Top 10 Doubles Strategies

hey it's ryan over at two minute tennis and in this video i'm gonna share with you my top 10 double strategies you can use to win more matches please consider subscribing and hitting that notification bell even share this video with your doubles friends as those are the best ways to support this channel all right first off these 10 tips are not in order from least important to most or vice versa they're all important use them and when you implement them you're going to win more matches so my first tip for you is you got to make sure that you are standing in the right place when you start the point i watch amateur doubles every single day at the club where i coach and rarely are all four players exactly where they should be to start the point and you put yourself at a real disadvantage when you aren't positioned correctly so when it comes to the serving position you want to be slightly inside the singles line if you stand too far out wide then the middle is open and if you stand too much in the center like you're a singles player then no one's covering the sharp angle so you want to be slightly inside the singles line and you'll be positioned perfectly for most situations the server's partner this one causes a lot of arguments actually with players and where they want to stand and where they feel comfortable standing what you want to do as the partner of the server is just draw an x in the middle of the box so you just draw an x and you're going to stand directly in the middle of that x cut the service box you know in in half by having the x and just stand right in the middle and you'll be perfectly positioned when it comes to the returner it is based on the serve so if you're playing someone with a really fast serve you know you can stand farther back and if your opponent has an out wide slice serve where they can really hit it out if you stand too much near the center you're going to be out of position for the out wide so make sure that you're standing far enough over that you can get the out wide serve it is not super easy for the server to hit a perfect serve to the t so watch out for this out wide serve even more than the teaser because in amateur tennis and club tennis it's actually easier to serve out wide than it is down the t in most situations for most levels and as the returners partner just cut the service line in half and stand right on the service line just standing correctly to start the point will often give you a huge advantage now tip number two is going to help you be right more than 80 of the time when it comes to where you aim your shots if you're hitting the ball you can't just think well i can hit it anywhere and it's going to be fine it's not true you want to know exactly where to hit the ball and here's a simple way to know when you're in the back your job is to prolong the point and you're going to do that by hitting to the other team's baseliner so when you're in the back you're the baseliner hit to the other team's baseliner your job in the back is to keep the point going to prolong the point and you're going to do that by hitting to the other team's back person when you're at the net and you want to end the point you want to hit it to the other team's net person preferably at their feet so you're going to hit it hard and low to them so they struggle with it baseliners hit the ball to baseliners net players should be aiming for net players you simply have to just hit the ball to the opponent who is standing where you're standing that's why you got to keep track of where you are you need to keep track of where your opponents are standing you follow this strategy and you follow it every single time you hit the ball and you'll be right more than 80 of the time now tip number three is going to help you learn to move correctly at net playing both offense and defense learning to move correctly when you don't have the ball look let's be honest when you're playing doubles there's a one in four chance that you're hitting which means there's a three out of four chance you are not hitting the ball so you can't just stand there not prepared and not knowing what to do so here's a simple way to move correctly when you're at the net just imagine that the tennis ball is a magnet which i actually have here and you just have to move toward the ball like the ball is pulling you toward it so let's say the returner returns the serve back to the server now obviously the server hit the ball to the returner it's in the rules and the returner hits it back to the server following the strategy we just talked about tip number two hitting the ball to the opponent who is standing where you're standing well understanding that the ball is a magnet that would mean that these two net players have to move toward the ball so the server's partner will move back the returner's partner will go forward if the server does their job their aiming strategy job and hits it and prolongs the point hitting it back to the returner the two net players move toward the ball like it is a magnet you want to move this way so that you're playing both offense and defense let me ask you a question which player right now is playing offense pretty easy to understand the server's partner is playing offense they've moved forward the reason the returner's partner should move back is because they want more time to react in case the returner hits it anywhere near the server's partner they come over and poach it remember the aiming strategy in tip two was aim for the person who is standing where you're standing well the net player is going to aim for the net planer so good thing this player moved back maybe they give themselves a little more time to react let's say they get it back to the server's partner and then it resets so you can see the net players will move almost like a dance the ball goes cross court and these two players start moving forward and back with each other don't just stand at the net and get a good neck workout as you watch the ball going back and forth if the ball goes behind you move back so that you're ready in case the opposing that player approaches and hits it and if your partner gets it if your partner gets it back to the other baseliner then you don't have to worry about them anymore so you can move forward this player moves back and it just continues this is an aha moment for players who i coach on court when they're learning how to move when they don't have the ball and doing this will help you win a lot more points when you are at the net by the way i forgot to mention that what we just talked about that you move like the ball is a magnet explains why the partner of the server is in the middle of the box and the partner of the returner is on the line what we just talked about explains this because i