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Seven Doubles Principles for USTA League Players Top Seven On-Court Drills for Developing Sound Doubles Tactics [TennisOne Classic] David Brouwer
As a teaching professional and someone who hits an awful lot of tennis balls with students, I'm always looking for new and effective drills to use. In this article, I'll share my top seven favorite drills and the doubles principles that each one works on. I believe these drills help players master sound doubles tactics and they're also a lot of fun to do! Principle #1 Play the ball down the middle in doubles As we all know, the shot down the middle in doubles is always high percentage. This drill, NO alley doubles, helps players focus on the center of the court. Drill: Four players begin on the baseline and a ball is fed to one side. The point is played out without the use of the doubles alleys. This forces players to hit more of their shots down the center. As a variation, use poly spots to narrow the court even further or start all four players on the service line and play each point volley to volley. To keep it competitive, keep track of score and rotate players through the different positions.
Principle #2 Return serve cross court and low in doubles Keeping the ball away from the net player on the return is crucial, especially if you're playing at a high level where they can finish the point down the middle or at the returner's partner. This drill, the TCU Drill, helps players focus on the cross court return. Drill: One player up, one player back on the return side. On the opposite side, both players are on the service line. A ball is fed to the deep player to simulate a return of serve and that ball must be returned cross court and low or the point doesn't start. In other words, the ball must be returned to the player who fed it. As a variation, the returner can be required to use a chip return, a drive return, or a dipping topspin return. Play all the points out and rotate players when one team has reached 7 or 11 points. As another variation, play to the deuce or ad side.
Principle #3 Rush the net behind the serve and return in doubles With today's power game, rushing the net is not as easy as it once was. But the goal in doubles is still usually to get to net if you can. This drill, called One bounce doubles, forces players to get to net immediately following the start of the point. Drill: Four players assume normal doubles positions and a ball is served. At this point, each team is allowed to let the ball bounce only one time before the point is ended. In other words, after the serve bounces, the returning team is allowed to let the ball bounce one more time throughout the course of the point. Likewise, the serving team is allowed one bounce throughout the course of the point. If either team allows the ball to bounce more than once, they automatically lose the point. Keep in mind that the return does not count as the returning team's one bounce. Play points out and keep track of score to keep it competitive.
Principle #4 Always steal time from the other team when possible We've all had shots we let bounce that we knew immediately we should've taken in the air. This mistake allows the opponent precious time to recover, get balanced as a team, and regain court position. This next drill, the Fly Dril, forces players to take every ball in the air in an effort to steal time from their opponents. Drill: Two players line up on the service line and their opponents line up on the baseline. In other words, two up, two back. A ball is fed from the baseline team to the net team and the point is played out. However, throughout the course of the point, the net team must take every ball in the air. If they let it bounce even once, they lose the point. As a variation, you can say that if the net team lets it bounce, they have to do a sprint to the baseline and then close back in on an approach volley. This really gets them motivated to take the ball in the air! Play the points out and keep track of score to keep it competitive.
Principle #5 Hang tough with a reverse split step when your opponent has an overhead Have you ever hit a short lob and then just given up on the next shot knowing your opponent had an easy overhead? This next drill, called Goalie, will force players to hang in there when there's a short lob, and try to reflex volley or half volley the overhead back. This is a great drill for working on defense in a doubles situation. Drill: Four players line up on opposing service lines. Poly spots are used to mark out a "goal" on one side of the court, usually about 2 feet inside the singles sidelines. A lob is fed to the opposite side and the team that has the poly spots is the "goalies." The goalies' job is to back up one or two steps, make a reverse split step when the opponent makes contact with the overhead and try to dig it out. The reason for the poly spots is that without a target area, the overhead would most likely get past the goalies. This narrows the target area for the player hitting the overhead and makes it more realistic for the overhead to be retrieved. Once the overhead is struck and it is reflexed back, all four players close back in and play the point out. Play games to 7 or 11 to keep it competitive.
Principle #6 Always attack the short ball and get to net behind it Tennis is a game of time and space, as we all know. The more time we have the better. The less space our opponent has to hit to, the better. So what better thing to do than attack short balls and get to net, giving the opponent less time to react and less space to hit to? This drill, called the Go Dril, forces players to attack any short ball, even if they're not comfortable doing so. Drill: Two doubles teams begin on opposing baselines. A ball is fed to either team and a groundstroke point begins. All four players must stay back until a ball lands on the service line or inside the service box. When this happens, a player or the coach yells "go!" and all four players crash the net. As an added bonus, if the team that received the initial short ball wins the point, they get 3. All other points are worth only one. This forces players to attack any short ball and also gives them motivation to focus on finishing the point once they get to net to get the 3 point play.
Principle #7 When your partner has an easy overhead, close in to pick off the likely weak return off the smash Have you ever smashed an overhead from mid-court and the opponent floated the next ball across the middle of the court? This is an excellent time for your partner to close in and pick off that weak return for a put away shot. This next drill, Staggered overheads, teaches players to close hard when their partner has an easy overhead. Drill: Two players line up on the service line and two are on the opposing baseline. An overhead is fed to one of the net players who gets ready for a smash. Their partner closes in and fades to the middle a little bit to retrieve the weak return. Play the point out. To really stress the movement of the non-hitting player, you can make a rule that if the smasher's partner does not get a racquet on the next ball after the smash, they lose the point. This drill also helps the players retrieving the smash to focus on keeping the ball away from the smasher's partner, which is also a sound tactical principle for playing defense in doubles. In conclusion, there are so many great drills and games to teach the wonderful game of doubles. I hope that these will be of use to you and your friends. If anyone has any others that I could steal, please email me! See you on the courts. Your comments are welcome. Let us know what you think about David Brouwer's article by emailing us here at TennisOne.
David was voted the USPTA Michigan Professional of the year in 2002 and has won two USPTA Outstanding Education awards. David has been a speaker at the USPTA Midwest and National conventions and is the Director of the West Michigan Tennis Academy. David coaches USTA league players of all levels and finds great joy in coaching strategy and tactics to build smarter tennis players. |
David Brouwer, USPTA is the Director of Tennis for three major health clubs in Grand Rapids , MI.