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Finding Your Own John McEnroe Greg Moran Many years ago, when asked to name the best doubles team in the world, former touring professional Peter Fleming replied, “John McEnroe plus anyone.” Fleming was right, McEnroe, with his legendary skill, athleticism, and understanding of the game, could play with virtually anyone and be successful. Most of us though, need some help.
There are many ingredients that go into a successful doubles team and choosing a player to share the court with is not a decision to be made quickly. The first step towards building your own dream team is to sit down and take an honest look at your game both physically and mentally. Once you have a firm grasp of your on court strengths and weakness, you can then begin to search for the partner that will help you form a winning combination. To get started with this self-analysis, ask yourself these ten questions: 1. What are your tennis goals and how much time can you devote to improving my game? Are you primarily a social player? You’d like to improve and compete in the occasional interclub match but with kids, a job, and a family to look after, you can only get to the court once a week to practice? Or, perhaps the kids are grown, the hectic pace of life has settled down a bit, and you now have the time you’ve always dreamed of to work on your tennis. You’re ready to make a serious commitment to improving your game with the ultimate goal being to reach your USTA competitive potential. Whichever scenario best describes your current level of commitment, your future doubles partner should share the same. 2. How effective is your serve: first and second? The serve is the most important shot in the game of doubles and if yours is a weakness, you’d like a partner who’s confident and aggressive at the net. By being active up close, they can keep the receiver off balance and take their focus off of your weak delivery. You would also want a strong-serving partner so that your team doesn’t present two weak serves to your opponents.
3. Are you comfortable serving and volleying? If the answer is yes, your partner should be comfortable playing in the both players up formation and also able to anticipate lobs and execute strong overheads. If the answer is no, look for a strong net player who you can set up with your groundstrokes. 4. Would you rather hit groundstrokes or volleys? If you love to live at the baseline, your partner should be able to end points up at the net. If you prefer to volley your way to victory, find a partner who can join you at the net or set you up with strong groundstrokes. 5. How well do you return serve from the deuce and ad courts? If your return of serve (the second most important shot in the game) is one of your strengths, you’ll want a partner with strong volleys that can pick off the weak shots your aggressive returns will force. If you struggle to return a big serve, your partner must be comfortable in the hot seat (the service line position). If you have a great return from the deuce court but struggle on the ad side look for a player who prefers the ad court. 7. Do you consider yourself aggressive or conservative on the court? If you’re an animal at the net, look for a steady partner who can set you up and also help you weather the inevitable moments of inconsistency that all aggressive players go through. If you’re more lamb than lion, find a teammate who loves to be up close and can pick off your opponent’s floating shots.
lf you don’t foam at the mouth when you see a lob coming your way, find a partner who does. It is essential that at least one member of your team loves to see, and can effectively hit, overhead smashes. You should also consider having this player on the ad side so that his strong overhead will be down the center of the court. In a high level doubles match, your team will have to hit lots of overheads. I guarantee it! Current world champions Bob and Mike Bryan are a great example of a team with a variety of styles. Mike plays a bit more of a steady and conservative game while Bob is the more aggressive of the two. With well over 40 pro titles and a career Grand Slam on their resume, I’d say they’re a good mix. 9. Do you tend to get down on yourself easily? If you’re one of those players who see the glass as half empty, find a cheerleader who sees it as half full. Stay away from those who live to lose. These are the self-defeating players who have something negative to say after every point, win or lose. These people can literally suck the life out of you and are no fun to be around on or off the tennis court. 