have people who say well why is this is it because the returner's partner wants to look at the line to call it in or out that's not why they're starting back the reason is because we know that by the rules the serve has to go to the returner so these players shift this direction prepared because the ball is a magnet and they are waiting up this player up this player back knowing that the returner is going to hit the ball then when the return is hit back to the server then they can move this direction so i know i mentioned that this the ball is a magnet so why wouldn't you start like this if the server is hitting it's because the returner's partner cannot poach the ball it's against the rules for this person to touch the ball so the serve has to go cross-court to the baseliner so the two net players start in those positions so that they're ready to be up toward the returner for their first shot tip number four piggybacks off of what we just talked about moving up and back like the ball is a magnet so it's really important that when the ball is behind you in doubles that you look at the net person let me show you what i mean here so let's say the serve comes in the return is hit back to the server now we know and we just learned this that we should move as if the ball is a magnet this player is now the offensive player where should this person look it you shouldn't just look at both players and just wonder where the ball is going i don't even mind if you peek back for a second just to look to see how much trouble your your partner's in at the baseline knowing if they're hitting a forehand or a backhand you know if it looks like they're in trouble and they're going to lob whether they're leaning in it's not a bad idea to take a quick peek to see what this person looks like but once you see that your partner is about to hit the ball you must look at the opposing net player you you want to get this in your mind when the ball is behind you and that's this is only true in doubles ball's never behind you in singles um you know otherwise you're running down a lob but in doubles it's often that the ball is behind you you have to get your focus on the person who can hurt you first remember this person is going to aim for you we learned that in in tip number two that net players aim for net players so if you are forward let me move this if you're forward and the returner hits the return cross court you now move back and you also get your focus on the opposing net player you're going to react faster to them when your partner accidentally hits to them you'll see that the returners partner you'll see their racket go up and you'll know to move back even farther because they're probably aiming for you you'll have more time to react because you're looking at them you can see them it's not a surprise attack when the ball goes behind you and you're at the net and doubles move back like the ball's magnet but then shift your focus on the opposing net player and you're going to react faster when they poach and attack you tip 5 is a very well known strategy called the windshield wiper this is just a positioning strategy to try to cover 100 of the court 100 of the time the the amount of court you're covering plus the amount of court your partner is covering should equal 50 hold up time out did you hear what i just said that was wrong i didn't mean to say 50 what i meant to say was the amount of court you are covering plus the amount of court your partner is covering should equal 100 all right let's get back to the video as often as possible that way you're not leaving gaping holes for your opponents to hit into so at the beginning of the point let's say this is you at the beginning of the point you should be trying to cover 50 percent of the court and your partner should be thinking of it as they're covering 50 of the court well it's not always going to stay that way so let's give an example when that doesn't hold true your partner serves and the opponent returns it way off the court and your partner has to go get it well your partner after they hit the ball they're going to be hitting it and they're going to be moving back into the court well if your partner is pulled away off the court they're not going to be able to cover 50 percent of the court on the opponent's next shot let's say they can only cover 20 percent of the court remember your numbers have to equal 100. so you are going to remember that ball remember follow the ball like it's a magnet the ball went back so you're going to move back but you're also going to move over because you're going to try to cover 80 percent of the court you always want to try to get your numbers to equal 100. if your partner runs a mile that way completely off the court you are smack dab in the middle to cover 100 of the court so learn to move with your partner like windshield wipers on a car helping you to cover 100 of the court 100 of the time this is a really well-known concept and when i mention this to people on the court if i'm doing like a doubles clinic they'll say something like oh yeah i know that i'm like well it's not enough just to know it like you know i'm i'm not maybe at that moment teaching them or informing them but i'm more reminding them so let this be a reminder to you that you and your partner need to move with each other with each other to cover as much court as possible tip six is gonna be when you and or your opponent hit a great lob in doubles forcing the opponents to switch and where you should move so let's put this and let's actually switch this up i'm going to make this on the on the ad side i'm doing all this on the do side so your partner serves actually let's say you're the server you serve the opponent hits the return back to you your partner moves back your the opponent moves up remember moving like it's a windshield wiper this person is now looking right here remember when the ball's behind you this is this is your partner the partner should be looking right here in case you don't you don't keep it away from them and then they slam it right so that they're ready but let's say you hit a great lob into the back corner right here and now the ball's in the back now your opponents are going to switch so let's just oops almost had man down there so the opposing team switches where should this team position themselves see when you hit a lob that's not enough like every time i mention this in my podcast every time you hit the ball you have to know where you're going to move if you're successful or even not successful with your shot i watch so many amateurs hit a great lob and then they just stand there you want to take advantage of the fact that the opponents are in trouble they're switching it's not like before a doubles point you you lean over to your partner and say hey i hope