to help teammates while playing tennis (and other sports).
  • How to keep energy and confidence high.

This will build your team chemistry for new and existing partnerships. 

Mentioned in this episode:


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Supporting Your Doubles Partner

Speaker 1

Today I'm going to talk about a topic that has nothing to do with you, but it's going to help you win more doubles matches, and that is your doubles partner. So how can you support your doubles partner in the best way possible, how different things you can go over with your doubles partner before the match and then things you should be looking to do during the match as well to keep them playing well, keep their confidence high, keep their energy up different things like that. A couple of quick announcements. So Tennis Summit is still going on. My presentation was on Monday. It's over now. You can still get access to it. I'll include a link in the show notes where you can sign up, but you will have to sign up for the full premium pass, which I believe it's $97. And you get access to over 40 different presentations from coaches like Paul Anacone, louis Kaye, gigi Fernandez and a lot more. So there's a lot of really good stuff there. You can click on the link in the show notes and check it out and decide if it's right for you. My presentation was on the most common poaching mistakes and how to fix them, but, like I said, there's a lot more and over the next few days. You can get free access, if you want to check that out, to some other presentations as well, so I'll include that in the show notes. Next Wednesday, I am planning to launch the Mental Game Masterclass, which covers a lot of what I'm going to talk about here on this episode today and then a lot more. So, again, I'm going to be covering everything on the mental side of doubles how to get prepared before the match, what you should do under pressure, how to handle nerves, how to play well on big points, how to communicate with your partner, and a lot more. So that's going to be going live next Wednesday, so keep an eye out for that.

Speaker 1

So let's dive into today's episode. So we're going to talk about again how to support and get the most out of your doubles partner. And this all starts before your match, before you even step onto the court. So whether you are playing with a new partner or even if you've played with someone for a long time and you haven't gone over all of this stuff, I would encourage you to do this before the match.

Speaker 1

So one question I like to ask my partner is once the point starts. So once the point gets started, let's say, you know, the serve goes in, the return lands in and we're into the rally. Where are you most comfortable? And we want to be looking for an answer with a few different aspects to it. So number one is net versus baseline. Are you more comfortable with the net versus baseline? Are you more comfortable from the deuce or the ad court? That'll probably dictate your return side. And then, are you more comfortable hitting forehands or backhands?

Speaker 1

So if my partner tells me I'm most comfortable hitting inside out forehands from the ad court at the baseline, then I'm going to think of ways during the match to help them get into that position. Now you also have to, of course, weigh your own strengths and weaknesses, but we're not worried about that for this episode. We're just talking about your partner. So what I might do is have them return from the ad court and then, when I'm returning, we might play two back and I'm going to leave them at the baseline and I'll return and either return and volley if I feel like we need somebody at the net, and they'll be at the baseline and the ad court hitting their inside out forehands or inside in forehands, depending on if they have to get into a down the line rally, um, or I will return and stay back if I feel like we can win with two back. But the point is I'm getting them in their most comfortable position on that. I might even this is rare, but I might even have them play two back on my second serve if the opponents are returning really well and they're just my partner's just not very good at the net. This is is again a rare scenario, but the point is to think about getting them in the most comfortable position.

Speaker 1

If they do say the baseline, you might ask them okay, if you do have to be at the net, which side are you most comfortable on? A lot of players are more comfortable on the ad side, so they have their forehand volley in the middle. But talk with them about that and figure out okay, when I'm serving we don't really want to bring you back to the baseline, so let's play I formation in the ad court so that we can keep your forehand volley in the middle. So talk to them about this before the match. Figure out which areas of the court they're most comfortable with in terms of deuce and add net and baseline and forehand and backhand and then come up with some strategies and tactics to help them get into that comfortable position. Another question you can ask them before the match starts is what is your favorite serve? And you should get this on the deuce and add side. What is your favorite serve? And you should get this on the deuce and add side.

Improving Doubles Team Chemistry and Performance

Speaker 1

And what you'll be able to do is, on a big point or in a pressure moment, you can go back to your partner and say, hey, let's hit your wide serve if that's their favorite, or let's hit the T serve if that's their favorite, or let's go for the middle of the box if they prefer just to go for a high percentage body serve. And just tell them you know what do you think about hitting your favorite serve here? And I'll pinch towards the middle or I'll poach, or whatever it is that the play call is, and that will help them get more comfortable and you'll say it with a lot of confidence that will give them the ability to perform at the best level possible. So knowing their favorite serve is going to be helpful A for you, because you know what y'all should go to when they're serving and y'all are in a pressure moment, and then it'll give them more confidence because they know you're bought into their favorite serve as well, versus if you never communicated this at all, they might start to question it. They might just start to think, well, I probably shouldn't hit this wide one, because it opens up that angle. My partner doesn't know that I'm going to go wide, so if they start to question it, they're much more likely to miss that serve. So knowing that is going to help a lot.

Speaker 1

And then the last thing this is a question that comes from Jorge Capistani, who I've mentioned a bunch of times. He's got a presentation on the Tennis Summit as well, if you want to check that out, but he's been on the podcast before and I'll link to it in the show notes. But he goes over 20 questions where you can go through with your doubles partner before the match starts, and one of them is what do you want me to say to you or do when you mess up or when you double fault? And I think this is a great question to kind of clear the air before the match, because a lot of players, if their partner doubles fault, double faults, they're not sure what to do. They're not sure if they should say, hey, don't worry about it, or say nothing, or give them a high five and talk to talk about the next point and say we got the next one, um, and it depends on the player. But if you've already talked about this before the match, then you don't have to worry about it as much. So you can ask them that.

