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TennisOne Lessons 
Tuning Up Doubles Play After 50 Kathy and Ron Woods Doubles play is the game of choice for 95% of tennis players after the age of 50, and for good reason. Although the doubles court is wider than the singles court by 9 feet, you have two people to cover it, making the ball easier to reach and more balls stay in play. When courts are in demand, doubles gets twice as many people playing at once. If court fees are a factor especially indoors, doubles lowers the cost per person.
Doubles play is a more social game than singles and it is no secret that good teamwork can overcome better skilled opponents. The after-match camaraderie is more fun too with four players swapping stories and opinions about most anything. Perhaps most intriguing is the intellectual and strategic challenge doubles offers. There are endless tactics to employ, angles to aim for, and a wide variety of shots to try. Doubles Strategy Our experience coaching 50+ players has helped us learn to focus on a few key strategic points that add enjoyment to the game. First, it’s clear that shots down the middle of the court or crosscourt are the secret to avoiding errors and crosscourt shots will avoid the net player. Shots down the middle have the advantage of a lower net than at the sideline, fewer angles of return, and a chance that your opponents will be undecided which one of them should play the ball. You have to “own” those shots to have a chance. Second, net players have the edge over players at the baseline provided they have the volley and overhead skills to take advantage of their position. At the net, you can and should hit the ball on a downward path if the oncoming shot is above the net. You can also hit angled crosscourt volleys for winners on balls that come to you on the outside (near the sideline) of the court. Inside balls that come down the middle are best played back down the middle.
Practice Tips In doubles, since you are facing two opponents to cover the court, you must learn to angle volleys for winning shots or pull your opponents to one side and then volley back to the open court. We must repeat that the best time to angle a volley is from a ball on the outside of the court (near the sideline) which you should direct crosscourt. To execute an angled volley, you need to be relatively close to the net, at least halfway up in the service box. Keep your racquet out in front of your body and do not turn or take a backswing. Instead, simply place the strings against the ball well in front of your body with the racquet face aiming at your target area. Deflect the ball rather than hit it using the speed of your opponent’s shot. To practice angled volleys, have a partner feed you outside balls from various positions on the court and use a target such as cones or towels as aiming points for your crosscourt angled volleys. Your targets should be placed close to the singles (not doubles) sideline to give yourself a safe margin for error. For the majority of players, (those rated 4.0 and below), many points are played with one player on a team at net and one at the baseline. That’s fine with us especially to begin a point, but we’d like to see players approach the net when hit a weak shot by an opponent and responding with a forcing shot that puts them on defense. By coming to the net with an approach shot, you will reduce the time your opponent has to respond and likely elicit a weak reply. Once you are at the net, your chances of hitting a winning shot improve dramatically because you have so many options. You can volley downward with power, drop the ball short, angle it away, or hit a punishing overhead smash.
That brings us to a third critical point; you have to learn to use the lob strategically to play doubles effectively. The defensive lob is the key shot to give you time to recover your position when you are on the run. A defensive lob is best hit with some backspin for control and with good height and depth to maximize your recovery time. You should also learn to use the lob offensively. As players age, their ability to get into position and smash overheads typically declines. You can learn to use the lob to get net players to make an awkward retreat, look into the sun or deal with a swirling or unpredictable wind. Our fourth strategic point is that serving and receiving set the stage for every point. Serving after age 50 should focus on placement, depth and consistency of both first and second serves. Placement is controlled by the angle of the racket face at contact, depth is controlled by the amount of spin on the ball and consistency requires repeating a sound technical serve motion every time including a ball toss into your strike zone.
Receiving is no less important since you only get to serve one half of the games. Getting the ball over the net and into play is the first priority; unforced errors into the net or wide are grievous ones and grounds for your partner to dump you. At the very least, give your team a chance to get into the point. Finally, at the risk of tennis heresy, we think you need to learn to shrink the court by learning to play in what was formerly called “no man’s (or person’s) land. As you age and mobility decreases in the decades ahead, you’ll realize that a series of sprints from behind the baseline to the net are only a memory. To effectively cover the court and reach both drop shots in front and lobs over your head, you’ll find a middle ground pretty effective. But now you’ll have to improve your mid-court volleys, low volleys and half-volleys when your opponents direct balls at your feet. Practice Tips: Mid-court shots You might want to enlist the help of a certified teaching professional to help you develop your mid-court shots. She will be able to speed up your learning curve and point out the key components of each shot. Of course, you should also work with a partner and feed balls to each other in the mid-court and practice what you’ve learned on your own.
