TennisOne Lessons

The Woodies - Moving to the Right Place

By Monty Basnyat, TennisONE Associate Editor

Doubles is a game of consistent serves and returns, along with sharp volleys and fast hands. But to prevail on the pro tour is this really enough? The Woodies, Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge, wouldn't agree. Although neither player has been ranked in the top ten in singles for any length of time, they have been the world's highest ranked doubles team for a number of years. Why? I believe one major reason is their exceptional court positioning.

The Woodies instinctively know to move to the right place on the court. What is the right place? From a non- technical viewpoint, it's the place where your opponents are most likely to hit the ball. Said in a more technical way, each doubles player should position himself in the middle of the probable angle of return. This court positioning takes away the high percentage shot of your opponents, only leaving them to play low percentage, sharp angled volleys or groundstrokes to win a point.

In this frame, the Woodies' opponents are across the net, and the redheaded Woodforde is the player on the add court and the Woodbridge is the player on the deuce. The far player on your right side is just about to volley one of Woodforde's low drives.

Since the ball is right in front of Woodbridge, he's right there and ready for anything. By being right in front of the ball, Woodbridge is forcing his opponent into a low percentage play of going right at him or playing the sharp angle to the right.

Woodbridge's partner, Mark Woodforde is moving to guard the middle, forcing his opponent to play a low percentage shot--either hitting through him or trying to hit the sharp angle to the add service box. Beyond just positioning themselves in the right place, notice how the Woodies lean and anticipate towards the probable angle of return. This weight shift and anticipation is particularly critical in doubles, where the predominance of net play robs a player of reaction time.

Now take a look an an abstract illustration of the photo above. The Woodies are moving to the middle of the probable angle of return. Imagine throughout a match having to hit through the likes of "The Woodies" or having to play an even lower percentage shots to win a point. Not an impossible feat but a draining task, physically and mentally.

Now lets take the second photo. The Woodies are on the far side.

The player in the near deuce court is preparing to volley between the Woodies. Look how each of the Woodies react. Woodbridge, in the far deuce court is further away from his opponent's highest percentage shot (down-the-middle), so he's scrambling quickly to recover towards the middle. Woodforde, standing in the far add court, has begun shading towards the middle (and has shifted his weight), but can't move any further into the middle without exposing his side of the court to an easy angled volley by the opponent at the net. Did the Woodies win this point? Probably not. But point after point throughout an entire match, they cover the high-percentage shots, forcing their opponents into taking low-percentage shots to win points. So while the Woodies probably didn't win this point, they probably did win the match. Imitate the court positioning of Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde, and you and your partner will be the winning Woodies of your club

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