Speaker 1

Ask them is there anything you want me to do during a pressure moment, during a big point? Is there anything you want me to remind you of? If you have a big point on your serve, so just open up this conversation and they might say, yeah, I struggle with my ball toss. Sometimes I don't toss it high enough. So if we have a big deuce point on my serve, remind me to get my ball toss up. Or they might say, no, just keep the energy good. I don't really need anything particular, but just stay positive and keep the energy good and we'll talk about what play we're going to call.

Speaker 1

So having this conversation beforehand is going to make it a lot easier once the match starts. Because once the match starts and you haven't had this conversation, you're going to start to generate doubt in your mind. Your partner is going to start to create doubt in their mind, not knowing what you need, not knowing what they need, and it can create a lack of team chemistry and a lack of confidence on certain shots. So talk about all of these things before the match starts. So next, a couple of things on the court once the match does get going, so once I've started the match, there's a few different things that I like to think about in terms of keeping my partner playing well and keeping them comfortable. Number one is to keep them confident. Right, you want to keep the confidence of both yourself and your partner and the team in general high, and then the second thing is to keep your energy up as well.

Speaker 1

So how do we do this? There's a few things you can do. Number one is physical touch is proven to help people perform better. So high fives and fist bumps are really good. Racket taps are okay as well, but I prefer some kind of physical touch in between points, especially on your service game. Even on return games, and if you watch pro doubles players which you should they're constantly giving each other high fives and fist bumps, usually two or three between every single point. You don't have to go that far, but you can. If you want to. I like to do at least one between every point, especially on my service games. If it's a big match and it matters a lot, then I'll do it on return points as well, but some kind of physical touch helps.

Speaker 1

Encouragement obviously is super important. Don't get lazy on this. This is something that isn't complicated or surprising for you to hear from me on this episode, but a lot of people get kind of lazy with it. They quit encouraging their partner. They only do it after their partner hits a good shot. I want you to really think about actually doing it during points when you lose as well, and that can be even more important to keep your partner's confidence high and to keep your confidence high. So if they miss a shot during a seven ball rally, at the end of the rally tell them hey, we did all the right stuff there. I should have put that volley away earlier. We're good, let's keep playing this way. We're good, we got this. You know something to keep them positive, keep them in the right frame of mind and keep encouraging them, even though y'all just lost the point Again.

Speaker 1

Some of these lost points are really the times that it's most important to keep your energy and your confidence and your positivity and your encouragement high, because with these points, especially in the longer rallies when you lose them. That's when your confidence can start to drag and you can start to kind of spiral down a little bit and lose a few points in a row or a few games in a row, and you want to make sure that doesn't happen. So all of these things are really important. On points that you lose Positivity I mentioned. Obviously it's super important. It's not something I'm going to get into too much on this episode, but there's lots of reasons that being frustrated and being angry actually make you perform worse, which I dive into in the angry actually make you perform worse, which I dive into in the mental game masterclass coming out next Wednesday. But you do need to stay positive. It's really important to stay positive, especially again on those long rallies where you lose them and it feels like you just lost five points in a row because you worked so hard and still lost the point. It's really important to stay positive throughout the match.

Speaker 1

Confidence is something that you can help build up in your partner as well. One thing I noticed at the Miami Open when I was watching Rajiv Ram and Joe Salisbury, who have won the US Open three times in a row. When Joe was serving, he and Rajiv would huddle up back at the baseline. Joe would call a play, so regular you poach or I formation, you go left, and Rajiv wouldn't just say got it or okay, he would say love it, and he would say it with a lot of confidence. So you can imagine what that would do to Joe as the server right serve and to execute that play. So to be able to give your partner that sort of confidence is really, really important and it's going to help them perform better. So next time you are calling plays with your partner, you go back there to the baseline, use that, just steal that from Rajiv and tell your partner yeah, great play, call Love it, let's do it. So anything you can do to build that confidence is a good idea.

Speaker 1

And then energy is super important as well. This is something that I personally struggle with a little bit, as I'm sure a lot of you know. I speak pretty slowly, I'm relatively kind of monotone and my energy can kind of drag on the court sometimes. It's something I you know a little bit of a weakness of mine that I have to really focus on, and I play my best with partners who are constantly kind of up and bouncing around on their feet on the court and really staying positive and keeping a high level of energy, because I feed off that. So if I feed off that, then other doubles players probably do too. So between points, when you're back there, giving your partner a high five or a fist bump, be bouncing around on your toes, especially in big moments, and really keeping your energy up, and they're going to keep their energy up as a result and it's going to help you all both have better footwork, get in better position when you're going for the ball and play better overall. So those are some of the things that I think about both before and during the match.

Speaker 1

If there's anything I missed here, I'd love to hear from you. Definitely email me will at the tennis tribecom, anything you like to do to support your doubles partner or to help them play better, any questions you like to ask them before the match. Of course, if you have an ongoing doubles partner, it can be important after the match to go over kind of what worked and what didn't. But that's, you know, a topic for another day and something I'm going to cover in the master class as well. But if you have any other advice, reach out to me, and maybe I'll include it in the newsletter or in a future episode as well. So that's it for today. Thank you all for listening, and I will talk to you all soon.