Serving in Doubles

I am not the only one. I serve differently in doubles than I do in singles. And I am not so sure this is a good thing.

I serve harder in singles than I do in doubles and I have noticed the same in others. If I miss the first serve in singles, no big deal. If however, I float a safe second serve, at say 70% in for doubles, my partner at the net might lose his neck- literally!

I am willing to suffer the consequences more in singles for a weak 2nd serve but in doubles, I will pull back to 80-85% power on a first serve - not wanting to fear an aggressive second serve return.

There are others however, that DO serve the same in singles as well as doubles. And these people also generally serve the same first and second serve. This explains why some of my friends in doubles who I partner with will have 6 to 8 double faults, in a set! I am not upset with them but feel bad for them as they probably feel lousy for letting me down.

What's the secret? Not sure, I may have to query the Bryan Bros, tandem team extraordinaire! But for me, for now, I will continue to move my serves around the box, mixing flat and spin and work on beefing up my 2nd serve to a 75-80% power.

So what about you? Do you have a different serve based on playing singles or doubles?

Paying Attention Out There!

Two things.

I am playing the other day and it occurs to me that when I lose a game at love, it's generally 4 points in about 75 seconds. One and two ball rallies typify these games so guess what? When I am down at Love-40, I now try and just keep the ball in play and play a longer point. Since making this adjustment I have begun to win a higher percentage of these games, but it started with PAYING ATTENTION to my game and recognizing a pattern.

Numero dos. I played with a friend last week and I had never played him in singles before, only in doubles. I noticed that when serving on the deuce court, he would clobber his forehand return to me. BUT on the AD court he would actually prefer a backhand to return and would at times run around his forehand. There was something about the angle of the serve, or something else that wouldn't meet his eye about that forehand return that he didn't like. Knowing this led me to serve to him more effectively. So to reiterate and again remind readers, "the unexamined tennis game is not worth playing."

Tie-Breaker Anyone?

After playing two sets with a friend today we then played two tie-breaks for fun. It had been maybe more than a month since I had played one and then months before that. As I was serving in the tie-break I was reminded that getting the first serve IN is even more important than during a regular game.

Not getting the first serve in is basically risking a double fault. As everyone knows the first one to seven (by two) wins so giving a free point (or two) out of 7 is like burning money because it's wrinkled. Not good.

So the next time you are in that situation and it's your serve, try for a 3/4's serve to your opponents backhand if possible. It's a safe, effective shot and you won't be throwing anything away.

A Contrarian Moment

I first heard the word contrarian maybe 20 years ago when I would follow the stock market with some interest. A contrarian would buy stock in a company when everyone else would be running for the exits. A contrarian acts contrary or against what would seem to be "common sense".

The common sense for most people on the tennis court is to win you have to hit the ball hard, harder or hardest.

The other day I was playing a good friend whose game I know well and once again he was attacking the net. His shot to me was mid-court to my backhand side. I generally loop the ball to his backhand with topspin so he has to volley UP or hit a half-volley. I have erred in the past hitting a hard line drive right at him but that usually results in an easy block volley putaway for him and I lose the point.

-- Back to the point above. My opponent is at the net and instead of me looping the ball with topspin or hitting it hard, from my backhand side, I hit an angled 25 mph slice to his backhand side that would land at his feet-- knowing he would have to half volley. He can half volley "okay" and I would not do this against a doubles specialist or someone else who is gifted with short balls. So what happened? My opponent half volleyed weakly (as I expected or hoped) and I came in and won the point.

It takes brains, instinct, and a contrarians appetite for risk taking to hit a ball softly to your opponent but sometimes it's exactly the right thing to do.