Rally Length and Holding Serve in League Doubles

[johnyandell]

Let's discuss Chris Foy's article, "Rally Length and Holding Serve in League Doubles"

[nytennisaddict]

great article...
"My data shows that the real skills to work on are the first four to five shots because that's about 80% of the game. I now emphasize the serve, the return and the first volley."
that's something i've been focusing on in my game.

i like the idea of "finish in 4" - will have to try that in my next practice session (combined with "singles doubles" format)... will promote more aggressive volleys which is what i need practice with.

[jthb1021]

You’re so right!

[johnyandell]

Agreed.

[stotty]

I can't disagree with the article other than with our ladies 3rd team where all four ladies stand at the back and rallies are seldom shorter than 10 strokes; we've often counted. It's a point of immense frustration at my club as the ladies 3rd team tend to hog the courts all afternoon until sunset, which doesn't go down well with the male membership waiting for a court!

Other than that, the article is valid. Return of serve is extremely important in doubles. It can feed opportunities for your partner at the net and pressurises the server.

[arturohernandez]

Great article! I also agree that serving is not as big a deal in club tennis. At the junior level it seems that the serve is a bigger weapon for boys than girls. But even for boys the serve is rarely such a deciding factor. Except for the elite junior boys.

I have been following braingame for a while. It definitely has not trickled into practice at academies where a lot of time is spent on either rallying, playing points or serving. But there is no serve, return, serve +1, and return +1 practice.

I love the the finish in 4 drill idea. It works on really concentrating at the beginning of the point which is so important.

I have yet to structure the entire practice around serving and returning. Literally, rather than feeding, it would be just as easy to start with a reasonable serve and mimic different conditions.

Defensive when the serve comes super fast or offensive when it comes slower.

Has anyone ever taught a private lesson with serving and returning after a short warmup?

[johnyandell]

Yes!

[stotty]

Yes, too, it's half the game!

[doctorhl]

Yes. In addition, when joints wear out in Seniors, you often have to improve your returns to offset your lowered mobility and up the service accuracy to exploit opponents’ lowered mobility. I try to do this by moving in and cutting off angles in returns and add accuracy in shallow wide serves as well as deep corners to force some upward movement. (I can’t get the shallow, wide kicker in the ad court yet,)

[druidhills]

Yes Let me know how your attempts at "finish in 4" it has become a go-to drill for us and I have watched it sink in among our members and improve their play

[nytennisaddict]

i realized i've already been doing this, by virtue of forcing myself to s&v, c&c, poach, etc... (i'm already conditioned to be aggessive at net), but for some folks, telling them to "finish in 4" is needed, so they are more aggressive (ie. at net)...
some folks (i used to) will come to net, but then try to play an attrition game at net (but of course eventually get lobbed, and will be the reason they stop coming to net).