we have to switch this next point like no one ever says that switching is damage control so when your opponents switch like that's a good thing for you they're chasing down a ball they're usually in trouble what type of shot does your opponent typically hit your opponent typically hits in this situation a lob and you want to hit an overhead off of that lob so you and your partner should position yourselves on the service line a big mistake i see players make and it's one of two mistakes i see the baseliner stay back and the partner moves really close to the net and you're not going to hit an overhead in either one of those situations this person's so close they easily get lobbed this person so far back they're going to let the ball bounce or both players get really tight to the net and then you've just rushed the net to lose at a faster rate and the ball goes over your head and you're like wait a minute how all of a sudden how did they turn the tables on us when you put this in stone in your mind when you lob over your opponents successfully you know they're not hitting in overhead the ball goes over their head get yourselves on the service line you'll notice that i'm not giving you a direction to move it's not like i said lob your opponents and go forward that's not how you want to think of this it's when you lob your opponents go to the service line and the reason for that is very simple why i'm saying that because if this person is up i want you to learn this correctly if this person is up and the lob occurs this team switches i'm actually asking this person to back up i don't want you to think lob and go forward it's lob and know where to go because it might be actually back this person moves up this person is now on the service line they moved back and in this scenario with this this person lobbing they're rarely going to get a lob over your head they're going to lob it up and tip number two is aim for the opponent closest to you all of a sudden it's two against one and you're going to slam the ball not trying to hurt them you're going to try to hit it to their half of the court and the ball is just going to go by so get this in your mind please share this with your doubles partner when you lob over your opponent's head successfully moved to the service line as a wall they're probably going to lob it up and even if they don't you just volley at that person too but they're probably going to lob it up and then you hit your overhead at the feet of the net person now tip 7 is when you are the blue team and you get lobbed so let's talk about this i am so excited for you to learn this tip this tip will save you so many points in a match and please again share the all of these tips with your doubles partner because you don't want to just learn all this stuff and then your doubles partner isn't learning it as well you need to be on the same page with your partner let's go over the exact same scenario we just did so the serve goes cross court obviously the return goes to here we've all we've learned all this stuff now this player moves in they should this player moves back now this player lobs we just talked about this remember this team should be moving to the service line that's what should happen this is vital what i typically see is this player yells switch the person in the back the returner goes and gets the lob and this person goes straight across and is a dead duck at the net you know why the previous tip works so well because this is what your opponents do your opponents switch and they stay at the net the person in the back is in trouble it's not i know this is on a board and super easy this is a far distance it's 36 feet from here to here and so oftentimes this person is running in major trouble and they hit the weakest shot that then gets nailed at you at the net if you switch and go straight across so here's what i want you to do when you switch i want you rather to move back and depending on how much trouble your partner's in just go back all the way to the baseline you're trying to defend at this moment you're not attacking you're in big trouble you're saying switch you are in trouble so don't move across don't do that i'm going to give a check mark here for this one when the ball goes over your head move back diagonally then when your partner when it's not if when your partner lobs and your opponents slam it remember tip two is hit overheads or when you're at the net hit strong shots at the person closest to you because you moved back diagonally now you have a lot of time to react to their ball and both back is a great strategy to use in doubles now you're playing defense now you can try to get the ball at their feet you can then attack they pop it up and then you can slam it away i'm telling you the people often ask how do i turn defense into offense this is how you do it when you get lobbed in doubles switch but move back diagonally into no man's land or even all the way to the baseline depending on how much trouble your partner's in and you're gonna win a lot more points tip eight has to do with you and your partner as a team and how you are positioned first let me say there are three basic ways to play doubles they are one up one back as a team you can't control what your opponents do but i'm saying as a team you can play one up on back you can play both back and you can play both up it's really the three basic ways the most common way people play is one up one back but i'm here to tell you it's really the worst way to play doubles it works in amateur tennis because most people play one up one back so one up one back against one up one back is just fine it's kind of a coin flip who's gonna win the second best way to play doubles is both back the reason it's the second best way and the reason it's better than one upon back is you're playing all defense you can just hit all ground strokes it's very tough for this team to win a point because there's no net person for them to pick on with very little time to react so when you and your partner keep the court in front of you and if they happen to hit a short ball you can attack but the best way to play is both up and let me just say if you can get as a team yourselves up at net and up at net could be this too right if you play a lobbying team you could hang around the service line so it's hard for them to get the ball over your head but when you play both up as a team then what you can do remember tip two was aim for the opponent who is standing where you're standing in this situation you are both going to pick on and usually this person is a little closer you're both going to pick on it's two against one you're both going to pick on the net player remember aim for the opponent who is standing where you're standing so a good strategy is you know servant volley