To practice from the mid-court, stand between the service line and baseline. Have a coach or partner feed balls to you from the baseline crosscourt since that is a typical doubles play. Balls that reach you above your waist should be played out of the air. Balls below your waist should be taken as low volleys. To be consistent, both of these shots are hit with an abbreviated (about half) backswing using just a shoulder turn to prepare. The racquet path should be level and lead with the lower edge of the racquet to impart some backspin for control. Be sure to follow through on the shot to get depth and keep your opponent pinned to the baseline. If you must play a ball on the half-volley, simply move the racquet face to either side with no backswing at all and aim to contact the ball just after it hits the ground. On this shot, you’ll want to experiment with the racquet face to find the right angle to push the ball over the net without popping it up. Again, the follow through is critical to achieving depth on your shot. Once you’ve achieved some success, have your coach or partner move into mid-court and aim to keep the ball in play till one of you gets a ball to play offensively. With your opponent in this position, your time to react is much shorter and you’ll find even more reason to shorten your swings.
Stroke Technique Stroke Technique for doubles play at the recreational level is so different from singles that many players get confused. The topspin drives characterized by long backswings that you’ve practiced for years may get very little use in doubles because they don’t fit the strategic options you have. You don’t need “good strokes” to be effective as a doubles player. What you do need are a reliable serve, consistent returns, approach shots to get to net, sound volleys on both sides, a dependable overhead smash and the ability to play both defensive and offensive lobs. Since your court position is more typically inside the baseline, on the way to the net or at the net, the majority of time your backswing should be shortened. Take inventory of your skill on the shots above and then get some help from a certified teaching professional on any shots that fall short of your expectations. If your opponents gain the net position together, then your topspin drives at their feet become the best choice especially off a weak volley. You’ll also want to use a topspin drive against a team in the one up, one back position to avoid the net player and force a short reply that you can attack. Most players over 50 rely on consistency, placement, and variety of their shots to confound their opponents. Powerful shots are fewer because of a natural loss of muscular strength as we age. Happily the new, lightweight rackets sure help you accelerate your swing when you do get a chance to hit a winner. A final word on technique. Far and away the most common flaw on most shots is the tendency for “racquet disturbances” during the swing and especially through the hitting area. In order to hit consistent clean shots, your racquet should move through the forward swing without any twists, turns, flips or rollovers. These flaws simply decrease the odds of making a solid hit every time. Avoiding Mixed Doubles Troubles We know from first-hand experience that mixed doubles can be fun, entertaining and challenging. But we’ve also watched lots of mixed doubles games self-destruct. Tennis is one of a few sports where players of both genders can compete equitably if they follow a few key rules. Gender does not determine who the better player is on a mixed doubles team, skill does. That said, most male players have more size, strength and can hit the ball harder if not always accurately. In social mixed doubles, the object is to enjoy the physical activity, test your skills and strategy, and enjoy the company of the other players. Stronger players should never aim a ball at a weaker or less experience player especially at the net where there is little time to react. Instead, aim the ball for open court space or at a player’s feet, never the body. In competitive doubles such as league or tournament play, players should expect to be treated as competent players. It is okay to hit a majority of shots to the weaker player regardless of gender and up to the other team to deal with that strategy. Likewise, if players choose to play at the net, they should expect balls to be hit to them to test their proficiency. Teamwork in mixed doubles can be problematic, especially if spouses are teammates. Issues off the court can interfere with working together on the court. Likewise, the more experienced player (male or female) may try to coach the spouse during play. Usually, that strategy backfires because the struggling spouse is nervous, anxious and lacking confidence. If you want to be the ideal mixed doubles partner, focus on your own play but be supportive of your partner’s efforts. Compliment good shots or effort and encourage him after errors. Treat your partner like the best friend that he is, not the stubborn mule he may appear to be. Dirty looks, muttering under your breath, lack of eye contact or emotional withdrawal all lead to trouble during and after the match. Learn to say positive things such as “we’ll get the next one” or “bad luck” and use physical contact for reassurance and celebrations. A “high-five” after a winning shot makes all the effort worthwhile. If you are just beginning play in your 50s, now is the time to tune-up your doubles game. As life spans increase, you’ll want to be physically active for at least 2 or 3 more decades. Tennis is one sport activity you can really enjoy into your 9th decade. But it all starts with having fun, learning new skills and strategies and enjoying being with other active people like you.
Kathy and Ron Woods have been a successful mixed doubles team for 30 years. Both were individually awarded the prestigious Tennis Education Merit Award by the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Kathy Woods, a former president of the United States Professional Tennis Association, is manager and director of tennis at the Racquet Club of St. Petersburg, Florida. Ron Woods, PhD, a college coach and professor of sport science, was a senior staff member of the United States Tennis Association for 20 years. Kathy and Ron recently co-authored the book, Playing Tennis After 50, published by Human Kinetics. It is available from the publisher at Humankinetics.com, Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble. |