10. When the big points arrive, do you want the balls to come to you or would you rather they go to your partner? If you’re not yet comfortable in pressure situations, find a partner who thrives on the big moment and prefers to play the ad side because that is where many of the big points (40-30 or 30-40) are played. Be honest with yourself, there are no right or wrong answers. Ask a close friend or your pro to answer the same questions relative to you and your game. Once you consider these questions, you can then begin to intelligently search for a partner who will compliment you technically, tactically, and emotionally. Auditions Aren’t Always Singing and Dancing Once you know what you’re looking for in a partner, the next step is to go where the players hang out and conduct informal auditions. Bob Griffith, a dedicated 4.0 USTA player from Redding CT, has found several long-term doubles partners by attending doubles clinics and social mixers at his club. "Every player you step onto the court with is a potential partner," says Bob. “As you play with different people, ask yourself if you feel comfortable with their style of play, their personality, and mentality. “From there you can put together a list of potential partners, gather a few phone numbers and set up some practice matches. Then, after spending more time on the court together, you can decide who you’d like to team up with.” Setting Your Lineup After you’ve found the player to share your doubles journey with, have a team meeting and discuss a few key areas:
Many players have strong feelings as to which side of the court they play and draw much of their confidence from that preference. If your new-found partner must play the ad court and that’s where you feel most comfortable, you’ll have to talk it over. If one of you is not willing or confident enough to make a switch for the good of the team then perhaps you need to reconsider teaming up. A word of advice: if you’re one of those players who must play a particular side of the court, you’re severely limiting the pool of partners from which you could choose. Spend some time playing the other side and I think you’ll find that you can become equally comfortable there and actually enjoy the challenge of playing and learning the game from a different perspective.
Keep these two statistics in mind:
This means that for a 3.5-and-below-level team of two right-handed players, you would want the player with the stronger forehand returning serve from the deuce court and the player with the better backhand receiving from the ad court. For teams 4.0 and above, they'll be facing serves coming mostly down the middle, so they would want the player who prefers backhands on the deuce side and the player with the better forehand receiving from the ad court. Many experts say that the stronger player should play the ad side because that's where most of the "big" points (40-30 and 30-40) in a game occur. This makes sense on one level, however, if you can't win points from the deuce side, you may never get to the “big” points. If one member of your team is left-handed then there are other considerations. Some of the greatest doubles teams in history have had the lefty on the ad side. Legendary lefties John McEnroe and Martina Navratilova both played the ad court. The feeling is that the lefty can do real damage on the return of serve from that side as they are often able to move around their backhand and drive a strong, cross-court, return of serve.
Plus, McEnroe and Martina are two of the greatest clutch performers in tennis history. Wisely, their partners realized that having them receive serve at 40-30 or 30-40 was in the best interest of the team. Given the fact that they combined to win 248 professional doubles titles (177 for Navratilova and 70 for McEnroe), I’d say that they made the right decision. Conversely, the Bryan Brothers line up with the lefty, Bob, in the deuce court. Their feeling is that they would prefer to have their strong forehands down the center of the court, where most balls are hit in a high level doubles match.
Football, basketball, and baseball teams put their strongest lineup on the floor at the start of the game, and so should you. This means that the player who has the best chance of winning their service game should serve first. Usually this is the player with the more effective serve who can force a weak return. The server, or his partner, can then move forward and attack. Not always, though. I once had a partner who had a much better serve than I but was also so active and intimidating at the net that we decided it would be better if I served first. I simply spun the serve in and watched my partner dance around the net and drive our opponents crazy. With his faking, poaching, tremendous foot speed, and quick hands, he was able to totally control the point. By putting our best lineup (me serving, he at the net) into the game first, so to speak, we were able to set an intimidating tone right from the start of the match. Take a look at both factors: who has the stronger serve and who is more active at the net–and go from there. Keep in mind that the person serving first will have more opportunities to serve during the course of the set, so make sure your starting lineup is a good one. Note: If you or your partner are left-handed, pay close attention to the position of the sun. Quite often, you can you arrange your serving order so that neither of you will have to serve looking into the sun. Once you’ve chosen your partner and decided on your starting lineup, you’ll be well on your way to setting the doubles world on fire. Your comments are welcome. Let us know what you think about Greg Moran's article by emailing us here at TennisOne.
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