Today we show you a simple drill to help you better understand doubles positioning. This video is for players with a PlayYourCourt rating of 50 to 80.
Hey guys, Scott and Nate from PlayYourCourt.com and today, we’re going to show you how to dominate the net in your next doubles match. All right guys, today we’re talking about doubles and your positioning up at the net. This video is for players with a PlayYourCourt rating of 50 to 80.
But, yeah, RIP, but if you’re not in our community, a PlayYourCourt 50 to 80 is the equivalent of about a USTA 3.0 to 4.5, so Natedog, what’s goin’ on here? Doubles positioning, dominate the net, what do we got goin’ on today?
We’re going to just work through a drill. Really just from the cross court but what we’re really going to focus on is the biggest weapon in doubles, which is?
The volley. The serve. The return of the serve . The drop shot?
He’s just going to keep going, and all of which are, they’re all incorrect. The biggest weapon in doubles is positioning.
Positioning in Doubles Tennis
Yeah, no, no. So, positioning, so we’re going to play this little game, King of the Hill, Queen of the Hill, it doesn’t matter. So, ultimately what we’re doin’ is we’re going to start on a transition spot on the court, about the 60 foot line, and we’re going to work through volley to volley, working through reflexes. But, really, the goal here is to get in and try to pinge, get forward. So, think of this, like, King of the Hill.
So in this drill, what we’re going to do, is we’re really going to work on taking the net. Whoever’s typically getting closer to the net is going to win these points, cause we’re able to hit down and through the court. All right, so we’ll hop right in. We’re going to take a look at this drill.
All right, guys, so we’re back here on the 60 foot line and Scott and I are going to play the game to seven. We’re going to play only only the cross courts. So we’re on the deuce court. And the goal here is to get close to the net, win the battle positioning. And we’ll do this by trying to keep the ball low to each other’s feet until someone pops up and then we can put the ball away. Going to seven, safe bet, this guy.
Doubles Positioning: The Add court
All right, so now we’re going to do the same exact thing from the add court where we’re focusing on the same exact tactics through positioning. Four hands in the middle will make this a little bit more interesting because now the ability to put the ball away is going to be a little bit easier and we get to see Scott’s horrendously weak back-hand.
Hey, hey, internet, for the record, Trevor has never played tennis in his life, and he’s coaching me.
My weak forehand volley. All right, internet, it looks like I’m going to be stickin’ around for awhile. I did not lose to Scott’s very mediocre backhand. All right, so, the big takeaway from that particular drill was if you’re having a hard time, get your camera man to interject some coaching and turn things around for ya.
The real goal here is just battling through positioning and getting forward and figuring out how to play at your opponent’s feet, so keeping that ball low, and when they’re lifting, like really closing in, all right? So, as the game advances, when doubles advances, everybody’s really pushing forward and you’re going to have a lot more of these volley, volley reflex battles. Now, if you don’t have four people, it’s hard to play doubles, right? But it can’t, it shouldn’t keep you from practicing doubles, right?
Cause that’s the best part about this drill, right? You know, one of the biggest complaints we hear for our players that play doubles is “I can’t get four people together to practice.” You don’t need four. You can work on this cross court angle. Really, I know, Nate and I talk a lot about strengths and weaknesses and picking apart the things that we know we need to work on. Myself, my backhand is substantially weaker than my forehand volley, so I would use a drill like this to get out here on the ad side as a right-handed player and really focus on, you know, improving the weaker side, which is my backhand. I think Nate probably feels the opposite.
Yeah, so we might get out here and, as buddies, say, “Hey, let’s do the deuce and the ad side, because I need to work on my backhand and he needs to work on his forehand.”
Yep, so guys, get out there, apply this stuff. Work on it, and it’s going to be crazy about when you actually have someone back at the baseline. Things are going to slow down because someone’s not moving forward, taking time away, and then, it’s going to seem like an entirely different world out there, as far as moving forward.
As always, Nate and I just want to see you improve your game. As you know, we don’t know a ton about you yet, unless you’re in our tennis community, and that’s where we really want you to be, so do us a favor, click the button below, answer some questions for us about your specific skill level. You can then jump inside our community, and Nate and I are going to send you custom video coaching each week on the specific things you need to work on. If you’re a really high-level player or a beginner, this instruction today would look a lot different for you. So, jump inside our community, let us send you the custom stuff that you need. Also, if you need people to play with in your area, we’re going to pair you up with some local, evenly matched players. So, click the button or the link below, answer some questions for us, and we’re going to help you improve your tennis game. See you guys soon.
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