or return in volley where during the point you hit the shot to the other player and you quickly move in you can do it off your serve you can do it off of a short serve and you can do it on the return like a second serve and you attack when you come up and you and your partner are up you're now going to pick on this person it's two against one this player is trying to abide by the second rule which was hit your shot to the opponent who is standing where you're standing where when you and your partner are up and the returner is hitting the ball the baseliner is hitting the ball they can't follow the strategy they have no one to hit toward and they might try to pass you but they're going to hit it out they might lob you but even if you're on the service line they can't get it over your head and you are just going to have a field day picking on this person who's just going to get pummeled with your shots so realize that one up one back is really the worst way to play if you have a very aggressive opponent and they're slamming the ball play both back you can do it as the serving team you could do it as the returner team returning team literally start the point both players back if you're playing a really strong team you'll have plenty of time to react to their shots but if you really and truly want to dominate your opponents and you want to move up a level learn how to position yourselves up close and then you've got to pick on the other net player they will have no time to react to your shots tip nine is actually the most advanced tip i'm going to give you in this 10-tip series here and it has to do with predicting where your opponent is going to hit the ball in my experience and this is unbeknownst to most people your opponents determine where they are going to hit the ball based on which side of their body they're striking the ball on they don't even realize that they do it but if you've ever played baseball or softball you understand this idea that most right-handed batters hit the ball to left field and most left-handed batters hit the ball to right field well the funny thing about tennis is we hit the ball on both sides of our bodies so let me explain let's say and this has nothing to do with right-handed or left-handed truly this this because left-handed or right-handed it doesn't matter we all hit on both sides of our body so if you see the opponent hitting the ball uh where the heck there it is on the on their right side this is their right side it's our left but they're right most likely they are going to hit the ball cross court most likely the arm pulls that way most people swing across their body as they hit so they just pull the ball that direction and if they are hitting the ball on the left side of their body they usually hit the ball this way players usually hit in an x you can see the x right there when players hit on the right side of their body they hit the ball this direction when they hit the ball on the left side of their body they usually hit the ball this direction so you can actually use this as a way to know when to poach if i'm here and i see this player hitting let's say they're right-handed hitting a backhand i am holding i am assuming that because they're going to pull across their body that their brain is going to say you know what why don't i try going down the line so i'm actually going to hold and i'm going to probably be prepared since i'm right-handed for a backhand volley this same thing applies on the other side let's just go right to the other side let me erase all of this this is something that i learned from gigi fernandez and it is a game changer for people amateur players who are trying to figure out what to do at the net and how to know when to poach and what to look for let's say this is you and your partner serves to this player's left side typically and which means more than 50 percent of the time which means you'll whenever you're right more than 50 of the time that's a good thing they're usually especially if they're right-handed and this is their backhand they're usually going to hit this ball cross-court their arms pull that way so you can be prepared for a cross-court return if the serve is hit to this side of their body this is often when the ball is attempted down the line now you might think well i know barb or i know john and they're tricky well obviously i don't know your opponents and they might do things that go against this but simply stated look at the side of the body where your opponent is hitting and just think baseball right-handed batters tend to hit the ball if you watch baseball they tend to hit the ball to third base and the shortstop left-handed batters tend to hit the ball to first base and second base there are exceptions obviously but we're talking about the percentages start paying attention to the side of the body your opponent is hitting on and you can predict which way they're going to hit the ball this is especially true at the net if someone's got a forehand let's say this player has a ball right here they're usually going to hit the ball this way if they've got the ball on this side they often hit the ball this way the ball generally travels like an x start predicting where your opponent is going to hit the ball and you will shock yourself your partner and your opponents how many shots you run down and my last tip tip number 10 is make sure in between points you get with your partner and you talk for five seconds or less about where you're gonna aim your serve where you're gonna aim your return what's been working you'll notice pro doubles teams get together for just a few seconds i watch most amateurs in between the points they just go to their places and they never talk about what's working what's not working watch the pros just like a football team they'll huddle for just a second after each point get together talk for a second or two about where you're going to plan on hitting your return what types of serves are working against certain opponents and if you follow these 10 tips there is no doubt you're going to gain confidence win more matches and play much better tennis this is ryan reedy over at twominutetennis.net and i'll see you in the next video

Channel: 2MinuteTennis

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Keywords: Top 10 Doubles Strategies, Doubles strategy, Doubles tennis, Tennis doubles, Tennis tips, Doubles tips, Doubles strategy tips, Tennis lessons, Tennis drills, How to play doubles, Ryan Reidy, 2 minute tennis, Two minute tennis, Tennis instruction, tennis tv, atp, atp tour, tennis highlights 2021, monte carlo tennis, tennis doubles strategy, how to play doubles, doubles strategy tennis, tennis doubles tips

Id: g9RZnnApDi8

Length: 27min 57sec (1677 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 14 2021