The club that I play at in Toronto has a lot of top players. There are a lot of players who play competitive seniors tennis and who rank at or near the top in the country. ( There's a 73 year old legend who can play with all but the best younger guys -- he takes everything incredibly early)
Last week in the club doubles championship, I had the pleasure of watching the club's best doubles player. He's also one of the top doubles players in the country.
What did I learn you ask?
An incredible amount and I'll try and pass on some of the lessons I picked up by watching.
1. An incredibly compact return of serve. Essentially, a quick unit turn with almost no independent arm motion. Almost impossible to make an error and able to take the ball early and put it right back at the server's feet.
2. Incredibly compact volleys. Same story -- shoulder turn with very little independent arm action.
3. A fantastic overhead -- able to hit with angle, power , and able to bounce the overhead over the head of the other team. Try hitting a typical overhead that bounces over the heads of your opponents. Not easy! But very valuable.
4. Fantastic balance. Never out of balance when the other team was preparing to hit. Very quiet body.
5. Drilled a lot of volleys at the net man. When he had a volley that he could generate pace on, he drilled it at the net man -- remember this is top level men's doubles.
6. Precision serving. Not big but well placed.
Try watching the best doubles players at your club --especially youngish seniors ( 35's and 40's) and see what you can pick up. Then go out and incorporate those changes into your game.
Until next time,
Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Great Doubles Tips guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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