10 June 2016 | Tennis Victoria

Tennis Australia High performance coach Emily Rea, is the Player Development Coordinator at Tennis Victoria and National Academy Development Coach. This month she shares her tips on ways to improve your doubles play in the modern game.  

Doubles play at a Grand Slam level looks vastly different to that of previous eras.

This is largely due to the increased physicality of the modern day tennis player.

Increases in players overall athleticism, effecting their overall power, speed, agility and endurance has seen huge increases in the average ball speed on both the men’s’ and women’s’ tours.

This increase in power has had a significant impact on effective doubles tactics in the modern game. Increased ball speeds have effected player’s ability to intercept at the net. Percentage on serve and placement of both serve and groundstrokes used to be the key to success on the doubles court, whereas power and spin seem to be most effective at today’s highest level.

Power from the back of the court is increasingly forcing errors from the baseliner, whilst also drawing volley’s to the net player. Interestingly, a player’s ability to vary the speed of their balls from the back of the court is becoming more and more of an effective weapon.

To develop a great doubles game, it is great to continue to play singles. Getting use to covering more court makes covering less court in doubles seem easy! When playing singles, serving and volleying and working on your ability to cover the entire court after the approach will greatly increase your effectiveness on the doubles court.

Developing your skills at the net is important to building confidence and reaction times, but it is also important that you develop your game from the back of the court. Ground stroke control, consistency and importantly power are all crucial to dominance on the doubles court.

The old adage ‘two heads are better than one’ is true of great doubles pairs. But importantly, the best teams gel well, communicate effectively and as a result are able to play as one on the court. When you have played with someone a lot, you have a better understanding of their tendencies and know what to expect in certain situations. This will greatly increase your ability to anticipate which is hugely beneficial on the doubles court.

Great news for lovers of the game! Adjustments to the doubles format, including No-Ad scoring and third set tiebreakers have further reduced the physical demands on doubles players. This has increased the longevity of doubles specialists on the professional tour and bodes well for the more casual player also.

Leander Paes is still dominant in Grand Slam events at the age of 43!